Luke Phillips

Luke Phillips

Luke Phillips is a policy researcher and political writer interested in economic policy, government reform, American political and intellectual history, federalism and administration, foreign policy and grand strategy, and political theory. He is based between Southern California and Washington D.C., and has been active in California state politics.

Phillips has been involved in policy research, commentary publishing, and politics for some time. He has done stints and projects at the Richard Nixon Foundation, the John Hay Initiative, Mike & Morley LLC, The American Interest magazine, the Center for Opportunity Urbanism, and various California Republican campaigns, including Duf Sundheim’s 2016 bid for the U.S. Senate and David Hadley’s brief 2018 campaign for Governor of California. He has been involved in various center-right blogging projects over the years, including The Progressive Republican League, The New Hamiltonian, and most recently, The Hamiltonian Republican. He keeps a personal blog on politics, history, ethics, and philosophy called “A Biased Perspective.” Outside of writing and politics, Phillips has marched in the University of Southern California’s Trojan Marching Band, sang in various Catholic choirs, and worked as an OA Trail Crew Foreman in the Philmont Scout Ranch Conservation Department. He is an avid hiker, a mediocre ukulelist, and an occasional poet.
Luke is currently finishing his Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. He commutes regularly to the Washington D.C. Metro Area, where he will be relocating in 2018. Phillips is an Eagle Scout, and a member of the Hertog Foundation Alumni and the USC Unruh Associates.

Advice to Young Writers and Reflections on Four Years in Glimpse

“True glory lies in doing what deserves to be written; in writing, what deserves to be read.”   –Attributed to Pliny the Elder Well, it’s finally time to say goodbye to the organization that midwifed me as a writer and ...

Towards a New Nixon Doctrine, Part 2

A version of this essay first appeared at The Hamiltonian Republican. This is Part II of a two-part series. III- A NEW NIXON DOCTRINE As mentioned at the beginning of this essay, the world post-2014 has undergone tectonic shifts in ...

Towards a New Nixon Doctrine, Part 1

I- NIXON’S WORLD AND OURS Most readers will be familiar with the not-often-observed legal responsibility of the President of the United States to provide Congress with an annual report on his administration’s foreign policy initiatives, called the “National Security Strategy.” ...

Two Dumb Ideas and the Trump Team’s Grand Strategy

A time-honored tradition in the foreign policy commentariat is the habit of anyone who studies foreign policy for a living–from undergraduates at USC to PhD’s in International Relations and former Undersecretaries of State for Communications Policy– to put on their ...

The Forebears of Trump’s Team of Realists

For most of the American foreign policy commentariat, myself included, the greatest and most horrendous legacy of a Trump Presidency was always going to be President Trump’s clownish mismanagement of foreign affairs, which many believed would lead to a breakdown ...

Glimpse Talks: Clinton’s Strategy

In this podcast, Glimpse Senior Correspondent Luke Phillips interviews Dr. Boys on the foreign policy trends and incidents of the Clinton Administration. Dr. Boys argues that President Clinton was first and foremost a foreign policy pragmatist who responded responsibly to ...

An Interview with Terry McCarthy

In October, Glimpse sat down with Terry McCarthy, the president of the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, to discuss the world a new American president will face in 2017. For 27 years, McCarthy traveled the world for television and print ...

A Conversation with Robert D. Kaplan

Robert D. Kaplan is the bestselling author of many books on foreign affairs including In Europe’s Shadow, Asia’s Cauldron, The Revenge of Geography, Monsoon, The Coming Anarchy, and Balkan Ghosts. His writing is eclectic and lucid; an essential voice in ...

Glimpse Talks Trends: a (handwoven) Cornucopia of Deplorables

Correspondents Luke Phillips and Spencer Slagowitz sit down for a conversation about trends in foreign affairs, from trade to climate change to the populist right. The views expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect those of the Glimpse from the ...

Geopolitik Ep3: Europe and Eurasia

Correspondents Luke Phillips, Katya Lopatko and Jack Crash Anderson talk geography and the balance of power in Europe and Eurasia. From Westphalia to Vienna to the EU, how do we conceive of the European landmass? It’s more than churches, tourist ...