Abraham F. Lowenthal is a scholar, teacher, institution-builder and policy advisor. He is currently professor emeritus of international relations at the University of Southern California.
His first books on The Dominican Intervention; The Peruvian Experiment; Armies and Politics in Latin America; and Partners in Conflict: The United States and Latin America were followed by volumes on The California-Mexico Connection; Exporting Democracy; Global California; and Democratic Transitions: Conversations with World Leaders (coedited with Sergio Bitar and published in 8 languages). His essays, including eight in Foreign Affairs, six in Foreign Policy, and many others, have been published in the United States, throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, and in Canada, Europe, Africa, Israel, China and Japan as well as more than 200 op- eds in major newspapers across the globe.
Dr. Lowenthal’s institution-building contributions include his staff role with the Commission on US-Latin American Relations (the Linowitz Commission) in the 1970s, and then establishing and directing the Wilson Center’s Latin American Program, the Inter-American Dialogue, and the Pacific Council on International Policy in Los Angeles. He also served as director of studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and as a Representative, program advisor, and consultant with the Ford Foundation.
Dr. Lowenthal was a Fulbright Professor in Japan, Argentina and Brazil, and an advisor to the Institute of the Americas; Notre Dame’s Kellogg Institute; COMEXI, CEBRI and ITAM in Mexico; the University of São Paulo, FAAP, and the Fernando Henrique Cardoso Foundation in Brazil; FUSADES in El Salvador; FUNGLODE in the Dominican Republic; the Public Policy Institute of California; and the University of Melbourne. He has lectured at numerous universities, business forums, and NGOs in the United States and internationally.
Dr. Lowenthal was invited to serve in the US government in three different administrations under both parties. He never entered government service, but his research and institutional projects have been cited for their quality, relevance and impact. He has been decorated by the presidents of Brazil, the Dominican Republic and Peru and by the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. He received the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; an honorary degree from the University of Notre Dame; and the Kalman Silvert Award of the Latin American Studies Association, recognizing lifetime contributions.
Dr. Lowenthal received his BA, MPA and PhD from Harvard University, where he also attended Harvard Law School for a year.
Lowenthal joined the Dialogue as a Member in 1992.
