David Mednicoff

David Mednicoff is professor of Middle Eastern Studies and Public Policy, with joint appointments in the Department of Public Policy and the Department of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies in the College of Humanities and Fine Arts. He is director of the Interdisciplinary Studies Institute. A lawyer and political scientist, his research focuses on connections between legal and political ideas and institutions at the national and transnational levels, particularly as these relate to current policy issues in the Middle East. From 2018-25, he served as Chair of the JNE Department.

Mednicoff has been a Fulbright scholar in both Morocco and Qatar, and spent two summers as a fellow at Bielefeld University's Institute for Advanced Study. He has presented his work on six continents at diverse universities and think tanks, including the Department of State, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Georgetown, Harvard, Stanford and Yale. He has received over $1 million in external research funding.

Mednicoff won the College of Social and Behavioral Science’s Outstanding Teacher Award, a national teaching prize cosponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and Dickinson College for university teaching related to US and Middle Eastern relations, and the College of Humanities and Fine Art’s inaugural Global Engagement Award. In addition to his many scholarly publications, he provides commentary for national and international media outlets, including frequent pieces for the Conversation. He is a Faculty Affiliate in the Middle East Initiative at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Mednicoff holds an AB in public policy and Middle Eastern studies from Princeton University, and a JD, an MA, and a PhD in political science from Harvard University.