Jeffrey L. Bleich

While at CASBS, Jeff Bleich will be working on completing two books. The first is an update of Machiavelli’s The Prince for modern times, intended to advise a would-be ruler on how to gain and consolidate the power of the United States. The second is an update of progressive prescriptions from the second industrial revolution in the United States to reform and restore functioning democracy in America.  

Bleich’s writings have focused principally on democracy, international relations, and constitutional law.  His legal career includes serving in the White House, as special counsel to President Obama, law clerk to the Chief Justice of the United States, and president of the State Bar of California. Bleich also served as the 24th United States ambassador to Australia, and senior advisor to the director of National Intelligence.

Bleich is a legal and political scholar/practitioner whose work focuses on law, democracy, and disruptive technologies.  He is a professorial fellow at Flinders University, an ambassadorial fellow at the University of Sydney and chairs the board of the Bleich Centre on Democracy and Disruptive Technologies in Adelaide.  He has also served as chair of the California State University Board of Trustees, chair of the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, trustee of Amherst College, and a member of the CASBS board of directors. 

Bleich holds a BA from Amherst College, MPP from Harvard University, JD from the University of California, Berkeley, and honorary doctorates from San Francisco State University, Griffith University, and Flinders University in Adelaide.