THE FOREIGN POLICY INSTITUTE

Leila Austin

Director, Cultural Conversations

Leila Austin is Professorial Lecturer in Global Theory and History and Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) where she also directs the Cultural Conversations project at the Foreign Policy Institute and co-directs the Global Politics and Religion Initiative.  She also teaches in the Global Security Studies department of Johns Hopkins University's Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, the American University's School of International Service, and Georgetown University's Center for Arab Studies.  Dr. Austin's research interests include the role of religion, literature and political culture more generally in defining politics and policy-making, and the history and politics of the Middle East and North Africa.  She received her Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University and her M.A. in International Affairs from SAIS.  Dr. Austin's most recent articles include: "The New Opposition in Iran" (2010) and "The Politics of Youth Bulge: From Islamic Activism to Democratic Reform in the Middle East and North Africa" (2011).