Ali Riaz

Ali Riaz is a distinguished professor of political science at Illinois State University, USA, a Nonresident Senior Fellow of Atlantic Council, and the President of the American Institute of Bangladesh Studies. He held various positions at ISU, including the Chair of the Department of Politics and Government (2007-17), and the Thomas E Eimermann Professorship (2018-20). Riaz previously taught at universities in Bangladesh, England, and South Carolina, USA, worked as a Broadcast Journalist at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in London, and served as a Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars at Washington, DC. His primary area of interests are South Asian politics, democratization, violent extremism, political Islam, and Bangladeshi politics. Dr. Riaz’s recent publications include Voting in a Hybrid Regime: Understanding 2018 Bangladeshi Election (2019), Bangladesh: A Political History since Independence (2016), and an edited volume Religion and Politics in South Asia (2021). He has also co-edited Political Violence in South Asia (2018) and Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Bangladesh (2016). Riaz has several books in Bengali to his credit including Nikhoj Gonotontro (2021).