Marc Lynch is associate professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, where he is the director of the Institute for Middle East Studies and of the Project on Middle East Political Science. He is also a non-resident senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, and edits the Middle East Channel for ForeignPolicy.com.
Lynch publishes frequently on the politics of the Middle East, with a particular focus on the Arab media and information technology, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, and Islamist movements. He also works on public diplomacy and strategic communications. His latest book, The Arab Uprising: The Unfinished Revolutions of the New Middle East (Public Affairs, 2012), explores the ramifications of upheaval in the Arab world, and how the West should react. He is also author of Voices of the New Arab Public: Al-Jazeera, Iraq, and Middle East Politics Today (Columbia University Press, 2005), which was selected as a Choice Outstanding Academic Book. He has received substantial grants from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Social Science Research Council, the United States Institute for Peace, and the U.S. Department of Education.
Lynch began writing his influential Middle East politics blog Abu Aardvark under a pseudonym in 2002, and began blogging under his own name in the spring of 2005. Despite (or perhaps because of) the quirky name, Abu Aardvark gained a wide following among Middle East policy professionals, journalists, and academics. In 2009, Abu Aardvark moved to ForeignPolicy.com, and in 2010 Lynch helped to launch and edit its Middle East Channel.
Lynch graduated with a BA from Duke University, and received his MA and PhD in Government from Cornell University.
This event is co-sponsored by Honors and Scholars, the Department of Political Science, and the Middle East Studies Center.
