Shiite Islamic Politics and the Future of Iraq

Professor of Modern Middle East and South Asian History

Juan R. I. Cole is a professor of Modern Middle East and South Asian History at the University of Michigan. He has written extensively about modern Islamic movements in Egypt, the Persian Gulf, and South Asia. Since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., he has given numerous media and press interviews on the war on terrorism—and, since 2003, he has often been interviewed about the Iraq war. He also maintains a weblog about the ongoing conflict in Iraq.

Cole's current research focuses on two contemporary phenomena: Shiite Islam in Iraq and Iran, and the "jihadi" or "sacred-war" strain of Muslim radicalism, including groups such as al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

His most recent book is Sacred Space and Holy War (IB Tauris, 2002), which is a collection of some of his work on the history of the Shiite branch of Islam in modern Iraq, Iran, and elsewhere in the Persian Gulf.