Michael Hudson is the Sei Ghobash Professor of Arab Studies and Professor of Inernational Relations at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies. He previously served as Acting Director of the Center (1999-2000), Director (1976-1989), and as President of the Middle East Studies Association. Hudson has a particular interest in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Iraq situation, transnational Islamist and nationalist movements, Lebanese politics, U.S. policy in the Middle East, and the new media and information technologies in the region. He can also speak to issues including oil and politics, social and economic development in the Middle East, security issues, democratization and liberalization in the region, and Islam and politics. He is a frequent commentator on these issues in the international, Arab and U.S. news media. He is the author of The Palestinians: New Directions (1990); Arab Politics (1977); World Handbook of Political and Social Indicators (2nd ed) (1972); and The Precarious Republic: Political Modernization in Lebanon (1968).