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Vali Nasr

Professor of International Politics

Education

BA, Tufts University
MALD, The Fletcher School
PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Professional Activities

Senior Advisor to Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, U.S. State Department (2009-present); Professor and Chair of Research, Department of National Security Affairs, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey (2003-2007); Senior Fellow Belfer Center, Harvard University (2006-present); Adjunct Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations (2006-2009); Director, Islamic Educational Reform in South Asia Project of the National Bureau of Asian Research (2005-2007); Has taught at University of San Diego, University of California, San Diego, Stanford and Tufts. Honors and Fellowships include: Carnegie Scholar (2006); Life Member, Council on Foreign Relations (2005-present); John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation award (2000); and Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation award (1996) . Has advised the U.S. President, Vice-President, Secretaries of State and Defense (2006); National Security Council (2006) and Deputy Secretary of State (2006); testified before Congress; served as Co-Director, Iran Policy Forum, U.S. Institute of Peace (2006-2007); member of Board of Trustees of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (2007-present); member of Academic Council of Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University (2006-present); member of Board of Trustees of The Foundation for Iranian Studies (2003-present), and member of Advisory Committee, Faris Center of Eastern Mediterranean Studies, Tufts University (2001-Present).

Courses

Fall 2009

• DHP P263 - Islam and Politics: Religion and Power in World Affairs

Research Interests

Middle East, South Asia, Comparative Politics, Islam and Politics, Religion and Politics, U.S. Muslim world policy

Selected Publications

Books

• Forces of Fortune: The Rise of a New Muslim Middle Class and What It Means for Our World (2009).
• The Shia Revival: How Conflicts Within Islam will shape the Future (2006) (paperback 2007).
• Democracy in Iran: History and the Quest for Liberty (co-author) (2006).
• The Islamic Leviathan: Islam and the Making of State Power (2006).
• Mawdudi and the Making of Islamic Revivalism (1996).
• The vanguard of Islamic revolution: Jama`at-i Islami of Pakistan (1994).

Articles

• “South Asia Circa 1920-Present,” The New Cambridge History of Islam V (forthcoming).
• “The Cost of Containing Iran,” Foreign Affairs (January/February 2008).
• “When the Shiites Rise,” Foreign Affairs (July/August 2006).
• “National Identities and Pakistan-India Conflict.” The India-Pakistan Conflict: An Enduring Rivalry (2005).
• “Iran’s Peculiar Election: The Conservative Wave Rolls On,” Journal of Democracy (2005).
• The Conservative Consolidation in Iran,” (co-author) Survival (2005).
• “The Rise of Muslim Democracy,” Journal of Democracy (2005).
• “Regional Implications of Shi’a Revivial in Iraq.” The Washington Quarterly (2004).
• “The Democracy Debate in Iran.” (co-author) Middle East Policy Journal (2004).
• “Military Rule, Islamism, and Democracy in Pakistan,” The Middle East Journal (2004).

Opinion pieces have appeared in: The Christian Science Monitor, International Herald Tribune, Foreign Policy, Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, The New York Times, Newsweek, Time, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, as well as Der Spiegel, La Repubblica, and Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Vali Nasr has been profiled in The Wall Street Journal, La Repubblica and The National.