Martin Kramer
Encyclopedia
Martin Seth Kramer is an American
scholar of the Middle East
at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy
and the Shalem Center
. His focus is on Islam
and Arab
politics.
in Middle Eastern Studies
at Tel Aviv University
and completed his B.A. in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University
. He earned his Ph.D.
at Princeton as well, under Fouad Ajami
, L. Carl Brown
, the late Charles Issawi
, and Bernard Lewis
, who directed his thesis. He also received a History M.A. from Columbia University
.
and Senior Fellow at the Shalem Center
in Jerusalem. In 2009 Kramer was appointed President-designate of Shalem College
.
During a 25-year career at Tel Aviv University
, Kramer directed the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies
; taught as a visiting professor
at Brandeis University
, the University of Chicago
, Cornell University
, and Georgetown University
; and served twice as a fellow of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
in Washington, D.C. He is a past editor of the Middle East Forum
's Middle East Quarterly
.
in the wake of 9/11
, arguing in December 2001 that regardless of a possible involvement, he posed a threat to the entire Middle East. However, he was critical of the shifting rationale for the war in October 2002, questioning the United States' "tools of social engineering" needed to promote an eventual democracy process in the Arab world.
He was a senior policy adviser on the Middle East to the Rudy Giuliani
Presidential Campaign.
published Kramer's book Ivory Towers on Sand: The Failure of Middle Eastern Studies in America (download). The work criticizes Middle Eastern Studies in the United States for what Kramer argues is a systematic left-wing bias backed with poor scholarship.
in Israel
, Kramer caused controversy in a speech in which he advocated cuts in what he termed "pro-natal subsidies" to Palestinians in Gaza as a means of discouraging population growth, thus curbing Islamic radicalization. At the time, he was a National Security Studies Program Visiting Scholar at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
, and some critics called on Harvard to distance itself from him. Deans at Harvard University
's Weatherhead Center for International Affairs rejected these calls, stating, "Accusations have been made that Martin Kramer's statements are genocidal. These accusations are baseless." They found that Kramer's critics "appear not to understand the role of controversy in an academic setting" and rejected any attempts to restrict "fundamental academic freedom."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
scholar of the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Washington Institute for Near East Policy
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy is a think tank based in Washington, D.C. focused on United States foreign policy in the Middle East. It was established by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in 1985...
and the Shalem Center
Shalem Center
The Shalem Center is a Jerusalem research institute that supports academic work in the fields of philosophy, political theory, Jewish and Zionist history, Bible and Talmud, Middle East Studies, archaeology, economics, and strategic studies...
. His focus is on Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
and Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
politics.
Education
Kramer began his undergraduate degree under Itamar RabinovichItamar Rabinovich
- External links :* - an official page on the Israeli Embassy website.* , from Jewish Library.* at the Kennedy School of Government.* , NYU biography.* , Haaretz , November 2, 2007.* , another mini-bio....
in Middle Eastern Studies
Middle Eastern studies
Middle Eastern studies is a name given to a number of academic programs associated with the study of the history, culture, politics, economies, and geography of the Middle East, an area that is generally interpreted to cover a range of nations extending from North Africa in the west to the Chinese...
at Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University is a public university located in Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel. With nearly 30,000 students, TAU is Israel's largest university.-History:...
and completed his B.A. in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
. He earned his Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
at Princeton as well, under Fouad Ajami
Fouad Ajami
Fouad A. Ajami , is a MacArthur Fellowship winning, Lebanese-born American university professor and writer on Middle Eastern issues. He is currently a senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution....
, L. Carl Brown
L. Carl Brown
L. Carl Brown is an emeritus professor of history at Princeton University. He taught at Princeton from 1966 to 1993, specializing in the Near East and the Arab world. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1973...
, the late Charles Issawi
Charles Issawi
Charles Issawi was a prominent academic economist and historian of the Middle East at Columbia University and Princeton University in the United States. Roger Owen, the A. J...
, and Bernard Lewis
Bernard Lewis
Bernard Lewis, FBA is a British-American historian, scholar in Oriental studies, and political commentator. He is the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University...
, who directed his thesis. He also received a History M.A. from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
.
- Tel Aviv University, 1971-73 – Middle Eastern Studies
- B.A.Bachelor of ArtsA Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
Princeton University, 1975 (summa cum laude) – Near Eastern Studies - M.A.Master of Arts (postgraduate)A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
Columbia University, 1976 – History - M.A.Master of Arts (postgraduate)A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
Princeton University, 1978 – Near Eastern Studies - Ph.D.Ph.D.A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
Princeton University, 1982 – Near Eastern Studies
Career
Martin Kramer is the Wexler-Fromer Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East PolicyWashington Institute for Near East Policy
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy is a think tank based in Washington, D.C. focused on United States foreign policy in the Middle East. It was established by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in 1985...
and Senior Fellow at the Shalem Center
Shalem Center
The Shalem Center is a Jerusalem research institute that supports academic work in the fields of philosophy, political theory, Jewish and Zionist history, Bible and Talmud, Middle East Studies, archaeology, economics, and strategic studies...
in Jerusalem. In 2009 Kramer was appointed President-designate of Shalem College
Shalem College
Shalem College is a liberal arts college in Jerusalem, Israel.Shalem College is a new college planned to be Israel’s first liberal arts college. It will feature options for majors in philosophy and Middle East studies...
.
During a 25-year career at Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University is a public university located in Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel. With nearly 30,000 students, TAU is Israel's largest university.-History:...
, Kramer directed the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies
Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies
The Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies is an interdisciplinary research center based in Israel and devoted to the study of the modern history and contemporary affairs of Africa and the Middle East....
; taught as a visiting professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
at Brandeis University
Brandeis University
Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
, the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
, and Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
; and served twice as a fellow of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars , located in Washington, D.C., is a United States Presidential Memorial that was established as part of the Smithsonian Institution by an act of Congress in 1968...
in Washington, D.C. He is a past editor of the Middle East Forum
Middle East Forum
The Middle East Forum is an American conservative think tank founded in 1990 by Daniel Pipes, who also serves as its director. MEF became a 5013 non-profit organization in 1994...
's Middle East Quarterly
Middle East Quarterly
Middle East Quarterly is a peer reviewed quarterly journal, a publication of the American conservative think tank Middle East Forum founded by Daniel Pipes in 1994. It is devoted to subjects relating to the Middle East and Islam and analyzes the region "explicitly from the viewpoint of American...
.
Political involvement
Kramer was an early advocate of attacking Saddam HusseinSaddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
in the wake of 9/11
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
, arguing in December 2001 that regardless of a possible involvement, he posed a threat to the entire Middle East. However, he was critical of the shifting rationale for the war in October 2002, questioning the United States' "tools of social engineering" needed to promote an eventual democracy process in the Arab world.
He was a senior policy adviser on the Middle East to the Rudy Giuliani
Rudy Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani KBE is an American lawyer, businessman, and politician from New York. He served as Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001....
Presidential Campaign.
Ivory Towers on Sand
In 2001, the Washington Institute for Near East PolicyWashington Institute for Near East Policy
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy is a think tank based in Washington, D.C. focused on United States foreign policy in the Middle East. It was established by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in 1985...
published Kramer's book Ivory Towers on Sand: The Failure of Middle Eastern Studies in America (download). The work criticizes Middle Eastern Studies in the United States for what Kramer argues is a systematic left-wing bias backed with poor scholarship.
Palestinian aid controversy
At the February 2010 Herzliya ConferenceHerzliya conference
The Herzliya Conference, hosted by the Interdisciplinary Center at Herzliya, is Israel's center stage for the articulation of national policy by its most prominent leaders, including the Israeli President, the Prime Minister, the IDF Chief of General Staff, and the leading contenders for high...
in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Kramer caused controversy in a speech in which he advocated cuts in what he termed "pro-natal subsidies" to Palestinians in Gaza as a means of discouraging population growth, thus curbing Islamic radicalization. At the time, he was a National Security Studies Program Visiting Scholar at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, and some critics called on Harvard to distance itself from him. Deans at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
's Weatherhead Center for International Affairs rejected these calls, stating, "Accusations have been made that Martin Kramer's statements are genocidal. These accusations are baseless." They found that Kramer's critics "appear not to understand the role of controversy in an academic setting" and rejected any attempts to restrict "fundamental academic freedom."
Books
- Political Islam (1980) ISBN 0-8039-1435-0
- Islam Assembled (1985) ISBN 0-231-05994-9
- Shi'ism, Resistance, and Revolution (1987) ISBN 0-8133-0453-9
- Hezbollah's Vision of the West (1989) ISBN 0-944029-01-9
- Middle Eastern Lives: The Practice of Biography and Self-Narrative (Contemporary Issues in the Middle East) (1991) ISBN 0-8156-2548-0
- Arab Awakening and Islamic Revival: The Politics of Ideas in the Middle East (1996) ISBN 1-56000-272-7
- The Islamism Debate (1997) ISBN 965-224-024-9
- The Jewish Discovery of Islam (1999) ISBN 965-224-040-0
- Ivory Towers on Sand: The Failure of Middle Eastern Studies in America (2001) ISBN 0-944029-49-3, download
Journal Papers
- The American Interest Azure magazine, Autumn 2006.
- Nation and Assassination in the Middle East, Middle East Quarterly, Summer 2004.
- Coming to Terms: Fundamentalists or Islamists?, Middle East Quarterly, Summer 2003.
- Policy and the Academy: An Illicit Relationship?, Middle East Quarterly, Winter 2003.
Kramer on American scholars of the Middle East
- Pape-Kramer debate - a debate involving Robert PapeRobert PapeRobert Anthony Pape, Jr. , is an American political scientist known for his work on international security affairs, especially the coercive strategies of air power and the rationale of suicide terrorism. He is currently a professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago and founder of the...
and Kramer - Suicide Terrorism in the Middle East: Origins and Response Robert Pape
- Islam Obscured, Kramer on John EspositoJohn EspositoJohn Louis Esposito is a professor of International Affairs and Islamic Studies at Georgetown University...
- Stephen Walt's World, a critique of Stephen WaltStephen WaltStephen Martin Walt is a professor of international affairs at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Among his most prominent works are and . He coauthored The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy with John Mearsheimer.-Education and career:In 1983, he received a Ph.D. in...
- The Arab Nation of Shakib Arslan by Kramer, a critique of Shakib ArslanShakib ArslanShakib Arslan was a Druze prince from Lebanon who was known as because in addition to being a politician, he was also an influential writer, poet and historian, among other things. Influenced by the ideas of al-Afghani and Muhammad Abduh, Arslan became a strong supporter of the Pan-Islamic...
31 October 1987 - Albert Pasha: criticism of Albert HouraniAlbert Hourani-Life and career:Hourani was born in Manchester, England, the son of Soumaya Rassi and Fadlo Issa Hourani, immigrants from Marjeyoun in what is now South Lebanon. His brothers were George Hourani and Cecil Hourani. His family had converted from Greek Orthodoxy...
by Kramer 15 June 2002 - Islamist Bubbles, an assessment of Gilles KepelGilles KepelGilles Kepel is a French political scientist, specialist of the Islam and contemporary Arab world. He is Professor at the Institute of Political Studies in Paris and member of the Institut Universitaire de France....
. - Arab Pen, English Purse: John Sabunji and Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, a critique of Wilfrid Scawen BluntWilfrid Scawen BluntWilfrid Scawen Blunt was an English poet and writer. He was born at Petworth House in Sussex, and served in the Diplomatic Service from 1858 to 1869. His mother was a Catholic convert and he was educated at Twyford School, Stonyhurst and at St Mary's College, Oscott...
by Kramer 31 December 1989 - Ignatieff's Empire, criticism of Michael IgnatieffMichael IgnatieffMichael Grant Ignatieff is a Canadian author, academic and former politician. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition from 2008 until 2011...
January 5, 2003 - The Day the Rabbi Rescued Rashid, a critique of Arthur HertzbergArthur HertzbergArthur Hertzberg was a Conservative rabbi and prominent Jewish-American scholar and activist.-Biography:...
28 February 2005
Kramer on Key Middle Eastern Figures
Kramer on Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies
- What Do the Financial Crisis and US Middle East Policy Have in Common? December 2008.
- Battling Toward the Collapse of the Hamas Regime January 2009.
- Sanctioning "Resistance" January 2009.