Ariel I. Ahram

Ariel Ahram is a professor in the government and international affairs program at Virginia Tech, based in the Washington Metro area.  His research and teaching focus on international security, particularly energy and environmental security, and Middle East politics.  He also specializes in research methodology. He is also the editor of The Middle East Journal, the oldest American journal devoted to the study of the contemporary Middle East.

He is the author of War and Conflict in the Middle East and North Africa (Polity, 2020), Break All the Borders: Separatism and the Remaking of the Middle East (Oxford, 2019), and Proxy Warriors: The Rise and Fall of State Sponsored Militias (Stanford, 2011) and co-editor of Advancing Comparative Area Studies (Oxford, 2025).

Ahram has been quoted or interviewed in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Vox, BBC, Canadian Broadcast Corporation, Australian Broadcast Corporation, Virginia Public Television, and other media outlets.

Areas of Expertise:

• Energy Security
• Middle East Politics
• Research Methodology