Carleton Convo with Brian Klaas ’08 | January 30, 2026

Award-winning podcaster, writer, and political scientist Brian Klaas ’08 delivered Carleton’s weekly convocation on Friday, January 30, from 10:50 to 11:00 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. His address, “Fluke: How Chance, Luck, and Chaos Theory Explain Our World,” exemplifies his interdisciplinary expertise in the studies of democracy, authoritarianism, political violence, elections, and American politics.

Klaas has advised a variety of governments, U.S. political campaigns, NATO, the European Union, the International Crisis Group, the Carter Center, multi-billion dollar investors, international NGOs, and international politicians. The perspective Klaas brings to the study of politics is influenced by his other research interests, such as contingency, chaos theory, evolutionary biology, the philosophy of science and social science, and complex systems. Klaas also serves as associate researcher at the University of Oxford and a contributing writer for The Atlantic. He was recently named one of the 25 “Top Thinkers” globally by Prospect Magazine.

Klaas is also the author of many books. Most recently, he published his book Fluke: Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters in 2024. Fluke has gained acclaim through its deep exploration of how randomness serves a crucial role in the development of society today. Klaas’s other books include Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us (2021), How to Rig an Election (2018), The Attack on American Politics (2018), The Despot’s Apprentice: Donald Trump’s Attack on Democracy (2017), and The Despot’s Accomplice: How the West Is Aiding and Abetting the Decline of Democracy (2016). Klaas’s short-form work is also widely popular; besides his role at The Atlantic, Klaas writes The Garden of Forking Paths on Substack, which is read by 50,000 people in 175 countries, and created the award-winning Power Corrupts podcast, which has been downloaded over three million times. Klaas frequently appears on national television and radio outlets, including the BBC, MSNBC, CNN, Sky News, National Public Radio, Times Radio, LBC, and an array of other outlets. He was previously a weekly columnist for The Washington Post.

At Carleton, Klaas was an international relations and history double major who graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa. He later received his DPhil in politics from the University of Oxford (New College) after completing an MPhil in comparative government from the University of Oxford (St. Antony’s). Originally from the Twin Cities, Klaas is now a dual U.S./UK citizen who lives just outside London.

Learn more about Carleton Convos at go.carleton.edu/convocations