Ayesha Siddiqa ( ur, ), (born April 7, 1966), is a Pakistani

political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

, a political commentator and an author who serves as a

research associate Research associates are researchers (scholars and professionals) that usually have an advanced degree beyond a Master's degree. In some universities/research institutes, such as Harvard/Harvard Medical School/Harvard School of Public Health, th ...

at the SOAS South Asia Institute. She previously served as the inaugural Pakistan Fellow at the

Woodrow Wilson Center The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (or Wilson Center) is a quasi-government entity and think tank which conducts research to inform public policy. Located in the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Was ...

between 2004 and 2005.

Biography

Born in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...

, Siddiqa studied at

Kinnaird College The Kinnaird College for Women (KCW) is a university located in Lahore, Pakistan. It is a women's liberal arts university. Kinnaird was established in 1913 by the Zenana Bible and Medical Mission. In 1919, Presbyterian Mission Church and the C ...

and went on to join the

Civil Service of Pakistan The Central Superior Services (CSS; or Civil Service) is a permanent elite civil service authority, and the civil service that is responsible for running the bureaucratic operations and government secretariats and directorates of the Cabinet of ...

. As a civil servant, Siddiqa served as the director of naval research with the Pakistan Navy, making her the first civilian and the first woman to work at that position in Pakistan's defence establishment. She also worked in military accounts and as deputy director Defense Services Audit. Siddiqa moved to London, where she received her PhD from King's College London in

war studies War studies, sometimes called polemology, is the multi-disciplinary study of war. It pertains to the military, diplomatic, philosophical, social, political, psychological or economic dimensions of human conflict. The word ''polemology'' deriv ...

. After leaving the civil service, she served as the senior research fellow at the

Sandia National Laboratories Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), also known as Sandia, is one of three research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Headquartered in Kirtland Air Force Bas ...

and went on to teach at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

and the

Quaid-e-Azam University Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad ( ur, ; commonly referred to as QAU), founded as University of Islamabad, is a ranked 1 public research university in Islamabad, Pakistan. Founded as the University of Islamabad in 1967, it was initially dedi ...

. She also served as the Charles Wallace Fellow at St Antony's College, Oxford in 2015. She has written extensively on the

Pakistan military The Pakistan Armed Forces (; ) are the military forces of Pakistan. It is the world's sixth-largest military measured by active military personnel and consist of three formally uniformed services—the Army, Navy, and the Air Force, which are ...

, and her research has covered issues varying from the Pakistan military's covert development of

military technology Military technology is the application of technology for use in warfare. It comprises the kinds of technology that are distinctly military in nature and not civilian in application, usually because they lack useful or legal civilian applicatio ...

, defensive game theory, nuclear deterrence, arms procurement and arms production, to civil-military relations in Pakistan. After leaving the bureaucracy, she authored ''Pakistan's Arms Procurement and Military Buildup, 1979-99: In Search of a Policy'', 2001, and later, in 2007, published her critically acclaimed book: '' Military Inc.: Inside Pakistan's Military Economy.'' She also regularly writes critical columns for

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...

newspapers, including ''Dawn'', ''Daily Times'', ''

The Friday Times ''The Friday Times'' (TFT) is a Pakistani English-language independent newsweekly, based in Lahore, Pakistan. History and profile ''The Friday Times'' was first published in May 1989. TFT's founder-editor Najam Sethi and publisher Jugnu Mohsin, ...

'' and '' Express Tribune''.

References

External links

Soldiers of Fortune - by Ayesha Siddiqa
{{DEFAULTSORT:Siddiqa, Ayesha 1966 births Living people Pakistani women journalists Pakistani political scientists Johns Hopkins University faculty Pakistani military writers Ayesha Siddiqa Pakistani expatriates in the United Kingdom Pakistani expatriates in the United States Pakistani scholars Alumni of King's College London Peace and conflict scholars Kinnaird College for Women University alumni People from Islamabad Women military writers Pakistani scholars of Pakistan studies Military theorists Pakistan Naval War College faculty Pakistan Army civilians Pakistan Navy civilians Pakistani women columnists Women political scientists