Michael F. Oppenheimer is Visiting Fellow at the Center for Advanced Security, Strategic and Integration Studies (CASSIS) at University of Bonn. For the past twenty two years he was a Professor at NYU, where he led the International Relations/Futures academic concentration at the Center for Global Affairs, teaching courses on International Relations, Strategic Foresight, and U.S. Foreign Policy, and leading a consulting practicum on counter terrorism for the UN Counter Terrorism Executive Directorate. He is author of several books, including Pivotal Countries, Alternate Futures: Using Scenarios to Manage American Strategy, published by Oxford University Press. His recent research has focused on the changing nature of soft power and its global distribution, and on redefining smart power for a hard power age: his chapter on the erosion of U.S smart power will appear in the next Routledge Handbook of Power in International Relations. Prior to NYU he led international programs for the Futures Group, where he consulted to the National Intelligence Council, the State Department, the White House Science Office, and other U.S. government agencies.