#  Hassan Abbas 

Senior Adviser, Project on Shi'ism and Global Affairs

Distinguished Professor of International Relations at the Near East South Asia Strategic Studies Centre (NESA), National Defense University

 

 

 



   ![Abbas](/sites/g/files/omnuum3191/files/styles/hwp_4_5__320x400/public/transnationalshiism/files/hassan_abbas_0.jpg?itok=nhL0PrPF) 

 



 





 

 Hassan Abbas is Distinguished Professor of International Relations at the Near East South Asia Strategic Studies Centre (NESA), National Defense University in Washington DC.

 He serves as a senior advisor at the Project on Shi'ism and Global Affairs at Harvard University's Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. His current research work focuses on building narratives for countering political and religious extremism and law enforcement reforms in developing states. He recently published a highly acclaimed biography entitled [The Prophet's Heir: the Life of Ali ibn Abi Talib](/%C2%A0https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300229455/prophets-heir) (Yale University Press, 2021). The work covers arguably the single most important spiritual and intellectual authority in Islam after Prophet Mohammad, Imam Ali, and was rated the #1 new release on the history of Islam on Amazon.

 Earlier he served as professor and department chair at National Defense Univer sity’s College of International Security Affairs (2011-2019) and as the Distinguished Quaid i Azam Professor at Columbia University (2009-2011).

 He held various fellowships including at Harvard Law School’s Islamic Legal Studies Program and the Program on Negotiation (2002-04); the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government (2005-09); the Asia Society in New York as a Bernard Schwartz fellow (2009-2011); and as a Carnegie fellow at the New America Foundation (2016-2018).

 He holds a PhD and MALD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, an LLM in International Law from the Nottingham University, UK as a Britannia Chevening Scholar, and an MA in Political Science from the Punjab University, Pakistan.

 He has appeared on various television news shows on *CNN*, *Fox News*, *The Daily Show with Jon Stewart*, *Newshour with Jim Lehrer*, the *Charlie Rose Show*, *MSNBC* (*Abrams Report* and *Hardball*), *C-Span* (*Washington Journal*), and various programs on *CBS*, and *NBC* as an analyst on security-related issues in South Asia and the Middle East.

 His latest book is *Pakistan’s Nuclear Bomb: A Story of Defiance, Deterrence & Deviance* (Oxford University Press, 2018). His earlier books include *The Taliban Revival* (Yale University Press, 2015), and *Pakistan’s Drift into Extremism* (M.E.Sharpe & Routledge, 2005). He edited and authored various reports and monographs including *The Myth and Reality of Iraq’s al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces): A Way Forward* (Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 2017), *ISIS Eyes Influence in Pakistan: Focus, Fears and Future Prospects* (Jinnah Institute, Islamabad, 2014), and *Stabilizing Pakistan through Police Reforms* (Asia Society, 2011).



 

 

 





 

 

- ## Conference Year
    
     [2021 Conference](/year/2021)