Gawdat Bahgat is a professor of political science

Political science

Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...

 at the National Defense University

National Defense University

The National Defense University is an institution of higher education funded by the United States Department of Defense, intended to facilitate high-level training, education, and the development of national security strategy. It is chartered by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, with Navy Vice Admiral...

. Bahgat was born and raised in Cairo

Cairo

Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...

, Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

 and earned degrees at Cairo University

Cairo University

Cairo University is a public university located in Giza, Egypt.The university was founded on December 21, 1908, as the result of an effort to establish a national center for educational thought...

 and American University in Cairo

American University in Cairo

The American University in Cairo is an independent, non-profit, apolitical, secular institution of higher learning located in Cairo, Egypt...

. He emigrated to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and earned his Ph.D at Florida State University

Florida State University

The Florida State University is a space-grant and sea-grant public university located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a comprehensive doctoral research university with medical programs and significant research activity as determined by the Carnegie Foundation...

 in 1991.

Bahgat served as a professor of political science at Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Indiana University of Pennsylvania is a public university in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, USA. The university is northeast of Pittsburgh. It is the largest university in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education and is the commonwealth's fifth largest university...

 from 1995 to 2009 where he also was the Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies. In 2006–07 he earned the Distinguished Faculty Award for research.

Bahgat has published numerous books, chapters, and articles on various subjects including oil politics

Petroleum politics

Petroleum politics have been an increasingly important aspect of diplomacy since the rise of the petroleum industry in the Middle East in the early 20th century...

, nuclear proliferation

Nuclear proliferation

Nuclear proliferation is a term now used to describe the spread of nuclear weapons, fissile material, and weapons-applicable nuclear technology and information, to nations which are not recognized as "Nuclear Weapon States" by the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons, also known as the...

 and the Persian Gulf

Persian Gulf

The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...

 and Caspian Sea

Caspian Sea

The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of and a volume of...

 regions. His works have been translated into Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

, Russian

Russian language

Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

, German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

, Italian

Italian language

Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

, Portuguese

Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

 and Japanese

Japanese language

is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

.

In 2010, Bahgat began teaching at the National Defense University

National Defense University

The National Defense University is an institution of higher education funded by the United States Department of Defense, intended to facilitate high-level training, education, and the development of national security strategy. It is chartered by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, with Navy Vice Admiral...

 in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

.

Books

• The Gulf Monarchies: New Economic and Political Realities, 1997
• The Future of the Gulf, 1997
• The Persian Gulf at the Dawn of the New Millennium, 1999
• American Oil Diplomacy in the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea, 2003
• Israel and the Persian Gulf: Retrospect and Prospect, 2006
• Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in the Middle East, 2007
• Sovereign Wealth Funds in Non-OECD Countries, 2010

Chapters

• "Oil Security in the New Millennium: Geo-Economy vs. Geo-Strategy" Year Book for International Security Policy, 2000, (in German)
• "Privatization and Democratization in the Arab World: Is There a Connection?" in Privatization and Public Policy, 2000
• "The Caspian Sea Geo-political Game: The United States Versus Iran" and "Israel and Iran: Prospects for Détente," in Oil and Water: Cooperative Security in the Persian Gulf, 2001
• "Western Strategic Cooperation with Russia Concerning Oil Supply" in Year Book for International Security Policy, 2003 (in English and German)
• "United States Oil Diplomacy in the Persian Gulf" in Pax Americana in the Middle East: The United States’ Policy towards the Regional Order of the Persian Gulf, 2005
• "Energy Security: Asia and the Middle East" in European Union-Gulf Relations, 2006
• "Energy Security in Central Asia" in Conflict and Conflict Resolution in Central Eurasia: Dimensions and Challenges, 2006
• "Libya Looks to a Bright Future Post-Sanctions" in Mediterranean Yearbook, 2006, (in English, French, and Spanish)
• "Geopolitics and Security: The American Point of View," in Encyclopaedia of Hydrocarbons (in English and Italian)