Marwan al-Muasher () (born 1956) is a former

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

ian diplomat and politician who was Jordan's foreign minister from 2002 to 2004 and its deputy prime minister during 2004 and 2005. He currently serves as vice president for studies at the

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) is a nonpartisan international affairs think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C., with operations in Europe, South Asia, East Asia, and the Middle East, as well as the United States. Foun ...

, where he oversees research on the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

. He was Jordan's first ambassador to

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

and former ambassador to the United States.

Education and early career

Muasher attended

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

West Lafayette West Lafayette ( ) is a city in Wabash Township, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, Wabash and Tippecanoe Township, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, Tippecanoe Townships, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, approximately northwest of the state capit ...

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

in 1977, a Master of Science degree in

computer engineering Computer engineering (CE, CoE, or CpE) is a branch of engineering specialized in developing computer hardware and software. It integrates several fields of electrical engineering, electronics engineering and computer science. Computer engi ...

in 1978, and a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

, also in computer engineering, in 1981. Muasher began his career working as a

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

for the '' Jordan Times'', the only Jordanian newspaper in the English language. He then entered government service, working in communications in the Ministry of Planning, at the prime minister's office as press adviser, and as director of the Jordan Information Bureau in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Career

Jordanian politics

In 1995, following the 1994

Israel–Jordan peace treaty The Israel–Jordan peace treaty (formally the "Treaty of Peace Between the State of Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan"),; Hebrew transliteration, transliterated: ''Heskem Ha-Shalom beyn Yisra'el Le-Yarden''; ; Arabic transliteration: ' ...

, Muasher became Jordan's first ambassador to

. Then, in 1996, he became minister of information and the government

spokesperson A spokesperson, spokesman, or spokeswoman is someone engaged or elected to speak on behalf of others. Duties and function In the present media-sensitive world, many organizations are increasingly likely to employ professionals who have receiv ...

. From 1997 to 2002, he served in Washington, D.C., again as ambassador to the United States, and helped negotiate the Jordan–U.S. Free Trade Agreement, the first free-trade agreement the United States signed with an Arab country. He returned to Jordan in January 2002 to serve as foreign minister, where he played a central role in developing the

Arab Peace Initiative The Arab Peace Initiative (; ), also known as the Saudi Initiative (; ), is a 10 sentence proposal for an end to the Arab–Israeli conflict that was endorsed by the Arab League in 2002 at the Beirut Summit and re-endorsed at the 2007 Arab Le ...

and the Middle East roadmap. He served until October 2004, when he gained the post of deputy prime minister in a cabinet reshuffle under former

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Adnan Badran that sought to continue reform and shrink the bureaucracy. He served as the deputy prime minister until November 2005. In 2005 he developed the National Agenda, a long-term political, economic and social reform plan for Jordan. The making up of the plan involved 450 Jordanian stakeholders and experts giving solutions and deadlines to implement them. The National Agenda was never actually realized because, according to Muasher, it was thwarted by a group of political elites and bureaucrats, eager to keep a rentier-based state system, rather than one based on merit. According to Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi, al-Muasher, a Christian, was dropped from the post to please the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood. From 2006 to 2007, he was a member of the Jordanian Senate.

International policy making

From March 2007 to 2010, he served as senior vice president of external affairs at the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

. He currently serves as vice president for studies at the

, where he oversees research on the

from

, and

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

. In 2011 Muasher took seat in the advisory council of The Hague Institute for Global Justice.

Publications

He is the author of two books: * *

Awards

Recipient of awards, including Jordanian Independence Medal and the Order of the Star of Jordan.

References

External links

Official Twitter account

October 2013 interview
with ''Jordan Business'' Magazine
March 19, 2014 discussion
with Thomas L. Friedman at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Muasher, Marwan 1956 births Living people Purdue University College of Engineering alumni Academic staff of King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals Members of the Senate of Jordan Ambassadors of Jordan to Israel Ambassadors of Jordan to the United States 20th-century diplomats Information ministers of Jordan Ministers of foreign affairs of Jordan Deputy prime ministers of Jordan Prime ministry affairs ministers of Jordan Eastern Orthodox Christians from Jordan Jordanian Christians Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Recipients of the Order of Independence (Jordan) Recipients of the Order of The Star of Jordan