Gvosdev is a senior fellow with the Foreign Policy Research Institute, specifically as part of the Eurasia Program and the Program on National Security.[7]
Along with Dimitri K. Simes, Anatol Lieven, and John Hulsman, Gvosdev is seen as one of the proponents of the "new realism" in foreign policy—one that acknowledges a greater role for values than traditional realpolitik as espoused by Henry Kissinger, but nonetheless puts a stress on setting priorities. He has also been one of the strongest[citation needed] proponents for engagement with Russia and has tended to view Vladimir Putin's government in a more positive light than most American commentators, characterizing his regime as "managed pluralism" rather than as an outright authoritarian state. Along with Ray Takeyh, he was an early skeptic of the proposition that the spread of democracy in the Middle East would bring pro-American governments to power.[citation needed]
Contributing to the anthology Our American Story (2019), Gvosdev addressed the possibility of a shared American narrative and focused on a sense of community, writing, "Shared participation in and celebration of the unfinished and ongoing American experiment is the best way to create and cement the bonds of fellowship and citizenship among Americans."[8]
Since 2020, he has been cohost of the Doorstep podcast, an initiative of the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs. This is part of an effort to connect U.S. foreign policy with domestic concerns, as well as to explore new narratives for U.S. global engagement.
Imperial policies and perspectives towards Georgia, 1760–1819 (St. Martin's Press in association with St. Antony's College, Oxford, 2000)
Emperors and Elections : Reconciling the Orthodox Tradition with Modern Politics (Huntington, N.Y.: Troitsa Books, 2000)
An examination of church-state relations in the Byzantine and Russian empires with an emphasis on ideology and models of interaction (Lewiston, N.Y.: E. Mellen Press, 2001)
The Receding Shadow of the Prophet: The Rise and Fall of Political Islam (Praeger, 2004)
Russian Foreign Policy: Interests, Vectors and Sectors (CQ Press, 2013, with Christopher Marsh)
US Foreign Policy and Defense Strategy (Georgetown University Press, 2014, with Derek Reveron and Mackubin Owens);
US foreign policy and defense strategy: the evolution of an incidental superpower (Georgetown University Press, 2015; with Derek S. Reveron and Mackubin Thomas Owens)
The Oxford Handbook of U.S. National Security (Oxford University Press, 2018; with Derek S. Reveron; John A. Cloud)
Decision-Making in American Foreign Policy: Translating Theory into Practice (Cambridge University Press, 2019; with Jessica D. Blankshain, and David A. Cooper)
^Claybourn, Joshua, ed. (2019). Our American Story: The Search for a Shared National Narrative. Lincoln, NE: Potomac Books. pp. 100–115. ISBN978-1640121706.