F. Gregory Gause III is Professor Emeritus of International Affairs at the Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University, from which he retired in January 2025, and an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C. From fall 2014 through summer 2022 he served as Head of the Bush School’s Department of International Affairs.
He is the author of three books and numerous articles on the politics of the Middle East, with a particular focus on the Arabian Peninsula and the Persian Gulf. He was previously on the faculties of the University of Vermont (1995-2014) and Columbia University (1987-1995) and was Fellow for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York (1993-1994). During the 2009-10 academic year he was Kuwait Foundation Visiting Professor of International Affairs at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. In spring 2009 he was a Fulbright Scholar at the American University in Kuwait. In spring 2010 he was a research fellow at the King Faisal Center for Islamic Studies and Research in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
His most recent book is The International Relations of the Persian Gulf (Cambridge University Press, 2010). His articles have appeared in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Middle East Journal, Security Studies, Washington Quarterly, National Interest, and in other journals and edited volumes.
He received his Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University in 1987 and his A.B. (summa cum laude) from St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia in 1980. He studied Arabic at the American University in Cairo (1982-83) and Middlebury College (1984).
The topic of his talk will be: “The Rise of Saudi Arabia”
Saudi Arabia has emerged as a leader in the Arab World as much by default as by design. With other Arab powers either enfeebled by civil war and the recovery thereof (Iraq, Syria, Libya) or absorbed with their own internal economic and political challenges (Egypt, Algeria), Saudi Arabia is to a some extent the last substantial Arab state left standing. That suits Muhammad bin Salman, the Crown Prince, Prime Minister and effective decision-maker in the kingdom, just fine. His ambitious plans to open up his country socially (not politically) and restructure its economy away from dependence on oil are matched by his desire to play a major role not just in the Middle East but also globally. In recent years he has changed course from an aggressive stance toward regional foes to a preference for diplomacy and stability, while doubling down on his country's traditional alliance with the United States. His ability to sustain this course in the midst of the Gaza War and continuing regional tensions is both an immediate and a long-term challenge.
