American University School of International Service
Faculty Profiles
Comparative & Regional Studies - Middle East & Islamic Studies
Middle East and
Islamic Studies
Focus
The Middle East focus
address the interaction
between society and the
state through processes of
democratization and peacebuilding, the plethora of
cultural, religious, and
ethnic identities, and intraregional conflicts and the
involvement of the
superpowers therein.
The Islamic Studies focus
seeks to promote
understanding of Islam and
the Muslim community in
the United States and
throughout the world. The
fostering of an
understanding of Islam is
accomplished through
courses, events, invited
speakers, and other
education efforts through a
public dialogue that
involves scholars, public
officials, students, and
religious leaders in all
denominations.
Akbar Ahmed
Ambassador Akbar Ahmed is the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic
Studies at American University in and Nonresident Senior Fellow
at the Brookings Institution. He has taught at Princeton,
Harvard, and Cambridge Universities and has been called “the
world’s leading authority on contemporary Islam” by the BBC.
Regularly interviewed by CNN, NPR,
BBC, and Al-Jazeera, he has appeared
several times on "Oprah," and has also
been a guest of "The Daily Show”.
Ahmed was the Pakistan High
Commissioner (Ambassador) to the UK
and Ireland. Contact him at
akbar@american.edu .
Anders C. Hardig
Professor Anders Härdig is a Professorial Lecturer in the
International Politics program at SIS. His main fields of expertise
are international politics and comparative and regional studies
with a special focus on social movements and grassroots networks
in the Middle East. A former student and research affiliate at the
American University of Beirut (AUB) in
Lebanon, Dr. Härdig is a frequent
traveler to the Middle East. In recent
years, Dr. Härdig has worked as a
researcher and consultant for American
and European companies on projects in
Lebanon. Contact him at
hardig@american.edu . Department of Comparative and Regional Studies
crs@american.edu
American University School of International Service
Faculty Profiles
Sample Courses
619: Human Rights and
Islam
- Particular attention is
paid to the social and
political dynamics
behind differing views
of human rights in the
Muslim world and how
these dynamics are in
flux as a result of the
wave of protest and
change sweeping the
Middle East.
SIS 619: Democratization
and Political Change in
the Middle East
- This course examines
both various aspects of
the recent push for
democratization in the
Middle East and the
formidable obstacles
and setbacks with
which it has been faced.
SIS 676: Oil, Islam, and
Politics in Saudi Arabia
and the Gulf
- This course surveys the
domestic and
international pressures
for these actions to
assess both the
potential for and
implications of reform
in the Arab Gulf states.
Shadi Mokhtari
Professor Mokhtari specializes in human rights, Middle East
Politics and Political Islam. She has an extensive background in
human rights and women’s rights issues in the Middle East and
Muslim World. She is the author of After Abu Ghraib: Exploring
Human Rights in America and the Middle East (Cambridge, 2009),
which was selected as the co-winner of the 2010 American
Political Science Association Human
Rights Section Best Book Award. Since
2011, she has been looking at how
human rights dynamics and discourses
have changed in and vis-a-vis the
Middle East in the wake of unfolding
popular protests and political
transitions. Contact her at
mokhtari@american.edu .
Andrew Spath
Professor Spath's is teaching and research is focused on Middle
East politics and society, authoritarianism, contentious politics,
and political violence. He is a doctoral candidate in political
science at Rutgers University and a Fellow at the Foreign Policy
Research Institute (FPRI). Spath has
conducted extensive field research in
the Middle East as a former Fulbright
and Boren fellow. He has taught a range
of courses including Contemporary
Politics of the Middle East, Arab
Politics & Society, Authoritarianism:
Institutions & Practices, Model United
Nations, and Research Methods.
Contact him at spath@american.edu .
Department of Comparative and Regional Studies
crs@american.edu