Richard Nephew
Senior Research Scholar in the Faculty of International and Public Affairs; Adjunct Professor of International and Public Affairs
Personal Details
Richard Nephew returned from a public service leave of absence to the Center on Global Energy Policy and Faculty of the School of International and Public Affairs on 1 July 2024.
During his most recent leave, he was the inaugural U.S. Coordinator on Global Anti-Corruption at the Department of State (2022-2024). He was also elected as the President of the Conference of the States Parties to the UN Convention against Corruption. During his government career, he has also served as the Deputy Special Envoy for Iran (2021), Principal Deputy Coordinator for Sanctions Policy at the Department of State (2013-2015), and Director for Iran at the National Security Council (2011-2013), among other senior civil service staff roles from 2003-2011.
While a senior research scholar at SIPA since 2015, Nephew has written dozens of reports and articles for various publications focused on geopolitics and their intersection with energy markets, economic statecraft, nuclear topics, and sanctions. He is also the author of The Art of Sanctions: A View from the Field, published by Columbia University Press in 2018.
In addition to his primary appointment at CGEP, he is a Bernstein adjunct fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and operates his own consulting LLC, “Go Beyond Compliance,” working in particular with Horizon Engage as a senior advisor.
Nephew holds a Masters in Security Policy Studies and a Bachelors in International Affairs, both from The George Washington University. He is married with three children.
Education
- MA in Security Policy Studies, The George Washington University
- BA in International Affairs, The George Washington University
In The Media
America should give diplomacy a final shot—while preparing to use military force, writes CGEP senior research scholar Richard Nephew.
“I think that Iran would be prepared to help Russia with respect to some sanctions evasion tools, but of course, this assumes that Iran itself has access that it can make readily available,” Richard Nephew of the Center on Global Energy Policy comments.
“The real problem they’re going to have with the sanctions response is it will be seen as insufficient pretty much no matter what you do. The atrocity committed will always be much worse than a sanctions response,” said Richard Nephew.
Richard Nephew and Eddie Fishman discuss Russia’s global oil and gas exports, the near and long-term outcomes of economic sanctions on the Russian economy and the prospects for a revived Iran nuclear deal.
Sanctioning the central bank, Richard Nephew said, “will be seen as a massive escalation regardless.”