Dr Arshad Ali was Director India Study Centre at the Institute of strategic studies, Islamabad. He received his Ph.D. from the Department of Politics at the University of Otago (New Zealand) in May 2019, Master of Science in Strategic Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) in Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) in 2013, and Master of Science in Economics from Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad in 2007. His research interests concern South Asian politics and security; the global war on terror; and Pakistan’s foreign and security policy.
Previously, Dr Arshad worked as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations (DPSIR) at the University of Management and Technology, Lahore where he taught different courses related to international security at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He supervised several MPhil and undergraduate students who have successfully completed their research theses from DPSIR. He also worked in national and international think tanks including the Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad (ISSI) and the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR), Singapore. He has published several articles, and book chapters in various national and international publishers on his area of research interests. He published a book entitled “Pakistan’s National Security Approach and Post-Cold War Security: Uneasy Co-existence” from the prestigious Routledge Press in March 2021. He has also contributed book chapters in edited books from Routledge, and he has been invited to contribute a chapter on Pakistan’s strategic culture in The Routledge Handbook of Strategic Culture.
Dr Arshad has actively participated as a presenter, discussant, mentor, and organizer in various national and international conferences and workshops including International Studies Association (ISA), Mid-West Political Sciences Association (MPSA), and International Political Science Association (IPSA). In April 2022, he presented his research paper on “Pakistan-Afghanistan Relationship beyond Strategic Depth: Exploring alternative options for Pakistan after the US withdrawal in Afghanistan” at the MPSA conference held in Chicago, United States. At ISA, he was a member of the committee on South Asia in World Politics in 2020-21.