arim Mezran is Director of the North Africa Initiative and a Resident Senior Fellow with the Rafik Hariri Center and Middle East Programs at the Atlantic Council, where he focuses on political and economic transformation in North Africa, with particular expertise on Libya’s prolonged governance crisis. A distinguished Libyan-Italian scholar, Dr. Mezran regularly convenes senior diplomats and policymakers from the United States, Europe, and the Middle East to address regional challenges and strengthen US–North Africa relations, and for over two decades has spearheaded initiatives—alongside global firms, think tanks, and government agencies—aimed at resolving Libya’s political gridlock. He is the co-editor of three major ISPI volumes with Dr. Arturo Varvelli—Foreign Actors in Libya’s Crisis (2017), The Arc of Crisis in the MENA Region (2018), and The MENA Region: A Great Power Competition? (2019)—and co-author of Libia: fine o rinascita di una nazione? (Donzelli Editore, 2012), as well as author of Negotiation and Construction of National Identities (Martinus Nijhoff, 2007). He has also co-edited recent long-form ISPI reports including From Rivalry to Cooperation: The Geopolitical Implications of Egypt–Turkey Rapprochement (2025) and Libya’s Protracted Crisis: Ten Years of Electoral Deadlock (2024), and frequently appears in major media outlets including the BBC, Al-Monitor, and i24NEWS, with writing featured in publications such as Foreign Policy and The Atlantic. From 2002 to 2012, he served as Director of the Center for American Studies in Rome and has taught at Johns Hopkins SAIS, where he also earned his PhD in International Relations
he additionally holds a JD from the University of Rome (La Sapienza), an MA from Georgetown University.