Associate Professor 
Ph.D., University of Virginia
Areas of specialization:
- Comparative Politics
- International Relations
- Middle Eastern Politics
- Democratization
Scholarly achievements:
Professor Singh has authored book chapters and articles that have appeared in numerous
journals including Middle East International, Middle East Report, The Digest of Middle East
Studies, Small Wars Journal, The Islamic Monthly, Issues in Middle East Studies, and elsewhere.
He has received research grants from the Social Science Research Council, the UVA Center on
Religion and Democracy, the American Center for Oriental Research, and other institutions.
Professional Activities:
Professor Singh is a co-founder of the Middle East Association’s Committee for Undergraduate
Middle Eastern Studies. Through nongovernmental organizations such as the National
Democratic Institute for International Affairs, The Carter Center, and Democracy International,
Dr. Singh has served as an accredited international observer of elections held in South Africa
(1994), Namibia (1994), Bangladesh (1996), Liberia (1997), Palestine (1996, 2005, and 2006),
and Afghanistan (2009). In 2015, he wrote the final report for the British Foreign
Commonwealth Office’s program promoting participation in political parties and coalitions in
Afghanistan.
Other activities include a feature interview, titled “Reflections on the Arab Spring,” broadcast
on the “With Good Reason” public radio program, and the keynote address for the “Conflict,
Collapsed States, and Social Movements in the Contemporary Middle East and Asia” workshop
organized by the Center for Islamic Area Studies at Kyoto University and Tokyo University of
Foreign Studies. He co-founded and formerly directed UMW’s Middle East Studies Certificate
program (now replaced by the Middle East Studies minor). He received UMW’s Giving Tree
Award in 2007, and the 2019 John M. Kramer Faculty Award. He also teaches a graduate
seminar on strategy for the US Naval War College.
Pursuing a separate interest in land conservation, Professor Singh is the recipient of a 2019-
2020 UMW Jepson Faculty Fellowship for research. He is currently researching private
landowners’ attitudes towards conservation in Stafford County. He recently presented his
research at the Environment Virginia Symposium (2018) and the annual conference of the
International Association for the Study of Environment, Space, and Place (2019). He also serves
on the Board of Directors of the non-profit Northern Virginia Conservation Trust.
Contact Information:
To contact Professor Singh, send an e-mail at: rsingh@umw.edu
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