Barnett Rubin


Barnett Richard Rubin is an American political scientist and a leading expert on Afghanistan and South Asia. He is the author of eight books and is currently Senior Fellow and Director at the Center on International Cooperation at New York University, a leading foreign policy center. He was previously Senior Advisor to the US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. He has advised the United Nations, NATO, the United States and the Afghan government on numerous policy matters, including aid policy, security policy, and diplomatic strategy.

Early life and education

Raised in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, area, he received his B.A. from Yale University and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1982. He also received a Fulbright Fellowship to study at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris in 1977-1978.
He is fluent in English, French, and Hebrew, and intermediate in Arabic, Persian, and German.

Professional work

Rubin is Director of Studies and Senior Fellow at the Center on International Cooperation of New York University, where has worked since July 2000. He is also the Senior Adviser to the Special Representative of the President for Afghanistan and Pakistan in the US Department of State.
In 1994 to 2000 he was Director of the Center for Preventive Action and Director, Peace, and Conflict Studies at New York City's Council on Foreign Relations.
He was Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for the Study of Central Asia at Columbia University from 1990 to 1996. Previously, he was a Jennings Randolph Peace Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace and Assistant Professor of Political Science at Yale University.
In November–December 2001 Rubin served as special advisor to the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General for Afghanistan during the negotiations that produced the Bonn Agreement. He advised the United Nations on the drafting of the constitution of Afghanistan, the Afghanistan Compact, and the Afghanistan National Development Strategy.
In 1996 to 1998, he served on the US Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on Religious Freedom.

Works

Books