Stephen Zunes (born 1956) is an American international relations scholar specializing in the Middle Eastern politics, U.S. foreign policy, and strategic nonviolent action.
He is known internationally as a leading critic of United States policy in the Middle East, particularly under the George W. Bush administration, and an analyst of nonviolent civil insurrections against autocratic regimes.
[1] He also predicted that a U.S. invasion and occupation could stir up ethnic and sectarian conflict would make it "difficult to establish a widely accepted and stable regime" and that rather than transform the Middle East to be more stable and democratic, he warned that a U.S. invasion and occupation would increase terrorism and Islamic extremism and that it would "spawn more bitterness, hatred, and violence and will greatly retard economic development, political reform, and reconciliation in the resulting chaos and backlash that will likely follow".
[6] With Jacob Mundy, he wrote Western Sahara: War, Nationalism and Conflict Irresolution[7] (Syracuse University Press, 2010).
He has written for The Nation, Tikkun, The Progressive, In These Times, Yes!, and other magazines, and his op-ed columns have appeared in major daily newspapers throughout North America and Europe.
Zunes frequently visits the Middle East and other conflict regions, where he has met with top government officials, academics, journalists and opposition leaders.
In September 2007, Zunes was among a group of American religious leaders and scholars who met with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
[8] A scholar and advocate of nonviolent people power movements, he has also served as a trainer and workshop leader for pro-democracy activists and community organizers in the United States, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.
He grew up in the university town of Chapel Hill, attending public and Quaker schools, and spent most summers as well as his early adolescence in the Celo Community in the mountains of western North Carolina.