Kenneth Lieberthal

Kenneth Guy Lieberthal (; born September 9, 1943) is an American professor and politician known as an expert on China's elite politics, political economy, domestic and foreign policy decision making, and on the evolution of US-China relations. He is currently senior fellow emeritus in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution, where from 2009 to 2016, he was a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy and the Global Economy and Development programs; from 2009 to 2012, he also served as director of Brookings' John L. Thornton China Center. Lieberthal spent most of his career on the Political Science faculty of the University of Michigan. For 1998-2000 Lieberthal served in the Clinton Administration as Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and Senior Director for Asia on the U.S. National Security Council. Early life and education Lieberthal was born in Asheville, North Carolina. He is Jewish. He received his A.B. cum laude and with distinction in Russian Studies from Dartmouth College, and an East Asian Institute Certificate (1968), M.A. (1968) and Ph.D. (1972) in Political Science at Columbia University.