William B. Quandt

William B. Quandt.

William B. Quandt (born 1941) is an American scholar, author, professor and member of the Department of Politics at the University of Virginia. He previously served as senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program at the Brookings Institution and as a member on the National Security Council in the Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter administrations. He was actively involved in the negotiations that led to the Camp David Accords and the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty. His areas of expertise include Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Palestine, the Peace Process, and U.S. Foreign Policy.

Early life

Quandt was born in 1941 in Los Angeles, California. He received his BA in International Relations from Stanford University in 1963, and his Ph.D. in Political Science from MIT in 1968. He has received several research grants, including ones from the Social Science Research Council (1966–1968), and the Council on Foreign Relations (1972–1973). He was also an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania, worked at the Rand Corporation in the Department of Social Science from 1968–1972, and taught at UCLA and MIT.

Professional career

Quandt served as a staff member on the National Security Council in the Nixon and Carter administrations between 1972–1974 and 1977-1979. He was actively involved in the negotiations that led to the Camp David Accords and the Egyptian–Israeli Peace Treaty.

Between 1979 and 1994, Quandt was a Senior Fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program at the Brookings Institution, where he conducted research on the Middle East, American policy toward the Arab-Israeli conflict, and energy policy. Quandt's involvement and the institution are noted in John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt's 2007 book The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, saying: “Take the Brookings Institution. For many years, its senior expert on the Middle East was William Quandt, a former National Security Council official with a well-deserved reputation for even-handedness. Today, Brookings’s coverage is conducted through the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, which is financed by Haim Saban, an Israeli-American businessman and ardent Zionist. The centre’s director is the ubiquitous Martin Indyk. What was once a non-partisan policy institute is now part of the pro-Israel chorus."

From 1987 to 1988, William Quandt was President of the Middle East Studies Association, a learned society. He joined the Department of Politics at the University of Virginia in 1994, where he holds the departmental Edward R. Stettinius chair. He teaches courses on the Middle East and American Foreign Policy. From 2000 to 2003, he also served as their Vice Provost for International Affairs. In 2004, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Quandt’s book, Peace Process, along with The Other Arab-Israeli Conflict by Steven L. Spiegel and American Presidents and the Middle East, by George Lenczowski, are considered by historian (and the current Israeli ambassador to the United States), Michael Oren, as being "three of the genre's finer examples", focusing on the post-WWII period and seeking to investigate broader aspects of America's Middle East history.

Personal life

He is married to the writer Helena Cobban, has one daughter and two stepchildren, and lives in Charlottesville, Virginia. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and serves on the Board of Trustees of the American University in Cairo and the Foundation for Middle East Peace.

Books and articles

William Quandt has written numerous books, and his articles have appeared in a wide variety of publications. His books include:

• Peace Process: American Diplomacy and the Arab-Israeli Conflict Since 1967, (Brookings, 2005, third edition)
• Between Ballots and Bullets: Algeria's Transition from Authoritarianism, (Brookings, 1998)
• The United States and Egypt: An Essay on Policy for the 1990s, (Brookings, 1990)
• The Middle East: Ten Years After Camp David, (Brookings, 1988), as editor.
• Camp David: Peacemaking and Politics, (Brookings, 1986)
• Saudi Arabia in the 1980s: Foreign Policy, Security, and Oil, (Brookings, 1981)
• Decade of Decisions: American Foreign Policy Toward the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1967-1976, (University of California Press, 1977)
• Revolution and Political Leadership: Algeria, 1954-1968, (MIT Press, 1969)..