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Middle East Institute
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The Middle East Institute (MEI) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1946 by Middle East scholar George Camp Keiser and former Secretary of State Christian Herter. The Institute is located in Washington, D.C., near Dupont Circle. Its mission is to "promote knowledge of the Middle East in America and strengthen understanding of the United States by the people and governments of the region." The organization initially began as part of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.
Early MEI initiatives included seminars; biannual newsletters with country reports from Morocco to Iran; and annual conferences, which offered constructive public dialogue about the Middle East on key issues including the Middle East energy crisis, Soviet policy toward the region, violence and dialogue in the Middle East, and the changing US-Middle East relationship.
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Encyclopedia
The Middle East Institute (MEI) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1946 by Middle East scholar George Camp Keiser and former Secretary of State Christian Herter. The Institute is located in Washington, D.C., near Dupont Circle. Its mission is to "promote knowledge of the Middle East in America and strengthen understanding of the United States by the people and governments of the region." The organization initially began as part of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.
Early MEI initiatives included seminars; biannual newsletters with country reports from Morocco to Iran; and annual conferences, which offered constructive public dialogue about the Middle East on key issues including the Middle East energy crisis, Soviet policy toward the region, violence and dialogue in the Middle East, and the changing US-Middle East relationship. The Institute continues to organize seminars and conferences, and also hosts a team of experts on topics covering the full range of contemporary and historical issues relevant to the region. These Adjunct Scholars conduct research, publish, and lecture in venues around the globe as part of MEI’s educational mission. Much of their research is conducted at the Institute’s George Camp Keiser Library, which holds the largest English-language collection of materials on the Middle East outside of the Library of Congress. Since 1947, the Institute has also published The Middle East Journal, a prestigious quarterly publication of contemporary scholarship concerning Middle Eastern politics, culture, and history.
MEI's founders established the institute in an era defined by the decolonization of the Middle East and the rise of the Cold War. At the time, many policymakers anticipated security dilemmas as a result of Soviet aspirations in the Middle East. The increasing strategic significance of the Middle East contributed to the widespread perception among U.S. policymakers and academics that the country's foreign policy interests could be promoted through the development of area studies programs in American universities. Keiser and Herter recognized the need for interdisciplinary inquiries into the cultural and political particularities of emerging regimes in the Middle East. In the first issue of The Middle East Journal, an "Editorial Foreword" advocated a more global perspective on international affairs, one grounded in thorough knowledge of the internal affairs and cultural norms of Middle Eastern Countries: "Forces and factors in and among those countries themselves ... must be taken into account if ... the foreign policy of the United States is to be soundly based." In the several decades since its founding, the Institute has continued to cultivate informed and unbiased dialog on Middle Eastern affairs.
MEI also offers classes to the public in Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, and Turkish, and is launching a pilot program for the training and certification of Arabic teachers in the United States.
The Institute has a paying membership of about 2,000.
MEI offers internships in the following departments: Communications, Development, Language, Library Research, Programs, Publications, Research and the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center.
Ambassador Wendy J. Chamberlin is MEI's President. She is a former U.S. ambassador to Pakistan.
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