Hassan Abbas (scholar)
Hassan Abbas | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1969 Pakistan |
| Occupation(s) | Scholar, academic |
| Years active | 1994–present |
| Known for | Expertise in governance, law enforcement, and counterterrorism in South Asia and the Middle East |
Hassan Abbas (born 1969) is a scholar of Pakistani-American origin who concentrates on security issues in South Asia and the Middle East, with particular expertise in governance, law enforcement, and counterterrorism. He held positions within the administrations of Benazir Bhutto (1994–1996) and Musharraf (1999–2001) and currently lives in the United States.
Education
Abbas completed a MALD and a PhD at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. He also obtained an LLM in International Law from the University of Nottingham School of Law as a Britannia Chevening Scholar, along with a Master's degree in Political Science from Government College, Lahore under Punjab University, Pakistan.
Academic career
Between 2002 and 2004, Abbas was a visiting scholar at Harvard Law School’s Islamic Legal Studies Program and the Negotiation Project. He served as a research fellow from 2005 to 2009 and then as an adviser from 2009 to 2011 at Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Simultaneously, he held the Quaid-i-Azam Chair at Columbia University’s South Asia Institute and SIPA during 2009–2011. In 2009, he was named Bernard Schwartz fellow at New York’s Asia Society. Currently, Abbas leads the Department of Regional and Analytical Studies and oversees the South and Central Asia Program at the National Defense University (NDU) in Washington DC. In 2012, he directed the Independent Commission on Police Reforms in Pakistan, supported by Asia Society.
In 2014, Abbas featured as a guest on The Daily Show hosted by Jon Stewart.
Selected bibliography
- The Return of the Taliban: Afghanistan after the Americans Left (2023)
- The Prophet’s Heir: The Life of Ali ibn Abi Talib (2021)
- The Taliban Revival: Violence and Extremism on the Pakistan-Afghanistan Frontier (2014)
- Pakistan’s Nuclear Bomb: A Story of Defiance, Deterrence and Deviance (2018)
- Pakistan's Drift into Extremism: Allah, the Army and America's War on Terror (2005)
- Pakistan 2020: A vision for building a better future.
- "Ali Ibne Abi Talib on leadership and good governance." (2012)