Mark N. Katz

Professor of Government and Politics

Schar School of Policy and Government

George Mason University

Recent Articles

“Support Opposing Sides Simultaneously: Russia’s Approach to the Gulf and the Middle East,” Al Jazeera Center for Studies, August 23, 2018

"Better Than Before: Comparing Moscow's Cold War and Putin Era Policies toward Arabia and the Gulf," Durham Middle East Paper No. 96/Sir William Luce Fellowship Paper No. 19, Institute for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, Durham University, August 2018

“New Caspian Accord Resolves Some Issues, Not All,” LobeLog, August 15, 2018

"Russia and Israel: An Improbable Friendship," in N Popescu and S. Secrieru, eds., "Russia's Return to the Middle East: Building Sandcastles?" Chaillot Paper 146, European Union Institute for Security Studies, July 2018

“Putin Benefits from Trump’s Anti-Iran Sanctions,” LobeLog, June 28, 2018

“Balancing Act: Russia between Iran and Saudi Arabia,” London School of Economics Middle East Centre blog, June 26, 2018

“Riyadh and Abu Dhabi Draw Closer to Moscow,” Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, June 20, 2018

“Can Moscow Mediate Between Israel and Iran in Syria?” Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center “Russia Matters” blog, May 18, 2018

“Putin and Netanyahu: Converging Interests?”  LobeLog, May 11, 2018

“Russia and Iran:  Common Interests, Ongoing Differences and Growing Risks,” London School of Economics Middle East Centre blog, May 7, 2018

“What Do They See in Him? How the Middle East Views Putin and Russia” Russian Analytical Digest, No. 219, May 3, 2018

“Moscow and the U.S.-led Attack on Syrian Chemical Weapons Facilities,”  LobeLog, April 16, 2018

“Costly Victory: Russia in Syria,” The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, March 5, 2018

“Divergences over Turkish Incursion Reflected at Conference in Moscow,” The Arab Weekly, March 4, 2018

“Can Russia Succeed Where America Failed in the Middle East?” LobeLog, February 23, 2018

“America, Russia, and Syria’s Many Conflicts,” LobeLog, January 29, 2018

“Can Putin Mediate an Israeli-Palestinian Settlement?” The Arab Weekly, January 7, 2018

“Putin’s Syria Diplomacy Seeks to Minimize Risks for Russia.” Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, November 28, 2017

“Moscow’s Balancing Act in Syria.”  LobeLog, November 21, 2017

“Russia Sees New Saudi ‘Realism’ on Display at Moscow Summit.” Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, October 10, 2017

“Is Riyadh Finally Buying Russian Air Defense Missiles?” LobeLog, October 6, 2017

“Russian-Saudi Rapprochement? Iran and Economic Strain Will Make It Tough.” Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center “Russia Matters” blog, September 28, 2017

“Naval Nuances: China, Russia, and the Baltic Sea.” LobeLog, August 7, 2017

“Assessing the Putin-Rouhani Summit.”  LobeLog, March 29, 2017

“Russian Policy toward Libya:The Egyptian Factor.”  Atlantic Council MENASource, March 22, 2017

“Targeting Iran’s Regime Will Strengthen, Not Break, the Moscow-Tehran Alliance,” LobeLog, February 16, 2017

“Putin Resists Pressure to Take Sides as U.S.-Iran Tensions Grow,” Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, February 9, 2017

“Russia Maneuvers between Opposing Forces in Yemen,” Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, January 25, 2017

“Russia’s Middle East Policy and the Trump Administration,” Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, January 13, 2017

"Russia's Regional Ties Grow at Saudi Expense," The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, August 19, 2016

"The Iran Factor in the Russian-Turkish Rapprochement," The Arab Weekly, August 14, 2016

"Is Saudi Arabia Really Inviting Russia to Play a Bigger Role in the Middle East?" LobeLog, August 2, 2016

"Russia and the Syrian Kurds: A Complex Interaction," The Arab Weekly, June 19, 2016 

"Putin's Foreign Policy and Russia's Long-Term Interests," Baltic Rim Economies Review (Pan-European Institute, Finland), May 2016

"Assessing Putin's 'Fight Them There Not Here' Strategy," SyriaSource (Atlantic Council), September 28, 2015

"Putin Ignoring China Threat," The Moscow Times, August 16, 2015

"Why Russia Shouldn't Fear NATO," The National Interest Online, July 2, 2015

"Inside the Confused Mind of Vladimir Putin" The Moscow Times, April 1, 2015

Books

Leaving without Losing: The War on Terror after Iraq and Afghanistan, (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012).

Revolution: International Dimensions,(CQ Press, 2001).

Reflections on Revolutions, (Palgrave, 1999).

Revolutions and Revolutionary Waves, (Palgrave, 1997)

The USSR and Marxist Revolutions in the Third World, (Wilson Center/Cambridge University Press, 1991).

Gorbachev's Military Policy in the Third World, (CSIS/Praeger, 1989).

Russia and Arabia: Soviet Foreign Policy toward the Arabian Peninsula, (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986).

The Third World in Soviet Military Thought, (Johns Hopkins University Press/Croom Helm, 1982--reissued by Routledge, 2011).