Lawrence Potter
Adjunct Associate Professor of International and Public Affairs
Email: lgp5@columbia.edu
History; Policy; Persian Gulf; Iran; Afghanistan; Middle East politics; Gulf Security
Lawrence G. Potter teaching interests include the history of Iran, Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf, and U.S. policy toward the Middle East. Potter has taught at Columbia University since 1996 and has served as adjunct associate professor of International Affairs since 2002. He has also served as deputy director of the SIPA's Gulf/2000 Project since from 1994 to 2016. He was Senior Editor at the Foreign Policy Association from 1984 to 1992.
Potter has edited The Persian Gulf in Modern Times: People, Ports, and History (2014), Sectarian Politics in the Persian Gulf (2013), The Persian Gulf in History (2009), and co-edited (with Gary Sick) The Persian Gulf at the Millennium: Essays in Politics, Economy, Security, and Religion (1997); Security in the Persian Gulf: Origins, Obstacles, and the Search for Consensus (2002); and Iran, Iraq and the Legacies of War (2004). He has published a number of articles and a monograph, "The Persian Gulf: Tradition and Transformation" (2011) in the Foreign Policy Association's Headline Series. Potter previously taught at Bryn Mawr College (1997-98); the State University of New York at Stony Brook (1993-95); and Tufts University (1993-94). Potter holds a BA from Tufts University (1970), an MA from the University of London (1971), and an MPhil and PhD from Columbia University (1981 and 1992).