Ibrahim Al-Assil

Ibrahim Al-Assil is a political scientist and Middle East scholar. He focuses on geopolitics, governance, and state evolution, with particular expertise in the dynamics of the Gulf and Levant regions. He is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Middle East Initiative at Harvard University’s Belfer Center and a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, where he leads the Syria project.

Dr. Al-Assil's work bridges academic research, policy, and practice, informed by his engagement in conflict resolution, regional Track II dialogues, and grassroots movements across the Middle East. He served as a professorial lecturer at George Washington University’s Department of Political Science, where he taught courses on comparative politics and great-power competition. He has held fellowships at Harvard University’s Center for Public Leadership, the Middle East Institute in Washington D.C., and the Orient Research Centre in Dubai. He was a founding member and former president of the Syrian Nonviolence Movement, and has served on the boards of the Harvard Arab Alumni Association and various political risk advisory and consulting groups.

Dr. Al-Assil has advised U.S., European, and regional policymakers, testified at the United Nations, and contributed to policy and academic conversations across the world. He has been published and quoted in leading international outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, and the Atlantic. He regularly appears on BBC, CNN, and Alarabiya, and previously created and hosted Podcast AlAwsat.

He holds a Doctor of International Affairs (DIA) from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), a Master in Public Administration (MPA) from Harvard Kennedy School, an MBA from the University of Essex.

In addition to his policy and academic work, Dr. Al-Assil is an abstract artist whose paintings explore themes of identity, memory, and transformation. He is a contributor to Liberties Journal on culture and politics.