ROBERT G. WIRSING, Ph.D.

Dr. Robert G. Wirsing came to the Asia-Pacific Center from the University of South Carolina where he was Professor of International Studies and a member of the Department of Government and International Studies since 1971. His primary research interests focus on the contemporary politics, international relations, and defense and security issues of South Asia.

He has held visiting appointments at the School of International Studies, United States Army JFK Special Warfare Center, Fort Bragg (1982-1984); the Department of Politics, University of Karachi, Pakistan (spring 1985); the Department of Politics, MS University of Baroda, Gujarat, India (fall 1985); and the Department of International Relations, Quaid-I-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan (winter 1996). He holds a Ph.D. in International Studies from the Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver.

Dr. Wirsing has made over thirty research visits to India and Pakistan since 1965. He has been an invited speaker on South Asian foreign policy and security issues in India at such organizations as the Indian International Centre, the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, the Centre for Study of Developing Societies, and the United Services Institution; in Pakistan at such organizations as the Pakistan Air Staff College, the Pakistan Naval Staff College, the Pakistan National Defence College, the Pakistan Joint Staff Services College, the Pakistan Foreign Affairs Training Institute, and the Institute of Strategic Studies; and in United Kingdom at the International Institute of Strategic Studies and at Oxford University. In the United States, he has lectured at the Air War College, the Air Command & Staff College, and the Foreign Service Institute. He has been consulted on South Asian security issues by the Department of State. He has been a member of the Carnegie Endowment Task Force on Nuclear Proliferation and the Security of South Asia (1986-1987) as well as of the Task Force on South Asia of the Council on Foreign Affairs (1996). He has also testified before the U.S. Congress on U.S. security interests in South Asia. Dr. Wirsing has appeared on the PBS News Hour with Jim Lehrer as a guest interviewee on the subject of Kashmir. He is a member of the New York-based Kashmir Study Group and co-authored this group's 1997 report 1947-1997, The Kashmir Dispute at Fifty: Charting Paths to Peace. He has been an executive editor of the journal Asian Affairs since 1992.

Dr. Wirsing is author, editor or co-editor of eight books. Recent books include: (author) Kashmir in the Shadow of War (M.E. Sharpe, 2003) and (co-editor) Religious Radicalism and Security in South Asia (APCSS, 2004). He has contributed chapters to twenty books; and his articles have appeared in such journals as International Affairs, Asian Survey, Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Indian Defence Review and Boundary and Security Bulletin.

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Last updated: 06/23/2008