Has the Middle East Really Changed?

RSVP In-Person

RSVP Online

The Middle East Policy Forum, in partnership with Foreign Affairs, is pleased to host F. Gregory Gause III, Marc Lynch and Suzanne Maloney, for a discussion about the future of the Middle East. Moderated by Foreign Affairs Executive Editor Justin Vogt, the panel goes beyond the headlines to ask: has the region really changed?

In recent essays for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Gause and Dr. Lynch offer competing visions of the future of the Middle East. Dr. Gause, Associate Fellow at the Middle East Institute, argues that despite realignment, regime change, and regional war, the Middle East remains fundamentally unchanged. Dr. Lynch, Professor of Political Science at the George Washington University, forecasts a dramatic end to the American-led regional order. Joining them is Dr. Maloney, the Brookings Institution’s leading voice on U.S. policy toward Iran and the broader Middle East. Dr. Maloney will share her own assessment of the prospects for long-term change.

All are welcome to attend this event hosted by the Middle East Policy Forum and co-sponsored by Foreign Affairs. This event is open to the general public and media.

Speakers:

• Dr. F. Gregory Gause III is an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC, and Professor Emeritus of International Affairs at the Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University, from which he retired in January 2025. From fall 2014 through summer 2022 he served as Head of the School’s Department of International Affairs. He is the author of three books and numerous articles on the politics of the Middle East, with a particular focus on the Arabian Peninsula and the Persian Gulf. He was previously on the faculties of the University of Vermont (1995-2014) and Columbia University (1987-1995) and was Fellow for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York (1993-1994). During the 2009-10 academic year he was Kuwait Foundation Visiting Professor of International Affairs at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. In spring 2009 he was a Fulbright Scholar at the American University in Kuwait. In spring 2010 he was a research fellow at the King Faisal Center for Islamic Studies and Research in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. His most recent book is The International Relations of the Persian Gulf (Cambridge University Press, 2010). His articles have appeared in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The Middle East Journal, Security Studies, Washington Quarterly, National Interest, and other journals and edited volumes. He received his Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University in 1987 and his A.B. (summa cum laude) from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia in 1980. He studied Arabic at the American University in Cairo (1982-83) and Middlebury College (1984).

• Professor Marc Lynch received his B.A. in Political Science from Duke University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Government from Cornell University. He teaches courses on Middle Eastern politics and international relations. He is the director of the Project on Middle East Political Science and co-director of the Program on African Social Research, and editor of the Columbia University Press series Columbia Studies on Middle East Politics. He is the author of The New Arab Wars: Uprisings and Anarchy in the Middle East and a co-editor of The One State Reality: What Is Israel/Palestine?

• Dr. Suzanne Maloney is the vice president and director of the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution, where her research focuses on Iran and Persian Gulf energy. Prior to being named vice president and director, she served as the deputy director of Foreign Policy for five years. At Brookings, she is a leading voice on U.S. policy toward Iran and the broader Middle East, testifying before Congress, briefing policymakers, and engaging with government, non-profit organizations and corporations. Maloney also serves on the External Research Council for the National Intelligence Council and is a frequent commentator in national and international media. Maloney has advised both Democratic and Republican administrations on Iran policy, including as an external advisor to senior State Department officials during the Obama administration and as a member of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s Policy Planning staff. Earlier in her career, she served as Middle East advisor for ExxonMobil Corporation, where she was responsible for government relations related to all corporate activities in the region. She has authored or edited three books on Iran: “The Iranian Revolution at 40” (Brookings Institution Press, 2020), “Iran’s Political Economy since the Revolution” (Cambridge University Press, 2015), and “Iran’s Long Reach” (United States Institute of Peace, 2008). Maloney has also published numerous book chapters and articles in a variety of academic and policy journals as well as news media such as the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Foreign Affairs. In 2004, she directed and authored the Council on Foreign Relations Task Force on US policy toward Iran, chaired by former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. Maloney received a doctoral degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and studied in Tehran as part of the first academic exchanges between the United States and Iran since the 1979 revolution.

• Justin Vogt joined Foreign Affairs in 2011 after previously serving as managing editor of World Policy Journal. Earlier, he was a research editor and fact-checker at The New Yorker and an associate producer on documentary films for the PBS series Frontline. His writing has been published by The New York Times, The New Yorker, and many other outlets.