Dr. Ali Bakir is an Assistant Professor of International Affairs, Security, and Defense at Qatar University. He is also a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s “Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative” and Middle East programs in Washington, DC. Dr. Bakir is a distinguished foreign and security analyst as well as a television commentator. His work has been published in esteemed journals, platforms, think tanks, and research centers across the US, UK, Türkiye, Italy, Spain, Germany, and the Arab world. His research focuses on the foreign, security, and defense policies of Gulf countries and Türkiye, as well as Türkiye-Arab/Gulf relations, Gulf security, great power competition in the Middle East, the behavior of small states, and the geopolitics of the MENA region and the Eastern Mediterranean.