Malcolm Kerr

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Malcolm Kerr (1931–1984) was a political scientist and teacher who was an expert on Middle East politics. His best known book is The Arab Cold War; Gamal Abd al-Nasir and His Rivals, 1958-1970.

Born in Beirut, Lebanon, Kerr was raised near the American University of Beirut (AUB), where his parents taught. He went on to college at Princeton University where he earned his undergraduate degree in International Relations with a specialization in the Middle East. He later earned his doctorate from Johns Hopkins School of International Relations (spending two years of this time at Harvard University), with a dissertation on the political and legal theories of Muhammad Abduh and Rashid Rida in early twentieth century Egypt.

Kerr's first teaching position was at AUB where he taught for three years in the Political Science Department. Thereafter, Kerr went on to teach at UCLA in the Center for Near Eastern Studies and the Department of Political Science. He later became chairman of the Department of Political Science.

After a 20 year career at UCLA, Kerr returned to his native Beirut to assume the position of President of the American University of Beirut in 1982. On January 18, 1984, Kerr was shot and killed near his office, probably by members of the terrorist group Islamic Jihad. He was the father of professional basketball shooting guard and three-point specialist Steve Kerr, who won five National Basketball Association championships and one All-Star Weekend Three-Point Shootout during his fifteen-year NBA career.

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Malcolm Kerr's important review of Edward Said's Orientalism.