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The hopes of the Arab uprisings of 2011 have faded into a nightmarish array of resurgent autocrats, failed states, and civil wars. What went wrong?  The New Arab Wars highlights the role of regional and global powers, from Saudi Arabia and Iran to the United States. It shows how the interventions by external powers derailed the democratic transition in Egypt and blocked change in other countries.  It then explains how those interventions turned Libya, Yemen and Syria into full-scale wars with little prospect in sight for resolution.  Finally, it looks at the Obama administration's approach to the uprisings and how the next President will likely adapt America's role in the Middle East. 

Professor 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 at George Washington University. He is the director of the Project on Middle East Political Science, a contributing editor for The Washington Post's Monkey Cage political science page, editor of the Columbia University Press series Columbia Studies on Middle East Politics, and a nonresident senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His most recent book, The New Arab Wars: Uprisings and Anarchy in the Middle East, has been recently published.

Co-Sponsored with the Bustani Middle East Seminar.

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