Brian Klaas

Associate Professor of Global Politics at University College London

Dr. Brian Klaas is an Associate Professor in Global Politics at University College London, an affiliate researcher at the University of Oxford, and a contributing writer for The Atlantic. He is also the author five books, including Fluke: Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters (2024) and Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us (2021). Klaas writes the popular The Garden of Forking Paths Substack and created the award-winning Power Corrupts podcast, which has been downloaded roughly three million times.

Klaas is an expert on democracy, authoritarianism, American politics, political violence, elections, and the nature of power. Additionally, his research interests include contingency, chaos theory, evolutionary biology, the philosophy of science and social science, and complex systems. In addition to Fluke and Corruptible, Klaas authored three earlier books: The Despot's Apprentice: Donald Trump's Attack on Democracy (Hurst & Co, 2017); The Despot's Accomplice: How the West is Aiding & Abetting the Decline of Democracy, (Oxford University Press, 2016) and How to Rig an Election (Yale University Press, co-authored with Professor Nic Cheeseman; 2018).

Everything Videos

A monarch butterfly with orange and black wings rests on water, creating a ripple pattern around it.

The impossibility of control in a butterfly-effected world

“When you think about this interconnection of all these tiny causes and effects which add up to the way the world unfolds, it becomes impossible to imagine that we have complete control.”

A man in a black suit sits on a chair against a white backdrop, surrounded by several monarch butterflies on a bright blue background.

Your life is at the mercy of seemingly random tiny events

"It's a true fact, but a bizarre one, that the reason why hundreds of thousands of people died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki rather than Kyoto and Kokura, is because of a 19-year-old vacation and a passing cloud."

Image of Earth set against a black background with the text "A Volatile World" in large white letters.

Why does it feel like the world is falling apart?

“We've engineered a volatile world where Starbucks is completely unchanging from year to year, but democracies are collapsing and rivers are drying up.”

A bulletin board with newspaper clippings, maps, and strings. The text "THE HIDDEN TRUTH?" is prominently displayed in the center.

Our information pipelines have shifted. They’re fueling conspiracy theories

“The problem with conspiracy theories is they're not just telling you a story, they're telling you a really good story. There's a hidden cabal behind everything that's happening, there's a secret pattern that you just have to be smart enough to detect.”

The mind-blowing chaos that underpins the world

“We control nothing but influence everything.” Political scientist Brian Klaas on how every decision we make - both massive and miniscule - shapes our futures.

Three red dice in mid-roll on a green surface.

Debunking the ‘billionaire = genius’ myth

Why most billionaires aren’t geniuses and most geniuses aren’t billionaires, explained by political scientist Brian Klaas.

A yellow and black snake with a black background.

Why the wrong people end up in power

“Only a narcissist would want to become president.” This is the psychology of an authoritarian unpacked.

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