Dr. Kristian Coates Ulrichsen is the Fellow for the Middle East at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University in Houston, an Affiliate Professor of International Studies at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington in Seattle, and an Associate Fellow with the Middle East and North Africa Program at Chatham House in London. His research focuses on the history and politics of the Middle East with particular emphasis on the international rise of the Gulf States and their changing position within the global order. Dr. Kristian is the author of numerous books on the political economy of the Gulf Region. He also has advised governments and private sectors around the world on how to work in and with the Gulf. Dr. Kristian holds a PhD in History from the University of Cambridge.