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William B. Quandt | |
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| Born | (1941-11-23)November 23, 1941 (age 84) |
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| Spouse | Helena Cobban |
William B. Quandt (born November 23, 1941) is an American political scientist, author, and professor emeritus in the Department of Politics at theUniversity of Virginia. He previously served as senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program at theBrookings Institution and as a member on theNational Security Council in the administrations ofRichard Nixon andJimmy Carter. He was actively involved in the negotiations that led to theCamp David Accords and theEgypt–Israel peace treaty. His areas of expertise includeAlgeria,Egypt,Israel,Palestine, theIsraeli–Palestinian peace process, andU.S. foreign policy.[1]
Quandt was born in 1941 inLos Angeles, California. He received his bachelor's degree ininternational relations fromStanford University in 1963, and his Ph.D. inpolitical science from theMassachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1968. He has received several research grants, including ones from theSocial Science Research Council (1966–1968) and theCouncil on Foreign Relations (1972–1973). He was also an associate professor of political science at theUniversity of Pennsylvania, worked at theRand Corporation in the Department of Social Science from 1968 to 1972, and taught at theUniversity of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and MIT.
Quandt served as a staff member on theNational Security Council in the administrations ofRichard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 andJimmy Carter from 1977 to 1979. He was actively involved in the negotiations that led to theCamp David Accords and theEgyptian–Israeli Peace Treaty.[2]
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Between 1979 and 1994, Quandt was a Senior Fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program at theBrookings Institution, where he conducted research on theMiddle East, American policy toward theArab–Israeli conflict, andenergy policy.
From 1987 to 1988, he was president of theMiddle East Studies Association, alearned society. He joined the Department of Politics at theUniversity of Virginia in 1994, where he held the departmentalEdward R. Stettinius chair. He taught courses on the Middle East and American foreign policy. From 2000 to 2003, he also served as Vice Provost for International Affairs. In 2004, he was elected to theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences. After the fall semester of 2012, Quandt retired from his teaching career at UVA. Professor Schulhofer-Wohl, his replacement, commended his legacy by pointing out that "more than 200 students take [his class] every year, and that's clearly due in no small part to Dr. Quandt and what he brings to it. It's an amazing opportunity for me to be able to work so closely with such a distinguished scholar in this way. I don't think many people have that kind of chance."[3]
From 1992 to 2017, he served on the board of trustees of theAmerican University in Cairo. He has also served on the board of the Foundation for Middle East Peace and was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Quandt has both praised and criticized the United States' post-World War II Middle East policy. Quandt praised American leaders for opposing colonial influences in the Middle East (for example, Eisenhower's opposition to thejoint Israeli-British-French invasion of Egypt).[4] Other American successes included maintaining stability in key oil-rich countries,[4] promoting peace between Egypt and Israel, and avoiding direct confrontation with the Soviet Union. Quandt accused neoconservatives under PresidentGeorge W. Bush of trying to destabilize the Middle East and provoke anti-American sentiment.[4]
Quandt is married to the writerHelena Cobban and has one daughter and two stepchildren. He lives inWashington D.C.
William Quandt has written numerous books, and his articles have appeared in a wide variety of publications.
