Harvard Kennedy School Welcomes Robert Springborg as the Fall 2016 Kuwait Foundation Visiting Scholar

CAMBRIDGE, MA – Robert Springborg, a preeminent senior scholar of the Middle East has joined the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) community this semester as Kuwait Foundation Visiting Scholar at the Middle East Initiative at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

Robert Springborg is a non-resident Research Fellow of the Italian Institute of International Affairs, and Visiting Professor in the Department of War Studies, King’s College, London. Until October 2013, he was Professor of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School and Program Manager for the Middle East for the Center for Civil-Military Relations. He has over 40 years of teaching experience, including at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Pennsylvania, College of Europe (Warsaw) and elsewhere. He has also worked as a consultant on Middle East governance and politics for the USAID, the U.S. State Department, the UNDP, and various UK government departments, including the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Ministry of Defense and the Department for International Development.

While in residence at HKS, Springborg will engage with students, faculty, and affiliates, participate in various events and activities on campus, and lead an eight-week study group titled, “Globalization and its Discontents in the Middle East and North Africa.” This study group series will convene a group of international relations experts to discuss the impacts of slowing economic globalization on the Middle East and North Africa. A report based on the study group sessions will be drawn upon and referenced in the third edition of Globalization and the Politics of Development in the Middle East, which is to be published in 2017/18.

“We are pleased to welcome Professor Springborg as the Kuwait Foundation Visiting Scholar this autumn,” said Nicholas Burns, Roy and Barbara Goodman Family Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations, and Faculty Chair of the Middle East Initiative. “Professor Springborg is a renowned scholar of the Middle East. His extensive knowledge of political institutions, globalization, and development in the Middle East will be an invaluable addition to our intellectual community at the Harvard Kennedy School.”

The Kuwait Foundation Visiting Scholar Program is one of five components of the Kuwait Program at Harvard Kennedy School and is supported by the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences. The Visiting Scholar program attracts regional experts who lead study groups, conduct research projects, and engage with other scholars and practitioners at HKS. Their presence helps enrich on-campus program offerings regarding the Middle East and supports the broader mission of the Middle East Initiative.

The Middle East Initiative is dedicated to deepening and strengthening Harvard Kennedy School's relationship with the institutions and peoples of the Middle East. MEI engages public policy issues in the Middle East by convening academic and policy experts, collaborating with regional partners, and developing the next generation of leaders.