Illuminating the Arts-Policy Nexus 

Editor Emeritus, World Policy Journal

Expertise The imperial and post-imperial age in South Asia and the former Soviet Union; Russia; Western policy toward Central Asia, Iran, the Caucasus, Afghanistan, and Pakistan; Middle East.

Karl Meyer, who has edited World Policy Journal since the year 2000, is an experienced writer and commentator on international affairs, a former editorial writer for both the New York Times and the Washington Post, the author of a dozen books, and a visiting professor at Yale, Princeton, Tufts, and most recently Bard College.

Born in Wisconsin, he earned his BA at the state university and his masters degree in public affairs and PhD at Princeton University, and he has been a visiting fellow at Oxford University and Berlin's Institute for Advanced Study. His recent writings have focused on the imperial and post-imperial age in South Asia and the former Soviet Union. His most recent book, co-authored with his wife, Shareen Blair Brysac, is Pax Ethnica: Where and How Diversity Succeeds. Their previous joint books are Kingmakers: The Invention of the Modern Middle East and Tournament of Shadows: The Great Game and the Race for Empire in Central Asia. The Dust of Empire: The Race for Mastery in the Asian Heartland, reissued in paperback in 2004 by Public Affairs, examines the present and past of Russia and the West's involvement with Central Asia, Iran, the Caucasus, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

Honors & Affiliations

Member of the Toynbee Prize Foundation, among other honors.

Education:
B.A. Wisconsin State University
PhD, Princeton  

• "Pathways to Tolerance and Diversity," The Dylan Ratigan Show, MSNBC.
• "Multiculturalism Works," Lucy McKeon, Salon
• Interview and Discussion with the Authors on City Talk, CUNY TV
• "Crime, Queens, and Escaping Slavery" Book Review by Sam Roberts, The New York Times
• "Why Diversity Matters," The Brian Lehrer Show, WNYC.

The Dust of Empire: The Race for Mastery in the Asian Heartland