WASHINGTON, June 8, 2015 – The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington (AGSIW) is pleased to announce that Dr. Kristin Smith Diwan has joined the institute as a senior resident scholar. She joins Hussein Ibish on the senior resident scholar team, which will welcome one more member in the coming weeks.

Prior to her position at AGSIW, Diwan was an assistant professor at the American University School of International Service where she still teaches in an adjunct capacity. She has held visiting scholar positions at both the George Washington University Institute for Middle East Studies and the Georgetown University Center for Contemporary Arab Studies. From 2013-14 she served as a visiting senior fellow at the Atlantic Council Hariri Center for the Middle East where she published on youth movements and participated in the Strategic Dialogue for a New US-Gulf Partnership. Her analyses of Gulf affairs have appeared in many publications, among them Geopolitics, Middle East Report, the Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, and Foreign Policy.

“I am most excited by the opportunity the institute presents to expand the American view of the Gulf states beyond the dual lenses of oil and security” said Diwan. “The institute constitutes a wonderful platform for introducing new diverse voices from a rapidly changing society, and for engaging with a dynamic younger generation.”

“I am delighted to welcome Kristin to the institute,” said Ambassador Marcelle M. Wahba, AGSIW president. “By recruiting some of the best scholars on the Gulf to join our young institute, we have made significant progress towards realizing our goal to be recognized as Washington’s primary source of credible and expert analysis about the complexity of the issues that impact the region and U.S. interests.”

At AGSIW, Diwan will lead projects concerning Gulf political economy, the politics of sectarianism, generational change, and the evolution of Islamism in the GCC.

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The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington (AGSIW), established in 2014, is an independent, non-profit institution dedicated to increasing the understanding and appreciation of the social, economic, and political diversity of the Arab Gulf states. Through expert research, analysis, exchanges, and public discussion, the institute seeks to encourage thoughtful debate and inform decision makers shaping U.S. policy regarding this critical geo-strategic region.