Dato’ Dr. Muthiah Alagappa

Distinguished Scholar, School of International Services, American University

Dato’ Dr. Muthiah Alagappa is Distinguished Scholar in the School of International Services, at American University. Concurrently, he is non-resident Senior Associate with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C. Dr. Alagappa was the inaugural Tun Hussein Onn Chair in International Studies at ISIS Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur (2011-12). Prior to that, he was Distinguished Senior Fellow at the East-West Center, USA, director of the integrated research program in East-West Center Honolulu, and founding director of East-West Center Washington. He has held visiting professorships in Columbia University, Stanford University, Keio University, Nanyang Technological University and the University of Malaya. He was Leverhulme visiting professor in Bristol University in 2008 and the Kippenberger Visiting Chair in the School of Government, Victoria University, New Zealand in 2010-2011. His research focuses primarily on Asian security, the political legitimacy of governments, civil society and political change, and the political role of the military in Asia.

Prior to his academic career, from 1960 to 1982 Dato’ Dr. Alagappa served as a regular commissioned officer in the Malaysian Armed Forces. During his military career Dr. Alagappa commanded three signals regiments and held numerous line and staff positions including Army Representative in the Defense Planning Staff in the Malaysian Ministry of Defense. He was executive secretary for Project 75 (reorganizing Ministry of Defence, Malaysia) and the Special Armed Forces Development Plan (1979).

Alagappa has written numerous articles for leading journals and is author of more than ten books. His recent publications include: Nation Making in Asia: From Ethnic to Civic Nations? (Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia, 2012), The Long Shadow: Nuclear Weapons and Security in 21st Century Asia (Stanford University Press, 2008), Civil Society and Political Change in Asia: Expanding and Contracting Democratic Change (Stanford University Press, 2004), Asian Security Order: Instrumental and Normative Features (Stanford University Press, 2003), and Coercion and Governance: The Declining Political Role of the Military in Asia (Stanford University Press, 2001).

Other

Carnegie Endowment | American University

Academic Qualification

Ph.D. International Affairs, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University
M.A. Politics, University of Lancaster

Selected Books

2008. The Long Shadow: Nuclear Weapons and Security in 21st Century Asia; ISBN: 978-0198063599 (Stanford University Press)

2004. Civil Society and Political Change in Asia: Expanding and Contracting Democratic Space; ISBN: 978-0804750974 (Stanford University Press)

2003. Asian Security Order: Instrumental and Normative Features; ISBN: 978-0804746298 (Stanford University Press).

2002. Coercion and Governance: The Declining Political Role of the Military in Asia; ISBN: 978-0804742276 (Stanford University Press)

2001. Military Professionalism in Asia: Conceptual and Empirical Perspectives; ISBN: 978-0866381987 (Rowman & Littlefield)

2001. Taiwan’s Presidential Politics: Democratization and Cross-strait Relations in the Twenty-first Century; ISBN: 978-0765608345 (Routledge)

1999. Asian Security Practice: Material and Ideational Influences; ISBN: 978-0804733472 (Stanford University Press)

1999. (With Takashi Inoguchi) International Security Management and the United Nations: The United Nations System in the 21st Century; ISBN: 978-8170491989 (United Nations University Press)