About

Lawrence Rubin is an associate professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Tech and serves as co-director of the Georgia Tech DC Program. His research interests include Middle East politics and international security, with a specific focus on intra-regional relations, religion and politics, nuclear proliferation, and emerging technologies. Rubin has conducted research in countries such as Morocco, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, the UAE, and Yemen, and is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He has held positions at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, Brandeis University, the National Defense University, and the RAND Corporation. Rubin is also an associate fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies and has served as a senior advisor in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy, working in the Middle East and Countering WMD offices. His scholarly work includes authoring and editing books on nuclear weapons, regional rivalries, and ideational threats in Arab politics, as well as numerous articles and publications in leading journals and outlets. Rubin’s academic background includes a PhD in Political Science from UCLA, along with degrees from the University of Oxford, London School of Economics, and UC Berkeley.

Research topics

• Political science
• History
• Political economy
• Law
• Sociology

Selected publications

• Introduction to the Special Issue: A Legacy of David C. Rapoport

  Terrorism and Political Violence · 2026-02-17

  article1st authorCorresponding
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• The potential for conflict in cislunar space: Findings from a tabletop exercise

  Space Policy · 2025-05-30 · 1 citations

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  PublisherDOI

• The Potential for Conflict in Cislunar Space: Findings from a Tabletop Exercise

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• The Fourth Industrial Revolution and International Security

  Survival · 2025-01-02

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• Racing to the Heavens? Comparing Middle East Space Programs*

  2024-11-26 · 1 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  This chapter surveys the development of the Israeli, Egyptian, and the Emirati space programs to illustrate the extent to which the trajectories of their space programs are related to regional politics. It suggests that these cases illustrate a mix of regional political considerations related to security, prestige, and economic development. Israel developed its space program for national security reasons and focused its efforts on intelligence and reconnaissance. It has become a world leader in small satellites, because geopolitical realties forced them to focus on less-efficient launches with smaller payloads. Egypt, a relative newcomer, established its program for economic development reasons and aspires to be a leader on the African continent. The UAE’s ambitions in space are motivated by a vital need for economic diversification, driven by large-scale development plans and by a desire to acquire prestige. This prestige is associated with space leadership at the regional as well as the international level, which Emiratis hope will inspire a STEM-oriented, knowledge-based economy. In recent years, changing threat perceptions may have increased its military motivations.

  PublisherDOI

• A Middle East space race? Motivations, trajectories, and regional politics

  Space Policy · 2024-01-19 · 6 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
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• The Importance of Diplomacy

  Orbis · 2022-01-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
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• China’s 5G networks: A tool for advancing digital authoritarianism abroad?

  Orbis · 2022-01-01 · 7 citations

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• Saddam Hussein’s role in the gassing of Halabja

  The Nonproliferation Review · 2021-06-01 · 8 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  Iraq’s use of chemical weapons against Iraqi Kurdish civilians in 1987 and 1988 is among the most morally troubling events in the latter half of the twentieth century. Most of the questions surrounding the attack, including why, when, and how, have been addressed in path-breaking research by Joost Hiltermann and other researchers from Human Rights Watch. However, even as more records and internal documents from the period have come to light, one question remains unresolved: Did Saddam Hussein, Iraq’s leader, directly order the gassing of Iraqi Kurds? This study reassesses the Halabja attack of 1988—in particular, Saddam’s thinking and behavior relating to the attack—in light of the post-2003 evidence. It synthesizes insights from the Iraqi records at the Conflict Records Research Center and Stanford University; debriefings of Iraqi principals, which the authors obtained in response to Mandatory Declassification Review requests; recent memoirs of Iraqi and US officials; and other previously unexplored sources. Although these records provide no direct proof that Saddam Hussein issued an explicit order to gas Halabja, it is clear he created a command environment in which the indiscriminate gassing of Iraqi Kurds was considered permissible and even desirable.

  PublisherDOI

• Quantum Sensing's Potential Impacts on Strategic Deterrence and Modern Warfare

  Orbis · 2021-01-01 · 11 citations

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Frequent coauthors

• Jenna Jordan

  4 shared

• Jolene Jerard

  4 shared

• Adam N. Stulberg

  Moscow State Institute of International Relations

  4 shared

• Liam Johnson

  University of Melbourne

  4 shared

• Rohan Gunaratna

  Medical Protective

  4 shared

• Margaret E. Kosal

  Georgia Institute of Technology

  3 shared

• Michael Robbins

  International Psychoanalytical Association

  3 shared

• Anna H. Smeragliuolo

  Burke Rehabilitation Hospital

  2 shared

Awards & honors

• 2024 CETL Innovation in Co-Curricular Education Award
• CIOS Honor Roll, Spring 2024