Background
Barnett Richard Rubin was born on January 10, 1950 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States; the son of Arthur A. Rubin and Shirley (Cooperman) Rubin, a clinical psychologist.
Barnett Rubin received his B.A. from Yale University in 1972.
Barnett Rubin received his Master of Arts and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1976 and 1982 respectively.
educator political scientist author
Barnett Richard Rubin was born on January 10, 1950 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States; the son of Arthur A. Rubin and Shirley (Cooperman) Rubin, a clinical psychologist.
Barnett Rubin received his Bachelor of Arts from Yale University in 1972 and his Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Chicago in 1976 and 1982 respectively. He also received a Fulbright Fellowship to study at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris in 1977-1978.
Barnett Rubin was a Jennings Randolph Peace Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace and Assistant Professor of Political Science at Yale University. He was Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for the Study of Central Asia at Columbia University from 1990 to 1996. During 1996-1998 he served on the Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on Religious Freedom.
During 1994-2000 Rubin was Director of the Center for Preventive Action and Director of Peace and Conflict Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. In November-December 2001 he served as special advisor to the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General for Afghanistan, during the negotiations that produced the Bonn Agreement. He advised the United Nations on the drafting of the constitution of Afghanistan, the Afghanistan Compact, and the Afghanistan National Development Strategy.
Rubin conceived the idea of developing production of essential oils in Afghanistan. With both Afghan and French investors, he founded Gulestan Ariana LLC, which established this industry in Jalalabad. A successor company, Orzala LLC, continues to expand the industry.
From April 2009 until October 2013, Dr. Rubin was the Senior Adviser to the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan in the U.S. Department of State.
In addition, Rubin is the author of "Afghanistan from the Cold War through the War on Terror" (2013), "Blood on the Doorstep: the Politics of Preventing Violent Conflict" (2002). He is also the author of "The Fragmentation of Afghanistan: State Formation and Collapse in the International System" (2002; first edition - 1995), "Calming the Ferghana Valley: Development and Dialogue in the Heart of Central Asia" (1999), "Stabilizing Nigeria: Sanctions, Incentives, and Support for Civil Society" (1998); "Post-Soviet Political Order: Conflict and State Building" (1998); "Cases and Strategies for Preventive Action" (1998); "Toward Comprehensive Peace in Southeast Europe: Conflict Prevention in the South Balkans" (1996), and "The Search for Peace in Afghanistan: From Buffer State to Failed State" (1995). Rubin has written numerous articles and book reviews on Afghanistan, South and Central Asia, U.S. foreign policy, conflict prevention, state formation, and human rights. His articles have appeared in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The New Yorker, Survival, International Affairs, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The New York Review of Books, as well as academic journals.
Currently, Barnett Rubin is Director of Studies and Senior Fellow at the Center on International Cooperation (CIC) of New York University. He has worked at CIC since July 2000. He is also founder and chair of the Conflict Prevention and Peace Forum (a program of the Social Science Research Council).
Barnett Rubin has been an International Negotiation Network member of Carter Center and a member of Conseil Scientifique of the Fondation Medecins sans Frontiers. He was also South Asia Coordination Group chair of Amnesty International USA from 1981 to 1989 and a member of Executive Board of Human Rights Watch/Asia and participant in missions to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, and Tajikistan. Besides, he was a member of Steering Committee of Human Rights Watch/Helsinki and board member of the International League for Human Rights and participant in missions to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Rubin was also a board member Humanitarian Fund for Tajikistan and participant in missions to Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Iran.
Rubin is fluent in English, French, Hebrew, and intermediate in Arabic, Farsi/Dari and German.
Barnett Rubin married Susan Lee Blum, a writer, on August 10, 1975.