Dr. Amy Austin Holmes joined the Bush School in the fall of 2024, after serving as Research Professor of International Affairs and Acting Director of the Foreign Area Officers Program at the Elliott School of George Washington University. Dr. Holmes has published widely on the global American military posture, the NATO alliance, non-state actors, revolutions, military coups, and de-facto states. She is the PI on a Minerva-Decur grant and was selected to be a Council on Foreign Relations Education Ambassador for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Dr. Holmes earned her Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University. She previously served as a tenured Associate Professor at the American University in Cairo, and as the Kuwait Foundation Visiting Scholar at Harvard University’s Belfer Center. Her research has also been supported through fellowships at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and the Fulbright dissertation fellowship. Dr. Holmes is the author of three books and more than 50 articles.
Her first book Social Unrest and American Military Bases in Turkey and Germany since 1945 (Cambridge University Press) analyzed seven decades of American security relations with NATO allies Turkey and Germany. Her second book Coups and Revolutions: Mass Mobilization, the Egyptian Military and the United States from Mubarak to Sisi (Oxford University Press) was informed by her experience of living in Egypt throughout the period of revolutionary upheaval. Her third book Statelet of Survivors: The Making of a Semi-Autonomous Region in Northeast Syria (Oxford University Press) is based on a pioneering field survey of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) she conducted in Syria over a period of seven years.
In addition to her academic career, Dr. Holmes served as an advisor at the U.S. Department of State through a Council on Foreign Relations fellowship, where she first worked in the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, focused on Iraq and Syria. She then also served in the Office of Southern European Affairs, which covers Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, and Malta. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, she taught a summer course at the Kyiv School of Economics as a volunteer lecturer. She has provided commentary for the BBC, CBS, NPR, and other major news outlets.
Dr. Holmes earned her Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University. She previously served as a tenured Associate Professor at the American University in Cairo, and as the Kuwait Foundation Visiting Scholar at Harvard University’s Belfer Center. Her research has also been supported through fellowships at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and the Fulbright dissertation fellowship. Dr. Holmes is the author of three books and more than 50 articles.
Her first book Social Unrest and American Military Bases in Turkey and Germany since 1945 (Cambridge University Press) analyzed seven decades of American security relations with NATO allies Turkey and Germany. Her second book Coups and Revolutions: Mass Mobilization, the Egyptian Military and the United States from Mubarak to Sisi (Oxford University Press) was informed by her experience of living in Egypt throughout the period of revolutionary upheaval. Her third book Statelet of Survivors: The Making of a Semi-Autonomous Region in Northeast Syria (Oxford University Press) is based on a pioneering field survey of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) she conducted in Syria over a period of seven years.
In addition to her academic career, Dr. Holmes served as an advisor at the U.S. Department of State through a Council on Foreign Relations fellowship, where she first worked in the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, focused on Iraq and Syria. She then also served in the Office of Southern European Affairs, which covers Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, and Malta. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, she taught a summer course at the Kyiv School of Economics as a volunteer lecturer. She has provided commentary for the BBC, CBS, NPR, and other major news outlets.
