Gordon Gray is the Kuwait Professor of Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Affairs at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. Prior to his retirement from the U.S. government after 35 years of public service, Ambassador Gray was the Deputy Commandant at the National War College. He was the U.S. Ambassador to Tunisia from 2009 until 2012, witnessing the start of the Arab Spring and directing the U.S. response in support of Tunisia’s transition. He served in Iraq as Senior Advisor to the Ambassador from 2008-2009 and was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs from 2005-2008.

Ambassador Gray’s other foreign assignments include Egypt, Canada, Jordan, Pakistan, and Morocco, where he began his career in government as a Peace Corps volunteer. Before joining the faculty at the Elliott School, Ambassador Gray was a Professor of Practice at Penn State’s School of International Affairs. He was previously Chief Operating Officer at the Center for American Progress and Executive Vice President at the National U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce. Ambassador Gray holds a B.A. from Yale, an M.A. from Columbia, and an honorary M.S. from the National Defense University.

Listen to Ambassador Gray discuss the Arab Spring in Tunisia, 10 years on, as part of ISD's Diplomatic Immunity podcast.

Selected Publications: 

ISD Case Study 339 - Tunisia and the Start of the Arab Spring

“America Needs a President Who Will Take On Autocrats,” National Security Journal, 09/19/2024

“The Risks of Donald Trump 2.0 Foreign Policy,” National Security Journal, 07/17/2024

“Tunisia Holds Valuable Lessons for Us All as Democracy Stumbles,” The Washington Diplomat, 04/23/2024

“Tunisia can still be a Catalyst for Global Democratic Reform,” Euronews, 04/09/2024

“Review of Ben Ali’s Tunisia: Power and Contention in an Authoritarian Regime,” The Diplomatic Pouch, 03/18/2024

"Support Civil Society in Tunisia," Newsweek, 03/28/2023

"Whither U.S.-Tunisian Relations After Saied's Disastrous December?" The National Interest, 12/26/2022

"Focus Assistance to Tunisia — Don't Suspend It," The National Interest, 09/18/2022

"Deploy All the Instruments of Statecraft, Not Just the Military Ones," Manara Magazine, 07/02/2022

"A Review of Ian Martin’s “All Necessary Measures? The United Nations and International Intervention in Libya” (Hurst & Company, 2022)," Just Security, 06/28/2022

"The US Can No Longer Ignore Tunisia's Fight for Democracy," The Hill, 03/02/2022

"Can Tunisia's Civil Society Save Its Democracy?" The Diplomatic Pouch, 10/08/2021

"Playing the Long Game With the World’s Arab Countries," The National Interest, 08/26/2021

"A Tale of Two Presidents: Echoes of History in the Tunisian Ambassador's Dismissal," The Diplomatic Pouch, 08/05/2021

"Tunisia: What's Next?" The Diplomatic Pouch, 08/04/2021

"The Biden Administration and Tunisia: Off to a Good Start," The Hill, 07/14/2021

"The Parable of a Beekeeper," The Foreign Service Journal, 07/2021

"Why Linda Thomas-Greenfield is a Great Pick for the UN," The National Interest, 01/26/2021

"What the Tunisian Revolution Taught Me," The Foreign Service Journal, 01/2021

"Ce Que L’élection de Biden Signifie pour la Tunisie," Leaders, 09/11/2020

"Hope Springs Eternal," The Foreign Service Journal, 11/2020

"A New Vision for America’s North Africa Policy," The National Interest, 08/29/2020

"Will the Next Administration Restore Diplomacy in the Middle East?," The Hill, 06/25/2020

"A Special Class of Diplomat: A Review of The Ambassadors," The Foreign Service Journal, 03/2020

"Running after the Revolution," The Arab Weekly, 01/17/2020

"How President Béji Caid Essebsi Helped Build Tunisia’s Democracy," The National Interest, 08/01/2019

"America Should Support Tunisia’s Democracy," The National Interest, 07/07/2019

"Lessons Learned from a Dictator’s Overthrow," Journal of Diplomacy, 04/26/2019