Martin Kramer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Martin Seth Kramer (b. 1954, Washington, DC) is an American scholar of the Middle East at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, the Shalem Center, and Harvard University's Olin Institute. His focus is on Islam and Arab politics.

Contents 1 Education 2 Career 3 Political involvement 4 Critique of Middle Eastern Studies 4.1 Ivory Towers on Sand 4.2 HR 3077 5 Bibliography 5.1 Books 5.2 Journal Papers 5.3 Martin Kramer on American scholars of the Middle East 5.4 Martin Kramer on Key Middle Eastern Figures 5.5 Martin Kramer on Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Education

Kramer began his undergraduate degree under Itamar Rabinovich 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. in 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.^[1]

• Tel Aviv University, 1971-73 - Middle Eastern Studies
• B.A. Princeton University, 1975 (summa cum laude) - Near Eastern Studies
• M.A. Columbia University, 1976 - History
• M.A. Princeton University, 1978 - Near Eastern Studies
• Ph.D. Princeton University, 1982 - Near Eastern Studies ^[2]

[edit] Career

During a 25-year career at Tel Aviv University, Martin 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. He is currently the Wexler-Fromer Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Senior Fellow at the Shalem Center, and Olin Institute Senior Fellow at Harvard University.

He is a senior and past editor of the Middle East Forum's Middle East Quarterly.^[3] Primarily a scholar of twentieth century Islamist intellectual and political history, Kramer has also published columns in the National Review magazine^[4][5] and on the websites of the History News Network^[6], martinkramer.org^[7] and bitterlemons.org.^[8] (Front Page Magazine publishes selected pieces of Kramer's on its website^[9]) Martin Kramer is a Senior Fellow at the Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies at the Shalem Center Institute for International and Middle East Studies.

[edit] Political involvement

Martin Kramer was an early advocate of attacking Saddam Hussein 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.^[10] 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.^[11]

He was a senior policy adviser on the Middle East to the Rudy Giuliani Presidential Campaign.

[edit] Critique of Middle Eastern Studies

[edit] Ivory Towers on Sand

In 2001, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy 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.^[12]

[edit] HR 3077

Kramer has promoted HR 3077, a bill in the United States House of Representatives designed to reform Middle East Studies in the US. Saree Makdisi argues in a Los Angeles Times op-ed that the bill "poses a profound threat to academic freedom".^[13][14]

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Books

• Political Islam (1980) ISBN 0-8039-1435-0
• Islam Assembled (1985) ISBN 0-231-05994-9 Reviews
• 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

[edit] 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.

[edit] Martin Kramer on American scholars of the Middle East

• Pape-Kramer debate - a debate involving Robert Pape and Martin Kramer
• Islam Obscured, Martin Kramer on John Esposito
• Stephen Walt's World, a critique of Stephen Walt
• The Arab Nation of Shakib Arslan by Martin Kramer, a critique of Shakib Arslan
• Albert Pasha: criticism of Albert Hourani by Martin Kramer
• Islamist Bubbles, an assessment of Gilles Kepel by Martin Kramer.
• Arab Pen, English Purse: John Sabunji and Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, a critique of Wilfrid Scawen Blunt by Martin Kramer
• Ignatieff's Empire, criticism of Michael Ignatieff
• The Day the Rabbi Rescued Rashid, a critique of Arthur Hertzberg

[edit] Martin Kramer on Key Middle Eastern Figures

• [1] - Article about Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Fadlallah (Oracle of Hezbollah)

[edit] Martin 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.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• M. Kramer's website
• M. Kramer's blog
• M. Kramer's entry with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy
• Martin Kramer on Adelson Institute website
• Martin Kramer about Obama and the Middle East (Video)