Go Back

Ramzy Mardini

Recent PhD

University of Chicago

Ramzy Mardini is an Associate at The Pearson Institute and a recent PhD in political science at the University of Chicago, where he studies the intersection of social networks and civil war dynamics, with a focus on the Islamic State. As part of his dissertation research, he was a Fulbright fellow in Jordan and Turkey and has conducted over two years of fieldwork in the region. 

Previously, he was a nonresident fellow at the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East at the Atlantic Council; an adjunct fellow at the Beirut-based Iraq Institute for Strategic Studies; and was a research analyst on Iraq at the Institute for the Study of War. In addition, he served at the White House within the Office of the National Security Advisor to the Vice President and at the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. He is the editor of two books on insurgent movements in the Middle East and has written commentary on the conflicts in Iraq and Syria for The New York Times, The Washington PostFinancial Times, among others.

He graduated summa cum laude from Ohio State University and holds a MA in political science and a MA from the Committee on International Relations at the University of Chicago.

Baidoa, Somalia

Makeshift, temporary shelter made of plastic and clothing at a refugee center in Baidoa, Somalia.