Background

Saikal was born on December 2, 1950 in Kabul, Afghanistan; the son of Abdul Haq Saikal and Rahima Nikzai-Saikal. He arrived in Australia in 1970.

Education

Saikal earned his Bchelor of Arts degree from the Australian National University in 1974. Six years later he received a Ph.D. from the same university.

Career

Saikal began his career as a senior lecturer of the department of political science at the Australian National University in 1988 and had held the position for two years. In 1991, he was appointed a reader at the same university. Since 1994 Amin has been a professor of political science at the Australian National University. Also since 1994 he has been working as a director of the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies (the Middle East and Central Asia).

Saikal is a visiting fellow at Princeton University, Cambridge University and the Institute of Development Studies of the University of Sussex. He is a frequent commentator on radio and television and has published numerous articles in international journals.

Achievements

• Saikal is known for his books, including "Iran Rising", "Regime Change In Afghanistan", "Modern Afghanistan" and many others.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Iran Rising: The Survival and Future of the Islamic Republic

    (On the fortieth anniversary of the 1978-1979 Iranian revo...)

    2019
  • Zone of Crisis: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and Iraq

    (The West Asian states of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and ...)

    2014
  • The Soviet Withdrawal from Afghanistan

    (This book is designed to explore the background to the de...)

    1989
  • The Soviet Union As An Asian-pacific Power

    (Implications Of Gorbachev's 1986 Vladivostok Initiative.)

    1987
  • Regime Change In Afghanistan

    (Foreign Intervention And The Politics of Legitimacy.)

    2019
  • Weak States, Strong Societies

    (Power and Authority in the New World Order.)

    2016
  • The Rise and Fall of the Shah

    (Iran from Autocracy to Religious Rule. Saikal examines th...)

    2009
  • Modern Afghanistan: A History of Struggle and Survival

    (2 edition.)

    2012
  • Iran at the Crossroads 2015
  • Islam and the West: Conflict or Cooperation? 2003

Membership

Saikal is a member of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, Council of the Asian Studies Association of Australia and the Australasian Association for the Study of Socialist Countries.

Interests

• painting, wood carving

Connections

Amin Saikal is married to Mary-Lou Hickey. They have three children.

Father:

Abdul Haq Saikal

Mother:

Rahima Nikzai-Saikal

Spouse:

Mary-Lou Hickey

child:

Samra Saikal

child:

Rahima Saikal

child:

Amina Saikal