Dr. Michael Yaffe

Dr. Michael Yaffe is a Distinguished Professor and former Academic Dean at the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies. During his tenure as Academic Dean (2004-2009), Dr. Yaffe expanded the Center’s curriculum and expertise in regional studies through a fourfold increase in executive education programs, faculty members, research publications, and establishment of the “Regional Network of Strategic Study Centers” with 30 institutes in the Middle East, South Asia, and the United States.

Prior to joining the NESA Center in December 2001, Dr. Yaffe was a career Foreign Affairs Officer in the U.S. Department of State where he concentrated on Middle East regional security and weapons of mass destruction nonproliferation. He served on U.S. delegations to the Madrid Middle East Peace Process, Arms Control and Regional Security Working Group, Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Preparatory Committees and Review Conferences, General Conferences of the International Atomic Energy Agency, NATO, and other international forums. He was a recipient of two State Department Superior Honors Awards, a Group Meritorious Honors Award, and a Department of the Army Certificate of Appreciation.

Dr. Yaffe has taught and lectured at various universities and academic institutions, and was a post-doctoral Olin Fellow at Harvard University’s John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies, Research Associate at Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Peace Scholar at the U.S. Institute of Peace, American Friends of the London School of Economic Graduate Scholar, and Salvatori Fellow.

Education

Ph.D., Politics, University of Pennsylvania
M.Sc., International Relations, London School of Economics and Political Science
B.A., Economics, University of Massachusetts - Amherst; Sussex University

Areas of Interest

Middle East Security, Peace Process, Track Two Diplomacy
Regional Security Systems, Architecture, and Organization
WMD Nonproliferation and Arms Control
Confidence Building Measures and Border Security
U.S. Foreign Policy, Diplomatic History, and Constitutional Founding
George Washington

Michael Yaffe, Distinguished Professor

Michael Yaffe

"Wars usually begin when two nations disagree on their relative strength, and wars usually cease when the fighting nations agree on their relative strength...When nations prepare to fight one another, they have contradictory expectations of the likely duration and outcome of war. When those predictions, however, cease to be contradictory, the war is almost certain to end."

~ Geoffrey Blainey, The Causes of War, 1793

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Suggested Readings

Laipson, E. (ed.) (2011). Seismic Shift: Understanding Change in the Middle East. Washington, DC: The Stimson Center.
Diker, D. (ed.) (2010). Israel's Critical Security Needs for a Viable Peace. Jerusalem: Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
Gause III, F. (2009). The International Relations of the Persian Gulf. NY: Cambridge University Press.
Miller, B. (2007). States, Nations, and the Great Powers: The Sources of Regional War and Peace. NY: Cambridge University Press.
Adler, E., Bicchi F., et. al. (eds.) (2006). The Convergence of Civilizations: Constructing a Mediterranean Region. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Huntington, S. (1993). The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century. OK: University of Oklahoma Press.