Vali Nasr

Tufts University; Council on Foreign Relations

Vali Nasr is professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University and an adjunct senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is also a senior fellow of The Dubai Initiative run by Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government and a senior advisor to Richard Holbrooke, the Obama administration's special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

His books include Democracy in Iran (Oxford University Press, 2006), The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam will Shape the Future (W.W. Norton, 2006), and most recently Forces of Fortune: The Rise of the New Muslim Middle Class and What It Will Mean for Our World (Free Press, 2009).

Nasr writes frequently for scholarly publications and newspapers, including The New York Times, and appears on TV and radio.

Featured Work

DEC 14, 2009 Podcast

Forces of Fortune: The Rise of the New Muslim Middle Class and What it Will Mean for Our World

The real key to bringing economic and political change to the Muslim world is capitalism, says Vali Nasr. Entrepreneurial middle classes the world over have ...

The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future

OCT 18, 2006 Podcast

The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future

Vali Nasr argues that the Shia Crescent--stretching from Lebanon and Syria through the Gulf to Iraq and Iran, finally terminating in Pakistan and India--is gathering ...

MAY 17, 2006 Podcast

Jere Van Dyk Interviews Vali Nasr

"For the Iranians, the Taliban and Saddam were a problem, and the United States removed both of them," says Nasr. "[T]here is an opportunity ...

MAY 17, 2006 Podcast

Are We Misreading Iran's Nuclear Politics?

Ms. Haghighatjoo says that Iranian political parties and individuals critical of their government’s handling of the nuclear issue " have joined the debate [and] believe ...