WASHINGTON, March 22, 2022 – The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington is pleased to announce that Narayanappa Janardhan and Bader Al-Saif have joined the institute as non-resident fellows.

Narayanappa Janardhan is a senior research fellow at the Gulf-Asia Program at the Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy. He also offers diplomats PGD and MA courses on Gulf and Asian foreign policies. His academic publications include The Arab Gulf’s Pivot to Asia: From Transactional to Strategic Partnerships (ed., Gerlach, 2020); A New Gulf Security Architecture: Prospects and Challenges for an Asian Role (ed., Gerlach, 2014); and Boom Amid Gloom: Spirit of Possibility in the 21st Century Gulf (Ithaca, 2011). With a PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, Janardhan is the managing assistant editor of the Journal of Arabian Studies (Routledge). He is a regular contributor to various international think tanks, academic publications, and media outlets.

Janardhan commented, “This non-resident fellowship with AGSIW is an invaluable opportunity for us to continue informing and engaging with the academic, research, and policy communities in the United States and elsewhere about the evolving dynamics in the Gulf. We aim to specifically unravel and analyze the Gulf’s multidimensional relations with Asian countries, which are shifting gears from transactional to strategic engagement.”

AGSIW Executive Vice President William Roebuck said, “We are delighted to welcome Narayanappa Janardhan as a non-resident fellow. He has been a regular contributor for AGSIW and brings an impressive breadth of knowledge and expertise on Gulf political and security issues. His productive scholarly focus on the Gulf’s relations with Asia, evident even in a select listing of publications, has been sustained and penetrating. We look forward to benefiting from his insights on these issues going forward.”

Bader Al-Saif is an assistant professor of history at Kuwait University as well as a non-resident fellow at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center. Al-Saif focuses on the modern history and contemporary affairs of the Middle East, namely political and intellectual history, Islamic thought, reform dynamics, transnational trends, and gender studies. Al-Saif is the author of numerous publications, including Musulman-e Marksisti: The Islamic Modernism of Ali Shariati in Religion vs. Religion; co-author of Higher Education and Contestation in the State of Kuwait After the Arab Spring: Identity Construction and Ideologies of Domination in the American University of Kuwait; and “Neither Fulul nor Ikhwan: Abdulrahman Yusuf and the Rise of an Alternative Current in Post-Morsi Egypt.” He has held senior roles in both the private and public sectors in Kuwait. Al-Saif holds a PhD with distinction from Georgetown University, a Master of Education and Master of Theology, both with honors from Harvard University, and a Master of Law with honors from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Al-Saif said, “AGSIW has been a welcoming space and a source of cutting-edge research from the informative field trips I organized for my Georgetown University students to its groundbreaking pieces that I assign to my students at Kuwait University. I look forward to joining the AGSIW family and supporting its studies on the Gulf region.”

Roebuck said, “We are delighted as well to welcome Bader Al-Saif as a non-resident fellow at AGSIW. He brings deep substantive expertise on Gulf political developments and intellectual history. With his impressive record of publications and extensive teaching appointments, he has been at the forefront of scholarly efforts focused on reform dynamics, Islamic thought, and a broad range of other intellectual and regional trends. AGSIW looks forward to a productive affiliation with Bader.”

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The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington (AGSIW) is an independent, nonprofit institution dedicated to highlighting the importance of the relationship between the United States and the Gulf region through free and open exchange of multiple points of view on issues that concern the Gulf.

AGSIW strives to support this goal by:

• Providing expert analysis and thoughtful debate on the economic, energy, environmental, security, social, cultural, and political dimensions of the Gulf Arab states as well as their relations with the United States and other countries.
• Informing a global audience of policymakers, legislators, businesspeople, academics, media, youth, and others as the foundation for strategic decisions regarding this important region.
• Employing multiple avenues to inform public understanding of the importance of the relationship between the United States and the Gulf Arab states.
• Encouraging strong academic coverage by developing scholars who concentrate on the study of the region.