Amin Saikal (AM, FASSA) is emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies and founding director of the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies (the Middle East and Central Asia) at the Australian National University (ANU); Adjunct Professor of Social Sciences at the University of Western Australia.
He is recipient of the Order of Australia (AM) ‘for service to the international community and education through the development of the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies, and as an author and adviser’; and ANU’s Peter Baume Award recognising ‘eminent achievement and merit of the highest order’; and an elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia (FASSA).
His recent books include:
How to Lose a War: The story of America’s intervention in Afghanistan (Yale University Press, 2014)
Iran Rising: The Survival and Future of the Islamic Republic (Princeton University Press, 2021)
Islam Beyond Borders: Umma in World Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2019) - co-author
The Spectre of Afghanistan: The Security of Central Asia (London: Bloomsbury/I.B. Tauris, 2021) – co-author
Iran at the Crossroads (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2016); Zone of Crisis: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and Iraq (London: I.B. Tauris, 2014)
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)
Weak States, Strong Societies: Power and Authority in the New World Order (London: I.B. Tauris, 2016) – editor
The Arab World and Iran: A Turbulent Region in Transition (New York: Palgrave/Macmillan, 2016) - editor
Afghanistan and its Neighbours After the NATO Withdrawal (New York: Lexington Books, 2016) – co-editor
Democracy and Reform in the Middle East and Asia: Social Protest and Authoritarian Rule after the Arab Spring (London: I.B. Tauris, 2014) - co-editor.
He is also the author of many articles in refereed international journals and book chapters in edited volumes and numerous op-ed and feature pieces in major international dailies and websites, including The New York Times, The New York Times International Edition (previously International Herald Tribune), The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Globe and Mail, Project Syndicate, The Strategist, The Sydney Morning Herald, and the Age.
He has been a frequent commentator on national and international TV and radio networks, including BBC, ABC and CNA, on issues pertinent to his field of speciality.
