Malcolm Kerr (political scientist)

Malcolm Hooper Kerr (born October 8, 1931 in Beirut , † January 18, 1984 in Beirut) was an American political scientist specializing in the Middle East and during the Lebanese Civil War from 1982 until his death President of the American University of Beirut (AUB). He was murdered on January 18, 1984 by two assassins near the university. The later Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the murder by telephone. He was considered one of the leading political scientists specializing in the Middle East.

Kerr was born and spent his childhood in Beirut as the child of two lecturers at American University, and after completing his bachelor's degree at Princeton, he returned to the AUB for his master's degree. After receiving his doctorate from Johns Hopkins University , he returned there for his first teaching position. He was later appointed to UCLA , where he was head of the Department of Political Science, Dean of Social Sciences and Director of the Institute for Near East Studies before he became President of the AUB in July 1982 during the Civil War. Because of the Lebanon War , however, he was only able to take office in September.

Kerr's best known book is “The Arab Cold War; Gamal Abd al-Nasir and His Rivals, 1958-1970 ”, a study of the interactions between ideology and political pragmatism in the politics of the Arab states and Gamal Abdel Nasser's pan-Arabism .

The Middle East Studies Association has been presenting the award, named in honor of Kerr's Malcolm H. Kerr Dissertation Award , for outstanding doctoral theses in the field of Middle East Studies since 1984 .

His son Steve Kerr was 1986 World Champion and later on five-time NBA champion in basketball .

Works (selection)

• Islamic reform: the political and legal theories of Muḥammad A̕bduh and Rashīd Riḍā , Univ. of California Press, 1966
• The Middle East conflict , Foreign Policy Assoc., New York 1968
• The Arab cold war: Gamal 'Abd al-Nasir and his rivals: 1958-1970 , 3rd edition, 1983, ISBN 0-86531-524-8 .
• America's Middle East policy: Kissinger, Carter and the future , Beirut 1980

As editor:

• with El Sayed Yassin: Rich and poor states in the Middle East: Egypt and the new Arab order , Westview Press, 1982, ISBN 0-86531-275-3

in this:

• • Egypt in the shadow of the Gulf: introduction
  • Egypt and the Arabs in the future: some scenarios

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Ann Z. Kerr: Biography of MALCOLM HOOPER KERR. (No longer available online.) Middle East Studies Association, The University of Arizona, June 2000, archived from the original June 3, 2007 ; Retrieved January 12, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ ^{a b} A. Marsot: "In Memoriam: Malcolm H. Kerr, 1931-1984", In: International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol 16, No.. 2 (May, 1984), Cambridge University Press, pp. 299f.
3. ↑ Malcolm H. Kerr. (No longer available online.) In: Website of the President of the AUB. American University of Beirut , archived from the original on July 22, 2011 ; Retrieved January 12, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ Malcolm H. Kerr Dissertation Awards. (No longer available online.) Middle East Studies Association, The University of Arizona, archived from the original December 22, 2009 ; Retrieved January 12, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.   
5. ↑ Steve Kerr - President of Basketball Operations, General Manager. In: Phoenix Suns website. NBA , October 3, 2008, accessed January 12, 2010 .