About Mohsen M. Milani
Written by Ms. Vickie Chachere
In the late 1960s, Mohsen Milani was in his early teens when he left Tehran, Iran, for Berkeley, California. This was a time of student protests, social transformation, and heated debates, with tanks occasionally rumbling through the streets. Milani experienced a California bursting with contrasts. At Oakland High School, he balanced a life filled with the excitement of Oakland Raiders games, the Brady Bunch, the Beatles, and Elton John, while also witnessing the seismic unfolding of anti-Vietnam War protests and the rise of the Students for a Democratic Society and the Civil Rights Movement— providing him with a front-row seat to history in the making. Immersed in this electrifying environment, he discovered a passion for ideas and dialogue, navigating the chaos to hone the art of building bridges among ideologies, a skill that has defined his scholarly writings.
During college, he gravitated toward the non-Marxist faction of Iranian student activists opposing the rule of Mohammad Reza Shah. He immersed himself in the works of Hannah Arendt, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Herbert Marcuse. Reflecting on that time, he remarked, “Coming from a sheltered and prosperous family in Tehran, arriving in northern California felt like breaking free from a cocoon. I was stepping into an entirely new world, mesmerized by the freedoms Americans embraced, and spent countless hours in coffee shops, passionately debating politics with friends.”
Milani found himself both exhilarated and unsettled by the newfound freedom. “From my early childhood,” he reflected, “I had a moderate temperament, which naturally inclined me to resist extremist ideologies. I also was struck by the righteousness of some friends and their refusal to consider opposing perspectives.” Driven by a determination to bridge ideological divides, Mohsen devoted himself to fostering mutual understanding between opposing perspectives.
From the radicalism of Berkeley, Milani transitioned to the conservatism of southern California in the mid-1980s to pursue graduate studies at the University of Southern California. There, he earned a master’s degree in philosophy and political science, followed by a Ph.D. in political science. Originally intending to return to Iran after completing his studies, his plans were disrupted by the Iranian Revolution of 1979.
“I could not believe that the Shah’s fortified regime would crumble so quickly, nor that Ayatollah Khomeini could establish a theocracy on the ruins of a monarchy with over 2,500 years of tradition,” he reflected. Both shocked and fascinated by the momentous Islamic revolution, Milani devoted his doctoral dissertation to exploring its causes and consequences. A revised version of his research was later published as The Making of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, a book that has since become required reading at numerous universities in the United States, Japan, Iran, Canada, the U.K., and Italy.
The Iranian revolution left a profound mark on his worldview. “The unpredictable consequences of that historic event convinced me that revolutions promise much but deliver very little—and should be avoided whenever possible,” he explained.
After earning his Ph.D., he accepted a tenure-track position at the University of South Florida. In 1998, he was elected chair of the Department of Government and International Affairs, a role he held for thirteen years. During his tenure, he spearheaded the establishment of a Ph.D. program in Governance, which he considers a major achievement of his academic career. Currently, he serves as a professor of comparative politics and the Founding Director of the Center for Strategic & Diplomatic Studies at the University of South Florida.
Over the past three decades, Milani has established himself as one of the world’s foremost scholars on contemporary Iranian politics. He has held prestigious fellowships at Harvard University, Oxford University, and Ca’ Foscari University in Venice, Italy. The author of more than 80 books, book chapters, and articles in peer-reviewed journals and popular magazines, some of his works have been translated into Persian, French, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and Portuguese. He has advised private and government agencies and testified before the U.S. Congress as a subject matter expert.
A dynamic speaker, Milani has delivered lectures at more than 200 academic institutions, think tanks, and government agencies in 27 countries since 2000. His insights have been sought by more than 150 national and international media outlets, including The Economist, BBC World, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, Russia Today, CGTN (China), The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Chunichi Shimbun (Japan), Correio Braziliense (Brazil), Público (Portugal), Népszabadság (Hungary), Al Jazeera, USA Today, Forbes, Bloomberg News, Christian Science Monitor, Toronto Star, Il Riformista (Italy), NDTV (India), The Atlantic, Sveriges Radio (Sweden), and many others.
A naturalized American citizen, Milani reflects on his American journey with gratitude, saying, ‘I have been fortunate to enjoy more than five incredible decades of joyful and meaningful living in the United States.” He treasures his family life. He is married and is the proud father of three daughters.
To contact Professor Milani, email him at Milani@usf.edu
