James Dobbins

James Dobbins is a senior fellow and Distinguished Chair in Diplomacy and Security at the RAND Corporation. He is the author of The RAND History of Nation Building, America's Role in Nation-Building: From Germany to Iraq, The Beginner’s Guide to Nation-Buildingand Foreign Service: Five Decades on the Frontlines of American Diplomacy.

A former US diplomat who helped oversee nation-building efforts in Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan, Dobbins served as a special envoy for Afghanistan immediately after 9/11.