Welcome! 

My name is Mark Berlin. I am a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at the George Washington University and am on the 2023-2024 AY job market. I hold an M.A. in Arab Studies from Georgetown University, an M.A. in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a B.A. in Political Science from Elon University. 

My research interests lie at the intersection of comparative politics and international relations. I analyze dynamics surrounding political violence, civil wars, terrorism, militant alliances, extra-lethal violence, and Middle East politics. My research on these topics has been published in International Studies Review, Terrorism and Political Violence, International Interactions​, and the Texas National Security Review.
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​My dissertation explores two primary questions: Why do armed groups rhetorically cooperate with other organizations? Why and when do armed groups utilize extra-lethal violence? To answer these questions, I analyze the behavior of 154 jihadist groups operating across the Middle East and North Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. In doing so, I draw on internal organizational documents, hundreds of Arabic-language primary sources, and original data on jihadist groups' tactics and oaths of allegiance to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.

I am also a passionate and devoted educator with experience teaching in different settings and supporting students from diverse backgrounds. As an Instructor of Record at GWU, I designed and taught two semester-length courses: "Political Violence in the Middle East" and "Political Violence and the Jihadist Movement." The GWU Political Science Department awarded one of these classes as the best course taught by a graduate student in 2021-2022. Prior to GWU, I volunteered as an English language teacher in Hebron in 2014, teaching various proficiency levels to Palestinian children, teenagers, and adults.