Carole A. O'Leary

Carole A. O'Leary "is the Scholar-in-Residence for the Middle East Initiative at the American University Center for Global Peace. A key area of her research is the politics of identity in the Middle East, specifically in Iraq and Iran. Professor O'Leary established an "Iraq Working Group" at the Center in 2001 to examine the premise that federalism is the best organizing framework for governance in a future Iraq. Since 1994, she been an adjunct professor in the School of International Service for Middle East Studies, cross-appointed to the Divisions of International Peace and Conflict Resolution and Comparative and Regional Studies. Professor O'Leary has traveled widely throughout the Middle East and conducted in depth research on the politics of identity in Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Iran and Lebanon. Most recently, she conducted research in Iraqi Kurdistan in June 2001 and again in July 2002 focused on democratization, pluralism and civil society building in the region. Professor O'Leary also oversees the public program activities that are associated with the Mustafa Barzani Scholar of Global Kurdish Studies at AU. She is the editor of "Islam: An Introduction," published by the American Institute for Islamic Affairs in 1985 and the editor of AIIA's Occasional Paper Series on Islam and the Muslim World, published between 1985-87. Her most recent article on Iraq, The Kurds of Iraq: Recent History, Future Prospects," was published in the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal in December 2002. With Charles MacDonald, she is the co-editor a volume entitled The Kurdish Identity in an Unsettled World that will be published in 2003."


 * Scholar, Center for Global Peace
 * Faculty Advisory Committee, Center for Democracy and Election Management