Jack Goldstone is a Mercatus Center Fellow and holds the Virginia E. and John T. Hazel Jr. Professor and Eminent Scholar position at the George Mason University School of Public Policy.   He is also the Director of the Center for Global Policy.  Professor Goldstone's interests include revolutions and social movements, demography and international security and social theory.

Professor Goldstone has conducted over twenty years of prize-winning research on social conflict and social change, focusing on global patterns of comparative development. He has held various visiting and permanent appointments at Northwestern University, The University of California, the California Institute of Technology, and the University of Cambridge. He has acted as a consultant to the World Bank, the White House, and the Central Intelligence Agency. His research success has led to many opportunities to work with various organizations such as the Woodrow Wilson Center, Social Sciences Research Council, American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Science Foundation. He most recently worked at the University of California, Davis where he directed the Center for History, Society, and Culture as well as teaching sociology (1989-present) and international relations (1992-2003).

Professor Goldstone earned a PhD in sociology from Harvard University.