Robert Kirby Boggs (1968)

Professor of South Asia Studies, National Defense University

Robert Boggs joined the Near East South Asia Center for StrategicStudies at National Defense University in August 2008, after serving 32years in the State Department as political officer and intelligenceanalyst. During his career he become one the State Department's mostexperienced specialists in South Asia, having served in India (nineyears), Sri Lanka and Nepal. In New Delhi he headed the embassy'sPolitical Section and in Calcutta the U.S. Consulate General. InWashington he served as Pakistan desk officer and as director of theOffice of South Asian Regional Affairs. His last overseas assignmentwas as Deputy Chief of Mission in Kathmandu, where he managed adiplomatic mission comprising 114 Americans from six U.S. agencies, over500 foreign employees, and 103 Peace Corps volunteers. During almostfour years in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, he was State'spolitical analyst for Pakistan and Bangladesh. He also has workedoverseas or in Washington on Egypt, Central Africa and Haiti.

Dr. Boggs has long pursued interests in the political economy ofnational development, especially in emerging states; political-militaryaffairs; U.S. foreign policy; and South Asian politics, foreign policyand security issues. As a Foreign Service officer he has writtenextensively about the politics and foreign relations of South Asia, andhas received multiple awards for his analytic skills and contributionsto bilateral diplomatic relations.

In addition to receiving his doctorate from the University of Californiaat Berkeley, Dr. Boggs is a graduate of the Air War College and theUniversity of Michigan (magna cum laude). Growing up as the son of aUSAID officer, he lived in Indonesia, the Philippines, Iraq and Lebanon.Since then he has traveled to some seventy countries around the world.

Dissertation Title
The Political Basis of Socioeconomic Development: The Case of Nepal
Present Location
Professor of South Asia Studies, National Defense University
Entry Year