Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute

Dr. Karen E. Young is resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where she studies the political economy of the Middle East, with a special focus on the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). She is a professorial lecturer at George Washington University and leads a seminar on the emerging markets of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Before joining AEI, she was senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute, a research fellow at the Middle East Centre of the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a professor at the American University of Sharjah. In addition to being published in a variety of policy journals, Dr. Young has written analysis and commentary for the popular press, including Al-Monitor, Bloomberg Opinion, the Financial Times, Lawfare, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. Her book, “The Political Economy of Energy, Finance and Security in the United Arab Emirates: Between the Majilis and the Market” was published by Palgrave in 2014. Dr. Young earned a PhD in political science from the City University of New York, an MA from the Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar, an MA from Columbia University and a BA from Wellesley College.

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