Prince Zeid Ra'ad Zeid Al-Hussein, Ambassador of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to the United States, presented a public lecture, "On Crises and Compression: Considerations of a Jordanian Diplomat," at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 24, 2010 in Bowl 016, Robertson Hall on the Princeton University Campus. The lecture was co-sponsored by LISD, Near Eastern Studies, the Program in Law and Public Affairs, and the Transregional Institute. The event was free and open to the public.

Prince Zeid is Jordan’s Ambassador to the United States and non-resident Ambassador to Mexico. He was previously the kingdom’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, a post he held from 2000-2007. From 1996-2000, he was Jordan’s Deputy Permanent Representative at the UN, with the rank of Ambassador.

An expert in the field of international justice, Prince Zeid played a central role in the establishment of the International Criminal Court. In September 2002, Prince Zeid was elected the first president of the governing body of the International Criminal Court, at a time when the Court was only a plan on paper. Prince Zeid also served as a political affairs officer in UNPROFOR in the former Yugoslavia from February 1994 to February 1996, and, having worked intimately with peacekeeping issues for over the last decade, his knowledge of peacekeeping is extensive.

Prince Zeid holds a B.A. from The Johns Hopkins University and a Ph.D. from Cambridge (Christ’s College). In 1989, he also received his commission as an officer in the Jordanian desert police (the successor to the Arab Legion) and saw service with them until 1994.