Professor Emeritus of Political Science

Bob Lee has taught in the Political Science Department since 1971 . He completed his Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University in 1972 with a dissertation on colonial Algeria. He earned an M.S. in Journalism from Columbia in 1965 and a B.A. from Carleton College in 1963.

His specialty is comparative politics of the Middle East and North Africa. He teaches a set of courses on the region and a course on the politics of Europe. On three occasions he has taught in the ACM programs in Florence, Italy, and he once taught in the CC semester in France.

Lee is working on a manuscript about politics and culture in the Middle East and North Africa. The second edition of his most recent book, Religion and Politics in the Middle East (Boulder: Westview Press, 2009), appeared in 2014. He edited and translated a book by the Algerian author, Mohammed Arkoun, Rethinking Islam: Common Questions, Uncommon Answers (Westview,1994), and is the author of Overcoming Tradition and Modernity: The Search for Islamic Authenticity (Westview, 1997).
Lee is married to Susan Ashley of the History Department. They have two sons, William and Matthew. He is an avid golfer.

Regular Classes

PS 236 Introduction to Comparative Politics
PS 203 Israelis and Palestinians (with emphasis on writing)
PS 310 Europe and Its Governments
PS 313 Comparative Politics: The Middle East and North Africa
PS 314 International Politics of the Middle East and North Africa
FYE (HY 200 and PS 203) The Search for Islamic Order: Yesterday and Today