Expert Bio

Joe Macaron is a Global Fellow with the Wilson Center's Middle East Program with over two decades of experience with high-profile international organizations. His previous roles include Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, the Colin Powell Center for Policy Studies, and Arab Center, Washington DC. A former journalist, he has managed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) public engagement in the Middle East and North Africa and served in different capacities in the United Nations system. Joe has briefed and provided consultancy and political risk analysis for the private sector, government, and international organization entities in the US, Europe, and the Middle East. He primarily focuses on strategic competition and geo-economics in the Middle East, geopolitics in the Eastern Mediterranean, most notably Lebanon and Syria, and US strategy in the Middle East. Joe contributes his analysis widely to international print, online, and broadcast media. He holds a Ph.D. in Politics and International Studies from the University of Bath in the United Kingdom and an MA in International Relations from the City University of New York (CUNY).