Introduction
Robin Shepherd (born 6 January 1968) is a British-born political commentator and analyst.Formerly a senior fellow, running the Europe programme, at Chatham House (The Royal Institute of International Affairs) in London, he has also held fellowships with a number of leading think tanks in the United States and Europe including the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, and the German Marshall Fund of the United States. He maintains a strong association with the Halifax International Security Forum, North America's leading foreign affairs and security conference .
Life
Born in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, Shepherd attended Ilkley Grammar School. He studied Russian at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies - which today forms part of University College London - and gained a master's degree in political theory from the London School of Economics.
The early focus of his work was post-Communist transition in Eastern Europe and Russia, such as in his first book, Czechoslovakia: The Velvet Revolution and Beyond (Palgrave Macmillan/St. Martins Press, 2000), which dealt with the post-communist reform process. His research and commentary have since branched out into international security, transatlantic relations, European politics, the global democracy agenda, and the relationship between the Western world and the State of Israel.
Before entering the think tank world, he was the Moscow Bureau Chief for The Times. Prior to that he worked for 8 years for Reuters in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and London.
Shepherd believes he lost his job at Chatham House due to him expressing a non-hostile position on Israel.
The Commentator
Shepherd is the owner/publisher of the political news and commentary website The Commentator.
Books
- A State Beyond the Pale: Europe's Problem With Israel (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2009)
- Czechoslovakia: The Velvet Revolution and Beyond, (Palgrave Macmillan/St. Martins Press, 2000)