Sean R. Roberts is an associate professor of the practice of international affairs and the director of the international development studies program at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. He is an anthropologist by training and wrote his dissertation at the University of Southern California on the Uyghurs of Kazakhstan and their interaction with China’s Uyghurs. In addition to his academic work, Roberts has done substantial work in the field of international development, primarily on democratization and human rights in the former Soviet Union and especially in Central Asia. He has published numerous articles in academic journals, edited volumes and in policy-oriented publications, both about political development in Central Asia and about the Uyghurs. He also frequently provides commentary to major news outlets on these subjects, and he is currently writing a book on the self-fulfilling prophecy of Uyghur militancy.