Mathew James Burrows is an American intelligence and strategic foresight expert and author.
Mathew J. Burrows | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Wesleyan University, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom |
| Occupation(s) | Intelligence and strategic foresight expert, author |
| Title | Director Foresight, Strategy, and Risks Initiative, Atlantic Council |
He is the leading author of several National Intelligence Council’s Global Trends editions, an unclassified assessment of long term key trends, threats and uncertainties used to prepare incoming U.S. Presidents at the beginning of a new Administration, that are widely read and commented upon : "Global Trends 2020: Mapping the Global Future" (December 2004),[1] "Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World" (November 2008)[2] and "Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds" (December 2012).[3][4]
Biography
editBorn in Ohio (August 31, 1953), Burrows earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in American and European History from the Wesleyan University (Connecticut),[5] as well as a Master of Arts degree and PhD in History from the University of Cambridge,[6] United Kingdom.
He lives in Washington, D.C..
Career
editHe spent almost 25 years with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), including being assigned as special assistant to the US UN Ambassador Richard Holbrooke (1999-2001) and detailed to the National Intelligence Council (NIC) during the last decade of his career. After leaving the NIC, he joined the Atlantic Council, a non-partisan public policy think tank based in Washington, D.C, as Director of the Foresight, Strategy, and Risks Initiative. Burrows joined Stimson Center in 2022 as a distinguished fellow and program lead of the Strategic Foresight Center.
At the National Intelligence Council, he established the Long Range Analysis Unit, currently called Strategic Futures Group (2005). While his Global Trends reports were praised as well written and very informative, as well as for the use of scenarios, some have argued that the last one written by Burrows[3] retained a US-centric character, especially by downplaying the issues of climate change and of the mounting trend of conflicts based on religious or cultural identity.[7]
He has been a long-standing partner of the European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS), which is the European institutions' foresight network, since its inception in 2011[8] and the co-publication by the NIC and the European Union’s Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) of "Global Governance 2025: At a Critical Juncture",[9] the first unclassified report by the National Intelligence Council developed with a non-US organization.
He has provided commentaries on the lack of the US Administration's strategic preparedness for global disasters, such as the coronavirus pandemic.[10][11]
In March 2021, a brief published by Burrows and Emma Ashford in the Atlantic Council's New American Engagement Initiative’s Reality Checks series regarding United States’ approach to Russia caused a public battle.[12]
Publications
editAfter leaving the NIC in 2013, he wrote "The Future, Declassified: Megatrends That Will Undo the World Unless We Take Action",[13] which features both non-fiction and fiction chapters (2014). The book "Global System on the Brink: Pathways toward a New Normal" (2016),[14] which he co-authored with Alexander Dynkin, President of the Russian Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO), was included in the University of Pennsylvania's list of "Best Policy studies and reports published by a Think Tank" in 2016.[15]
He continues to publish reports on global issues under his current position such as "Global Risks 2035: The Search for a New Normal"[16] and its update "Decline or New Renaissance"[17][18] or on the implications of the COVID19 pandemic.[19]
In late 2023, he published with a German scholar, Josef Braml, a book entitled "Dreamwalkers: How China and the US are sliding into a new World War"[20]
His academic contributions focus on the use of strategic foresight methodologies in government.[21]
References
edit- ^ Mapping the Global Future (PDF). National Intelligence Council. December 2004. ISBN 0-16-073-218-2.
- ^ Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World (PDF). Washington D.C.: National Intelligence Council. November 2008. ISBN 978-0-16-081834-9.
- ^ a b Global Trends 2030 : Alternative Worlds (PDF). National Intelligence Council. December 2012. ISBN 978-1-929667-21-5.
- ^ Dyer, Geoffrey (10 December 2012). "Pax Americana 'winding down'". Financial Times.
- ^ "Mathew Burrows".
- ^ "Alumni US".
- ^ Jennings, Lane (2013). "Special Issue: The NIC's Global Trends 2030 Report: A Collective Critique". World Futures Review.
- ^ ESPAS Conference 2018 (29 November 2018). "Foresight :Thinking about tomorrow today". European Parliamentary Research Service.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Global Governance 2025: At a Critical Juncture (PDF). National Intelligence Council / European Union Institute for Security Studies. September 2010. ISBN 978-92-9198-175-5.
- ^ Dilanian, Ken; De Luce, Dan; Lehren, Andrew W. (13 April 2020). "From Clinton to Trump, 20 years of boom and mostly bust in prepping for pandemics". MSNBC News.
- ^ LeVine, Steve (4 May 2020). "The Harsh Future of American Cities How the pandemic will alter our urban centers, now and maybe forever". Medium.
- ^ Lippman, Daniel (2021-03-21). "A war over Russia has erupted at the Atlantic Council". POLITICO.
- ^ Stephens, Philip (12 September 2014). "The Future, Declassified : Megatrends That Will Undo the World Unless We Take Action - Geopolitics just got a lot more difficult". Financial Times.
- ^ Global System on the Brink: Pathways Toward a New Normal (PDF). Atlantic Council & Primakov Institute of World Economy and International Relations. December 2015. ISBN 978-1-61977-979-2.
- ^ Mc Gann, James. "2016 Global GoTo Think Tank Index Report". University of Pennsylvania. p. 116.
- ^ Wendling, Cécile (16 November 2016). "Global Risks 2035: The Search for a New Normal" (in French). Futuribles.
- ^ Burrows, Mathew J. (30 October 2019). "Global risks 2035 update: Decline or new renaissance?". Atlantic Council.
- ^ Mc Gann, James. "2019 Global GoTo Think Tank Index Report". University of Pennsylvania. p. 196.
- ^ Schmertzing, Leopold (July 2020). "Scenarios for geo-politics after coronavirus: A recent Atlantic Council analysis" (PDF). European Parliamentary Research Service - Global Trends Unit.
- ^ Braml, Josef; Burrows, Mathew J. (2023). Die Traumwandler. Wie China und die USA in einen neuen Weltkrieg schlittern. C.H.Beck. ISBN 978-3-406-80719-0.
- ^ Burrows, Mathew J.; Gnad, Oliver (29 June 2017). "Between 'Muddling Through' and 'Grand Design': Regaining Political Initiative – The Role of Strategic Foresight". Future. 97 (March 2018). Elsevier: 6–17. doi:10.1016/j.futures.2017.06.002.