IWP Faculty Profile: Dr. David Klocek
Posted: Thursday, May 21, 2009
Dr. David M.L. Klocek, who serves as IWP's Faculty Chairman and Chairman of the Admissions Committee, also co-teaches a course entitled International Relations, Statecraft and Integrated Strategy. Dr. Klocek, who spent time in the White House and CIA, also has an impressive academic background - particularly in his studies of political philosophy and theory, and of East and Central Europe.
Dr. Klocek is pictured at the extreme right, looking on during an address to IWP students and friends by US Ambassador to Poland Victor Ashe.
After graduating Magna Cum Laude from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and studying at the University of Michigan, Dr. Klocek's career in Washington took off with a position as a public liaison officer in the White House. He proceeded to become an intelligence analyst in the Central Intelligence Agency - a more interesting opportunity, and very much in line with his ambitions to make a career in the field of political intelligence.
During this time, Dr. Klocek wrote briefing papers for two of George H.W. Bush's trips to Poland - once when Bush was Vice President, and once when he was President. He wrote many political analyses for different senior policy makers, and conducted oral briefings, as well.
Dr. Klocek ultimately decided that he wanted to rejoin the world of academia. In 1989, he left his position at the CIA and returned to Georgetown to get his Ph.D. under Dr. James V. Schall. Dr. Klocek was the teaching assistant for Ambassador Jeanne Kirkpatrick at Georgetown, taught some classes on his own, and eventually became the Chair of the Social Sciences Department at St. Mary's College of Ave Maria University, which later became part of Madonna University in Michigan.
After occasional visits to IWP and service as an informal curriculum consultant, Dr. Klocek joined the Institute's faculty in 2005, and soon became Faculty Chairman. In this capacity, he was able to help IWP prepare for accreditation by setting up administrative structures for the growing faculty and student body of IWP. These structures are still a work in progress, as IWP continues to expand.
When Dr. Klocek came to IWP, he was impressed by the commitment to "decent civilization" that IWP possessed, as well as its recognition of the importance of teaching Judeo-Christian values as they apply to statecraft and international relations. While other mainline schools often ignore these principles to a large extent or even entirely, the Institute teaches these values, which have largely informed the American experience. A system of political morality, Dr. Klocek would argue, is an essential tool for a true statesman in that it can prevent him from making rash decisions that might lead to unforeseen, unintended, and unfortunate consequences. As he explains to his students, genuine prudence respects moral absolutes, and, thus, prevents hubris.
In his class at the Institute, Dr. Klocek teaches his students about the Cold War, which provides a relatively recent example of how serious grand strategy works, and forms an important aspect of the education of IWP students. His time in the White House and experience in intelligence analysis informs his observations about the Cold War, and has given him a certain depth of perspective about this time period.
Dr. Klocek's academic and professional backgrounds allow him to present to his students the relationship between theory and practice in the realm of international affairs in an engaging way that challenges them to reexamine the way they think about these matters. His work at IWP is vital, as his teaching helps form the basis on which students can build the rest of their knowledge about world affairs.
