A former Dubai-based correspondent for the Reuters news agency and a regular contributor to The Washington Post from Iran, Mr. Molavi has covered the Middle East and Washington for a wide range of international publications. His articles have appeared in the Financial Times, Businessweek, The New Republic, Foreign Policy, The Christian Science Monitor, The Nation, the Journal of Commerce, The Wilson Quarterly, among others. Born in Iran, but raised and educated in the West, Mr. Molavi holds an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in Middle East History and International Economics. He has also worked at the International Finance Corporation, the private sector development arm of the World Bank.

As a New America Fellow, Mr. Molavi will study the links between economic development and democratization with a special emphasis on the Middle East. He argues that the region�s widespread economic failure represents the largest obstacle to regional democratization because it creates societies that have weak middle classes that are overly dependent on the state or susceptible to the utopian promises of undemocratic opposition forces. At New America, he will examine U.S. efforts to promote democracy in the Middle East and will also explore and interpret regional trends in politics, culture, and economics. Mr. Molavi is also interested in issues related to global economic development, globalization and culture, and the economics of immigration.

More info:
New America Foundation Web Site

�What Arabs Think: Values, Beliefs and Concerns,� Zogby Worldwide