Faculty
Mohsen Milani
Professor
Contact
Home Campus: Tampa
Office: SOC 347
Email
Bio
Mohsen Milani is Executive Director of the Center for Strategic & Diplomatic Studies and Professor of Politics at the ĐÜèAVĂâ·Ń. He previously served as Chair of the Department of Government and International Affairs from 1998 to 2012. He has also held fellowships at Harvard University, the University of Oxford, and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.
Professor Milani has authored more than sixty publications in leading peer-reviewed academic journals and major policy and public-facing outlets. His latest book, Iran’s Rise and Rivalry with the United States in the Middle East (2025), has been favorably reviewed in both academic and mainstream media, including the Financial Times, the British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, and the Middle East Journal. His earlier and widely cited book, The Making of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, has been used as required reading at universities across the United States, Europe, Japan, Canada, and Iran.
His publications include, among others: “Iran Isn’t as Weak as It Seems” (Foreign Policy); Iran in a Reconnecting Eurasia: Foreign and Economic Interests (CSIS); “Iran’s Strategy in the Syrian Civil War” (The Washington Quarterly); “The Tehran Hostage Crisis” (Encyclopaedia Iranica); “Iran’s Policy toward Afghanistan” (Middle East Journal); “The Rise and Fall—and Possible Rise Again—of Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani” (The Atlantic); “Iran’s Policy toward Iraq” (U.S. Institute of Peace); “Iran’s Relations with Iraq, 1921–79” (Encyclopaedia Iranica); and “Iran’s Ambivalent World Role” (in Comparative Foreign Policy).
He has also authored numerous articles in Foreign Affairs, including: “Tehran’s Take: Iran’s U.S. Policy”; “What If at First Rouhani Doesn’t Succeed?”; “Rouhani’s Foreign Policy”; “The Ayatollah’s Game Plan”; “Meet Me in Baghdad”; “Iran and Saudi Arabia Square Off”; “Iran and Russia’s Uncomfortable Alliance”; “This Is What Détente Looks Like”; “Iranian Politics after the Deal”; and “Persian Parley.”
Since 2000, Professor Milani has been invited to more than 190 conferences and workshops in many countries. His expertise is regularly sought by governmental and private institutions. He is also a frequent public speaker and has presented his analysis at dozens of universities, think tanks, and nonprofit organizations worldwide.
Professor Milani has been interviewed by more than 100 national and international media outlets, including The New York Times, Le Monde, Financial Times, The Economist, Der Spiegel, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, BBC World News, CNN, CBS News, Fox News, National Public Radio, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, The Atlantic, Forbes, Voice of America, ABC Nightline, The Los Angeles Times, Toronto Star, WELT, Publico, Il Riformista, Globo News, NDTV, and numerous Persian-language publications.
He founded the Center for Strategic & Diplomatic Studies and conducts its Conversation Series on Global Security, featuring one-on-one discussions with prominent scholars, policymakers, and practitioners on major global issues.
For information on Iran’s Rise and Rivalry with the United States in the Middle East, please see
For a full biography, visit MohsenMilani.org.
Research
Comparative Politics, Comparative Revolutions, Modern Iran