Seth Binder
Director of Advocacy, Middle East Democracy Center
twitter: @seth_binder
email: seth [dot] binder [at] mideastdc [dot] org
Director of Advocacy, Middle East Democracy Center
twitter: @seth_binder
email: seth [dot] binder [at] mideastdc [dot] org
arms sales | security assistance | Middle East
Seth Binder is the Director of Advocacy at the Middle East Democracy Center where he focuses on U.S. policy, security assistance, and arms sales to the Middle East and North Africa. Before joining MEDC (and its predecessor POMED), Seth was the Program Manager at the Center for International Policy for the Security Assistance Monitor program where he focused on U.S. security assistance and arms sales policy where, among others, he authored articles and publications on US security assistance to Egypt, Palestine, Yemen, Israel, and Tunisia. He has been quoted in numerous outlets including Reuters, TIME, Al-Jazeera, and Foreign Policy. He is the co-author of Mohammed VI’s Strategies for Moroccan Economic Development (Routledge Press, 2020) and The Moroccan Spring and King Mohammed VI’s Economic Policy Agenda: Evaluating the First Dozen Years," a chapter in The Birth of the Arab Citizen and the Changing of the Middle East.
He received his B.A. in History from Oberlin College and M.A. in International Relations from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs where he received certificates in Advanced Study in Middle Eastern Affairs and International Counterterrorism.
Recent Publications:
*indicates additional authors
Seth Binder is the Director of Advocacy at the Middle East Democracy Center where he focuses on U.S. policy, security assistance, and arms sales to the Middle East and North Africa. Before joining MEDC (and its predecessor POMED), Seth was the Program Manager at the Center for International Policy for the Security Assistance Monitor program where he focused on U.S. security assistance and arms sales policy where, among others, he authored articles and publications on US security assistance to Egypt, Palestine, Yemen, Israel, and Tunisia. He has been quoted in numerous outlets including Reuters, TIME, Al-Jazeera, and Foreign Policy. He is the co-author of Mohammed VI’s Strategies for Moroccan Economic Development (Routledge Press, 2020) and The Moroccan Spring and King Mohammed VI’s Economic Policy Agenda: Evaluating the First Dozen Years," a chapter in The Birth of the Arab Citizen and the Changing of the Middle East.
He received his B.A. in History from Oberlin College and M.A. in International Relations from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs where he received certificates in Advanced Study in Middle Eastern Affairs and International Counterterrorism.
Recent Publications:
- "Fact Sheet – Closing A Leahy Law Loophole" Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) and the Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC), March 28, 2023.*
- "Fact Sheet – Closing A Leahy Law Loophole," Project on Middle East Democracy, March 28, 2023.
- "Back to Business as Usual: President Biden’s First Foreign Affairs Budget for the Middle East and North Africa," Project on Middle East Democracy, September 23, 2021.
- "At 100 Days, Grading Biden’s Progress Toward a More Responsible US Arms Trade Policy," Just Security, April 28, 2021.*
- “Biden’s 'Skinny Budget' Loosens Belt on Foreign Aid,” Project on Middle East Democracy, April 16, 2021.
- "For the Record: The New Secretary of State on Democracy, MENA," Project on Middle East Democracy, January 26, 2021.
- "Toward A More Responsible US Arms Trade Policy: Recommendations for the Biden-Harris Administration," Just Security, January 19, 2021.*
- "President Trump’s FY21 Budget: Examining U.S. Assistance to the Middle East and North Africa in the Shadow of COVID-19," Project on Middle East Democracy, June 2020.*
- "Black Box: Military Budgets in the Arab World," Project on Middle East Democracy, May 12, 2020.
- "U.S. Security Assistance to Egypt: Examining the Return on Investment," Project on Middle East Democracy, May 2020.*
- "President Trump's Third Foreign Affairs Budget," Project on Middle East Democracy, June 2019.
- "The case for arms embargoes against uncooperative regimes" (with Andrew Miller), War on the Rocks, May 10, 2019.
- "U.S. Security Assistance to Non-State Actors: Unintended Consequences and Long-term Instability" in Forum on the Arms Trade publication Addressing Non-State Actors: Multiple Approaches, May 2018
*indicates additional authors