Amin Saikal is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies (the Middle East and Central Asia) at the Australian National University. Professor Saikal has been a visiting fellow at Princeton University, Cambridge University, and the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, as well as a Rockefeller Foundation Fellow in International Relations (1983-1988). He was awarded the Order of Australia (AM) in January 2006 for his services to international community and education as well as an advisor and author. He is the author of numerous works on the Middle East, Central Asia, and Russia. His latest publications include Modern Afghanistan: A History of Struggle and Survival, London: I.B. Tauris, 2012; The Rise and Fall of the Shah: Iran from Autocracy to Religious Rule, Princeton: Princeton University Press 2009; Islam and the West: Conflict or Cooperation?, London: Palgrave, 2003. (Co-editor) American Democracy Promotion in the Middle East: From Bush to Obama, London: Routledge, 2012; ‘Islamism, the Iranian Revolution and the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan’, The Cambridge History of the Cold War, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. He has also published numerous scholarly articles in International Journals, and chapters in edited volumes. Further, he has published many Op-Ed pieces in a number of national and international dailies, including The International Herald Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Guardian, and is a frequent commentator on issues related to the Middle East and Central Asia on radio and television.
This individual is a guest contributor for mei.edu, and is not affiliated with The Middle East Institute.
