Mohammad Shahid Alam is a

Pakistani Pakistanis (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. As much as ...

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

, academic, and

social scientist Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the ...

. He is a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU or NEU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded by the Boston Young Men's Christian Association in 1898 as an all-male instit ...

. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Institute for Policy Research & Development, London.

Background

Alam was born to a

Muhajir Muhajir or Mohajir (, '; pl. , ') is an Arabic word meaning ''migrant'' (see immigration and emigration) which is also used in other languages spoken by Muslims, including English. In English, this term and its derivatives may refer in a general s ...

Family in 1950 in Dhaka,

East Pakistan East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...

, moving to West Pakistan in 1971Cihan Aksan, ''State of Nature''
On Islam: An Interview with M. Shahid Alam
/ref> following the creation of

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

from East Pakistan. He holds a BA from the

University of Dhaka The University of Dhaka (), also known as Dhaka University (DU), is a public university, public research university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Established in 1921, it is the oldest active university in the country. The University of Dhaka w ...

, an MA from the

University of Karachi The University of Karachi (; informally Karachi University, KU, or UoK) is a public research university located in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Established in June 1951 by an act of Parliament and as a successor to the University of Sindh (which is ...

, and a Ph.D. from the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...

. (1979) His brothers are, the

Pakistan Air Force The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) (; ) is the aerial warfare branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces, tasked primarily with the aerial defence of Pakistan, with a secondary role of providing air support to the Pakistan Army and Pakistan Navy when re ...

flying ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviation, military aviator credited with shooting down a certain minimum number of enemy aircraft during aerial combat; the exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ...

Air Commodore Air commodore (Air Cdre or Air Cmde) is an air officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes ...

Muhammad Mahmood Alam Muhammad Mahmood Alam (; ) (6 July 1935 – 18 March 2013), popularly known as M. M. Alam, was a Pakistani fighter pilot and flying ace of the Pakistan Air Force. He is officially credited with having downed five Indian fighter aircraft in ...

and

particle physicist Particle physics or high-energy physics is the study of fundamental particles and fundamental interaction, forces that constitute matter and radiation. The field also studies combinations of elementary particles up to the scale of protons and ...

M. Sajjad Alam.

Career

Alam's academic writings focus, among other things, on the economic effects of Western foreign and economic policies on formerly colonized states. He writes critically about the present-day global wealth disparities produced by Western policies. He draws attention to the pro-capitalist ideological intent and Eurocentric biases of mainstream economics. He is an outspoken opponent of U.S. policies in the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

and the Global South. His publications include: # ''Poverty from the Wealth of Nations'' (Macmillan, 2000), # ''Governments and Markets in Economic Development Strategies'' (Praeger: 1989), # ''Is There An Islamic Problem'' (Kuala Lumpur: The Other Press, 2004, republished in 2007 as ''Challenging the New Orientalism'', IPI: 2007), # ''Israeli Exceptionalism: The Destabilizing Logic of Zionism'' (Palgrave Macmillan: 2009). #''Intimations of Ghalib'', (Orison Books, 2018). #''Yardstick of Life'', (Kindle Direct Publishing, 2024). He is also a regular contributor to ''

CounterPunch ''CounterPunch'' is a left-wing online magazine. Content includes a free section published five days a week as well as a subscriber-only area called CounterPunch+, where original articles are published weekly. ''CounterPunch'' is based in the Un ...

''. Alam is a critic of

Zionism Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

and

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, which he does not believe has a right to exist. He is a supporter of the boycott of Israel movement, and wrote in a column for ''CounterPunch'' in 2002, "The Academic Boycott of Israel," that "resistance to the colonizer must be violent." In 2004 a column of Alam's, "America and Islam, Seeking Parallels" made an analogy between the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, which he called an Islamic insurgency, and the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

, attracting controversy and criticism from right-wing critics such as

David Horowitz David Joel Horowitz (January 10, 1939 – April 29, 2025) was an American conservative writer and activist. He was a founder and president of the David Horowitz Freedom Center (DHFC); editor of the Center's website '' FrontPage Magazine''; and ...

and

Daniel Pipes Daniel Pipes (born September 9, 1949) is an American former professor and commentator on foreign policy and the Middle East. He is the president of the Middle East Forum, and publisher of its ''Middle East Quarterly'' journal. His writing focus ...

, who appeared on ''

The O'Reilly Factor ''The O'Reilly Factor'' (originally titled ''The O'Reilly Report'' and also known as ''The Factor'') is an American cable television news and talk show. ''The O'Reilly Factor'' first aired in the United States on Fox News Channel on October 7 ...

'' to attack Alam, and Alam received death threats. * * * * *

Books

*''Israeli Exceptionalism: The Destabilizing Logic of Zionism'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009). *''Challenging the New Orientalism: Dissenting Essays on the "War Against Islam"'' (IPI, 2007). *''Is there an Islamic problem? : essays on Islamicate societies, the US, and Israel'' (The Other Press, 2004). *''Poverty From the Wealth of Nations: Integration and Polarization in the Global Economy since 1760'' (Macmillan, 2000). *''Governments and Markets in Economic Development Strategies: Lessons From Korea, Taiwan, and Japan.'' (Praeger, 1989). *''Intimations of Ghalib'', (Orison Books, 2018). *''Yardstick of Life'', (Kindle Direct Publishing, 2024).

References

External links

Faculty Page at Northeastern University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alam, M. Shahid Northeastern University faculty University of Karachi alumni University of Dhaka alumni Pakistani economists Living people People from Dhaka People from Karachi Pakistani emigrants to the United States University of Western Ontario alumni Fellows of Pakistan Academy of Sciences American academics of Pakistani descent 1950 births