Name Mark Katz | Role Professor | |
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Education Massachusetts Institute of Technology Books Leaving Without Losing: T, The Third World in Soviet mil, Revolutions and revolution, Reflections On Revolutions, Middle Eastern Sketches | ||
Mark N. Katz on the Crisis in Syria
Mark N. Katz (born November 11, 1954) is a professor of government and politics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, United States. He researches and teaches classes about Russian politics and foreign policy, revolution, and the "War on Terror."
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Early life
Mark Norman Katz was born in Riverside, California, on November 11, 1954. He is the son of Norman Nathan Katz (1932-1971) and Eithne Dolores Dorney (1932- ). After attending primary and secondary school in Riverside, he earned a B.A. in international relations at the University of California, Riverside in June 1976. He then earned an M.A. in international relations from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in May 1978, and a Ph.D. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in February 1982.
Professional life
Katz held pre-doctoral fellowships from the Institute for the Study of World Politics, the Earhart Foundation, and the Brookings Institution. A revised version of his Ph.D. dissertation became his first book: The Third World in Soviet Military Thought
After serving on a temporary appointment as a Soviet Affairs Analyst at the U.S. Department of State in 1982, Katz won a 27-month post-doctoral fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation (September 1982-November 1984). This, plus a subsequent post-doctoral scholarship in 1985 from the Kennan Institute (a division of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC) enabled him to write his second book: Russia and Arabia: Soviet Foreign Policy toward the Arabian Peninsula
From 1985 through 1988, Katz worked as an adjunct professor at the American University School of International Service (Spring 1985); a research associate (a staff position) at the Kennan Institute (September 1985-May 1987); an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Department of Government and Russian Area Studies Program (Spring 1986-Fall 1987); and a consultant to various organizations (May 1987-August 1988).
In September 1988, he became an assistant professor of government and politics at George Mason University. He was promoted to associate professor in September 1992, and to full professor in September 1998.
He was a Jennings Randolph Peace Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, DC from June 1989 to May 1990—which resulted in a volume edited by him: Soviet-American Conflict Resolution in the Third World. He was also awarded a United States Institute of Peace grant for the 1994-95 academic year. This, along with a National Endowment for the Humanities stipend (Summer 1995) resulted in another book: Revolutions and Revolutionary Waves
With the support of an Earhart Foundation Fellowship Research Grant (Summer 1997) and a sabbatical from George Mason University (Spring 1998), he wrote yet another book: Reflections on Revolutions.
His latest book—published in 2012—is entitled, Leaving without Losing: The War on Terror after Iraq and Afghanistan.
Personal life
Katz married Nancy Virginia Yinger on September 9, 1978, in Oberlin, OH. They have one daughter: Melissa Yinger Katz.