Contributors

Now retired, Peck was a senior program officer at Meridian International Center in Washington, DC, where he designed and implemented professional study programs for participants in the State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program, from 1984 to 2015. Most of those programs were conducted for visitors from the Arab world, exploring such subjects as the role of religion, the rule of law, education at the secondary and post-secondary levels, and local and state government. Previously, he served as the Arabian Peninsula analyst in the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research, 1981-83, and was director of programs at the Middle East Institute, 1970-81.

He is the author of The United Arab Emirates: A Venture in Unity (1986) and of The Historical Dictionary of the Gulf Arab States (1997 and 2007), with a co-authored third edition of the Dictionary scheduled for publication in 2018. Additionally, he has contributed chapters on Arab world issues to ten books and published over 150 articles and encyclopedia entries on Middle East subjects.

He served as the president of the National Committee to Honor the Fourteenth Centennial of Islam, which exhibited art expressive of Islamic culture in Houston, Pittsburgh, and Washington, DC in 1982.

Peck was born in Boston in 1939. Although he has lived and worked in the Washington, DC area for nearly 50 years, he remains a proud Bostonian. He received an AB in European History (honors) and an AM in Middle East Studies from Harvard University, and holds MA and PhD degrees from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University.

He was married to Aida Ravelo Peck, a nurse originally from the Visayan region of the Philippines, who specialized in assisting open heart surgery. Son John is an architect working in Portland, Oregon.

Malcolm Peck has been a program officer at Meridian International Center for the past 30 years, where he helps to plan and implement professional study tours for participants in the State Department's International Visitor Leadership Program. Between 1981 and 1983, he was Arabian Peninsula analyst for the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research and, from 1970 to 1981, was the director of programs at the Middle East Institute. Earlier, he taught at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga and was a post-doctoral fellow at the Harvard University Center for Middle Eastern Studies. Dr. Peck is a specialist on Gulf-Arabian Peninsula issues and has published three books, ten chapters, and numerous articles on the topic. He received an A.B. and A.M. from Harvard University and an M.A., M.A.L.D., and Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

Malcolm Peck has been a program officer at Meridian International Center for the past 30 years, where he helps to plan and implement professional study tours for participants in the State Department's International Visitor Leadership Program. Between 1981 and 1983, he was Arabian Peninsula analyst for the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research and, from 1970 to 1981, was the director of programs at the Middle East Institute. Earlier, he taught at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga and was a post-doctoral fellow at the Harvard University Center for Middle Eastern Studies. Dr. Peck is a specialist on Gulf-Arabian Peninsula issues and has published three books, ten chapters, and numerous articles on the topic. He received an A.B. and A.M. from Harvard University and an M.A., M.A.L.D., and Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

Malcolm Peck has been a program officer at Meridian International Center for the past 30 years, where he helps to plan and implement professional study tours for participants in the State Department's International Visitor Leadership Program. Between 1981 and 1983, he was Arabian Peninsula analyst for the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research and, from 1970 to 1981, was the director of programs at the Middle East Institute. Earlier, he taught at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga and was a post-doctoral fellow at the Harvard University Center for Middle Eastern Studies. Dr. Peck is a specialist on Gulf-Arabian Peninsula issues and has published three books, ten chapters, and numerous articles on the topic. He received an A.B. and A.M. from Harvard University and an M.A., M.A.L.D., and Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

Sam Westrop is director of Islamist Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum. He is a fellow of the

Gatestone Institute, Freedom Association, Scholars for Peace in the Middle East and the American

Islamic Forum for Democracy. He writes on the subject of extremism, radicalization and terror finance, and has published in dozens of newspapers and online publications based in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, India, Bangladesh, Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Along with his frequent appearances on radio and television, on stations that include the BBC and Al Jazeera, he is the author of Hidden in Plain Sight: Deobandis, Islamism and British Multiculturalism Policy, which was published as part of an edited book by Palgrave Macmillan in 2016. His work has been cited in the British Parliament and Congress and by prominent thinktanks around the world.

AFPC thanks our anonymous authors for their generous contributions to the World Almanac of Islamism.

AFPC thanks our anonymous authors for their generous contributions to the World Almanac of Islamism.

Ilan Berman is Vice President of the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington, DC. An expert on regional security in the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Russian Federation, he has consulted for both the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and the U.S. Department of Defense, and provided assistance on foreign policy and national security issues to a range of governmental agencies and congressional offices. Berman is the author or editor of five books:Tehran Rising: Iran’s Challenge to the United States (Rowman & Littlefield, 2005),Dismantling Tyranny: Transitioning Beyond Totalitarian Regimes (Rowman & Littlefield, 2005), Taking on Tehran: Strategies for Confronting the Islamic Republic (Rowman & Littlefield, 2007), Winning the Long War: Retaking the Offensive Against Radical Islam (Rowman & Littlefield, 2009), and, most recently, Implosion: The End of Russia and What it Means for America (Regnery Publishing, 2013).

Ryan Evans is an Associate Fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence, King’s College London, where he previously worked as a project manager. In that capacity, he designed research projects and managed a U.S. government-funded study on the radicalization of Muslims in the West in collaboration with the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism at the University of Maryland. From 2005 to 2008, he was a senior research analyst at the Washington-based Investigative Project on Terrorism.

Evgueni Novikov is an expert with extensive on-the-ground experience in Islam and considerable practical experience in the Central Asia and Persian Gulf regions. Dr. Novikov was one of top experts on Islamic affairs for the Soviet government. He is the author of a number of articles and of several books, including Gorbachev and the Collapse of the Soviet Communist Party: The Historical and Theoretical Background (Peter Lang, 1994) and Central Asian Responses to Radical Islam (AFPC, 2006).

Evgueni Novikov is an expert with extensive on-the-ground experience in Islam and considerable practical experience in the Central Asia and Persian Gulf regions. Dr. Novikov was one of top experts on Islamic affairs for the Soviet government. He is the author of a number of articles and of several books, including Gorbachev and the Collapse of the Soviet Communist Party: The Historical and Theoretical Background (Peter Lang, 1994) and Central Asian Responses to Radical Islam (AFPC, 2006).