Jack A. Goldstone is the Virginia E. and John T. Hazel Professor of Public Policy and a Fellow of the Mercatus Center of George Mason University. He has won major prizes from the American Sociological Association and the Historical Society for his research on revolutions and social change, and has won grants from the MacArthur Foundation, the US Institute of Peace, and the National Science Foundation. He recently led a National Academy of Sciences study of USAID democracy assistance, and worked with USAID, DIFD, and the US State and Defense Departments on developing their operations in fragile states.
Goldstone’s current research focuses on conditions for building democracy and stability in developing nations, the impact of population change on the global economy and international security, and the cultural origins of modern economic growth.  His recent essay in Foreign Affairs, “The New Population Bomb” has received world-wide attention. Goldstone has authored or edited ten books and published over one hundred articles in books and scholarly journals. His latest books are Why Europe? The Rise of the West 1500-1850 (McGraw-Hill, 2008; Chinese Translation 2010), and Political Demography: How Population Changes are Reshaping International Security and National Politics (Paradigm, 2011).