Vali R. Nasr
Majid Khadduri Professor of Middle East Studies and International Affairs
About
Vali Nasr is the Majid Khadduri Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University. Between 2012 and 2019 he served as the Dean of the School, and between 2009 and 2011 as Senior Advisor to U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke between 2009 and 2011.
He is the author of The Dispensable Nation: American Foreign Policy in Retreat; Forces of Fortune: The Rise of a New Middle Class and How it Will Change Our World; The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam will Shape the Future; Democracy in Iran: History and the Quest for Liberty; Islamic Leviathan, Islam and the Making of State Power; Mawdudi and the Making of Islamic Revivalism; and Vanguard of Islamic Revolution: Jama’at-i Islami of Pakistan; and numerous articles in scholarly journals.
He has advised senior American policy makers, world leaders, and businesses including the President, Secretary of State, senior members of the Congress, and presidential campaigns, and has written for New York Times, Foreign Affairs, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.
He is a member of International Board of Advisors of the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University, the International Board of Advisors at the American University of Beirut, and the Board of Advisors of Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. He has been the recipient of grants from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, and the Social Science Research Council. He is a Carnegie Scholar for 2006.
He received his BA from Tufts University in International Relations summa cum laude and was initiated into Phi Beta Kappa in 1983. He earned his masters from the Fletcher School of Law in and Diplomacy in international economics and Middle East studies in 1984, and his PhD from MIT in political science in 1991.
Nasr, V. (2016). The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam will Shape the Future. W. W. Norton & Company
Nasr, V. (2014). The Dispensable Nation: American Foreign Policy in Retreat. Anchor.
Nasr, V. (2009). Forces of Fortune: The Rise of a New Middle Class and How it Will Change Our World. Free Press
Nasr, V. (2014). The Dispensable Nation: American Foreign Policy in Retreat. Anchor.
Nasr, V. (2009). Forces of Fortune: The Rise of a New Middle Class and How it Will Change Our World. Free Press
Gheissari, A and Nasr, V. (2006). Democracy in Iran: History and the Quest for Liberty. Oxford University Press
Nasr, V. (2001). Islamic Leviathan, Islam and the Making of State Power. Oxford University Press
Nasr, V. (1996). Mawdudi and the Making of Islamic Revivalism. Oxford University Press
Nasr, V. (1994). Vanguard of Islamic Revolution: Jama’at-i Islami of Pakistan. University of California Press
In the News
Biden, Trump, and the view from Asia.
Vali Nasr interviewed on Asia Society’s Asia In-Depth podcast, 11/12
Iran and the U.S.: The long and arduous diplomatic road.
Vali Nasr wrote for Royal United Services Institute, 10/30
The 2020 presidential election: Views across the Asia-Pacific.
Vali Nasr participated in Asia Society Policy Institute webinar, 10/14
Should U.S. foreign policy focus on great-power competition?
Nora Bensahel, Hal Brands, Ho-Fung Hung, Vali Nasr, and Mary Elise Sarotte surveyed in Foreign Affairs, 10/13
For Trump, defying Mideast truisms produced breakthroughs and backfires.
Vali Nasr quoted in The New York Times, 10/11
Experts offer bleak assessment of Middle East’s future.
Vali Nasr quoted in The Washington Diplomat, 9/30
Trump’s policies have convinced Iran to build a more advanced nuclear program before negotiating.
Vali Nasr wrote in Foreign Policy, 9/21
At the State Department, calling for alliances and acting as a coalition of one.
Vali Nasr quoted in The New York Times, 9/2