Moisés Naím (born July 5, 1952) is a Venezuelan journalist and writer. He is a Distinguished Fellow at the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) is a nonpartisan international affairs think tank headquartered in Washington D.C. with operations in Europe, South and East Asia, and the Middle East as well as the United States. Founded in ...
. In 2013, the British magazine ''
Prospect'' listed Naím as one of the world's leading thinkers. In 2014 and 2015, Dr. Naím was ranked among the top 100 influential global thought leaders by
Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute
The Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute (GDI) is an independent think-tank and the oldest organisation of its kind in Switzerland. It is located in Rüschlikon, near Zurich. The GDI is located on the edge of the Park im Grüene.
Established on 1 ...
(GDI) for his book ''The End of Power''. ''"The End of Power"'' was also selected as the first book for followers of
Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Elliot Zuckerberg (; born ) is an American business magnate, internet entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is known for co-founding the social media website Facebook and its parent company Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook, Inc.), o ...
's 2015 book club to read.
Naím served as the editor-in-chief of ''
Foreign Policy
A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...
'' magazine for 14 years (1996-2010). Since 2012, he has directed and hosted ''Efecto Naím'', a weekly televised news program on the economy and international affairs that airs throughout the Americas on
NTN24
NTN24 (acronym for Nuestra Tele Noticias 24) is a Colombian cable television news channel, owned by Grupo RCN and operated by RCN Televisión
RCN Televisión, branded as Canal RCN (''Radio Cadena Nacional'') is a Colombian free-to-air telev ...
. In 2011, he received the
Ortega y Gasset
Ortega is a Spanish surname. A baptismal record in 1570 records a ''de Ortega'' "from the village of Ortega". There were several villages of this name in Spain. The toponym derives from Latin ''urtica'', meaning "nettle".
Some of the Ortega spel ...
Prize for his important contribution to journalism in the Spanish language.
He is the former Minister of Trade and Industry for Venezuela, Director of its Central bank, and Executive Director of the
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
.
Education
Moisés Naím studied at the
Universidad Metropolitana
The Metropolitan University ( es, Universidad Metropolitana) (Unimet) is a Venezuelan university founded in 1970 by a group of entrepreneurs led by Eugenio Mendoza Goiticoa in the terrains donated by the businessman Pius Schlageter, father of ...
in Caracas, Venezuela. Following his undergraduate studies, he attended the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
, where he obtained both a master of science and doctorate degrees. His dissertation was titled, ''"The Political Economy of Regulating Multinational Corporations"''.
Public service
Naím was a professor of business strategy and industrial economics at
Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administración (IESA), Venezuela's leading business school and research center located in
Caracas
Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...
. He also served as its Dean between 1979 and 1986.
From 1989 to 1990, Naím served as Venezuela's Minister of Trade and Industry, he wrote about this experience in his 1993 book, ''"Paper Tigers and Minotaurs"'' and spoke about it in an interview with journalist
Mirtha Rivero
Mirtha Rivero (born 1956) is a Venezuelan journalist and writer.
Career
Mirtha Rivero started her career in the press in ''La Región'', of Los Teques. She was editor, reporter and information chief for the economics section of ''El Diario de ...
.
Journalism career
Moisés Naím is the chief international columnist for ''El País'', the most widely read newspaper in Spain. His column, ''"The Global Observer"'', is also published in Italy (''
La Repubblica
''la Repubblica'' (; the Republic) is an Italian daily general-interest newspaper. It was founded in 1976 in Rome by Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso (now known as GEDI Gruppo Editoriale) and led by Eugenio Scalfari, Carlo Caracciolo and Arnoldo ...
''), France (''Slate.fr''), and in the major newspapers of Latin America. For several years, he served as a contributing editor to ''The Atlantic''.
Among other publications, Naím's work has appeared in: ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', ''
The Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nikk ...
'', ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
'', ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'', ''
Le Monde
''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...
'', ''
Berliner Zeitung
The ''Berliner Zeitung'' (, ''Berlin Newspaper'') is a daily newspaper based in Berlin, Germany. Founded in East Germany in 1945, it is the only East German paper to achieve national prominence since reunification. It is published by Berliner ...
'', and many more, making him one of today's most widely read columnists on international economics and geopolitics.
In 1996, Naím became the editor-in-chief of ''"
Foreign Policy
A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...
"'' magazine. Under his guidance, the magazine re-launched and won the
National Magazine Awards
The National Magazine Awards, also known as the Ellie Awards, honor print and digital publications that consistently demonstrate superior execution of editorial objectives, innovative techniques, noteworthy enterprise and imaginative design. Or ...
for General Excellence three times. During this period, it transformed from an academic quarterly to a bimonthly glossy.
During his tenure, he spearheaded the change in format by introducing photography and art, increased the frequency of publication, launched editions in other languages, and the website ForeignPolicy.com.
In 2008, Naím successfully completed the sale of the magazine to the
Washington Post group, though he remained editor-in-chief until 2010.
Published books
Naím is the author or editor of more than fifteen books on topics related to geopolitics, international economics, and economic development.
Naim's newest book "The Revenge of Power: How Autocrats Are Reinventing Politics for the 21st Century" was published in February 2022.
Naím's book ''Dos Espías en Caracas'' (''"Two Spies in Caracas"'') was released in Spanish in late 2018 and in English in the summer of 2021. It is a novel of espionage intertwined with a love story.
In 2013, he released ''The End of Power: From Boardrooms to Battlefields and Churches to States, Why Being in Charge Isn't What It Used To Be'' (2013). In it he argues that power has become "easier to get, harder to use, and easier to lose" due to the demographic explosion, increase in
geographic mobility
Geographic mobility is the measure of how populations and goods move over time. Geographic mobility, population mobility, or more simply mobility is also a statistic that measures migration within a population. Commonly used in demography and huma ...
, and a shift in cultural norms. Both the ''
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
'' and the ''Washington Post'' named it one of the best books of 2013, and was widely reviewed. In 2015, it was selected by Facebook CEO
Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Elliot Zuckerberg (; born ) is an American business magnate, internet entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is known for co-founding the social media website Facebook and its parent company Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook, Inc.), o ...
as the inaugural book for the
Mark Zuckerberg book club, a public resolution to read one new book every two weeks in 2015.
In 2005, his book ''Illicit: How Smugglers, Traffickers, and Copycats are Hijacking the Global Economy'' was selected by the
Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
as one of the best non-fiction books of the year; it was published in 14 languages and is the basis of a documentary produced by
National Geographic
''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...
Film and Television in 2010.
''Efecto Naím''
Efecto Naím' is a weekly television show that offers a unique vision of the changing world. As director and host, Naím presents brief reports on surprising global tendencies and interviews most influential political, business, media, scientific, and cultural leaders. ''"Efecto Naím"'' airs throughout Latin America every Sunday via DirecTV
NTN24
NTN24 (acronym for Nuestra Tele Noticias 24) is a Colombian cable television news channel, owned by Grupo RCN and operated by RCN Televisión
RCN Televisión, branded as Canal RCN (''Radio Cadena Nacional'') is a Colombian free-to-air telev ...
.
Affiliations
Naím is the founder and chairman of the
Group of Fifty and a member of the
Council on Foreign Relations
The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank
A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, mi ...
, the
Inter-American Dialogue and the
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...
amongst others.
Awards and recognition
* In 2017, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace designated him as a Distinguished Fellow (only three members of the institution have that rank).
* In 2015, 2016 and 2017 the
Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute
The Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute (GDI) is an independent think-tank and the oldest organisation of its kind in Switzerland. It is located in Rüschlikon, near Zurich. The GDI is located on the edge of the Park im Grüene.
Established on 1 ...
ranked Naím among the top 100 most influential global thought leaders once again.
* In 2014, the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute ranked Naím among the top 100 most influential global thought leaders for his work in ''The End of Power''.
* In 2013, Naím was recognized as one of the world's leading thinkers by the British magazine ''
Prospect.' ''
* In 2013, Naím received an honorary doctorate (''honoris causa'') from
American University
The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...
.
* In 2011, Naím was awarded the
Ortega y Gasset Journalism Award, the most prestigious award for journalism in the Spanish language for lifetime achievement/career trajectory.
[“Premio Ortega y Gasset de periodismo recayó en Moisés Naím”. El Universal. 12 April 2011. Retrieved 8 August 2013.]
* Under his guidance as editor of the magazine for fourteen years (1996-2010), ''Foreign Policy'' won the National Magazine Award for General Excellence three times.
* In 2003, the Republic of Argentina honored Naím with the
Order of May
The Order of May (in Spanish: ''Orden de Mayo'') is an order of merit and one of the highest decorations in Argentina. The order is named after the May Revolution which led to the birth of the Republic of Argentina. It was founded as the Order ...
with the grade of Commander, one of the highest decorations the country presents for foreigners.
* In 1991,
Francesco Cossiga
Francesco Maurizio Cossiga (; sc, Frantziscu Maurìtziu Còssiga, ; 1928 – 2010)
. was an Italian pol ...
, the President of Italy, honored Naim with the National Order of Merit, with the grade "Commendatore."
* In 1990,
François Mitterrand
François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...
, the President of France honored Naím with the
National Order of Merit with the grade of Grand Officer (29 June 1991).
* In 1985, Moisés Naím was honored with the Order of Andres Bello from the Republic of Venezuela.
Publications
Books
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References
External links
Official websiteAuthor pagefor the ''Financial Times''’ "The A-List"
PostGlobal Panelist*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Naim, Moises
1952 births
Living people
Foreign policy writers
Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administración faculty
Libyan emigrants to Venezuela
Libyan Jews
Magazine editors
Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni
Venezuelan expatriates in the United States
Venezuelan Jews
Venezuelan journalists
Venezuelan politicians
Universidad Metropolitana alumni
Members of the Inter-American Dialogue