Jeff Key teaches globally-themed courses in the political science program. He is an expert on the politics of South Asia (the area stretching from Afghanistan to Myanmar) and has conducted research in the region for three decades beginning with his doctoral work on voluntary organizations in Pakistan in 1988. His most recent research focuses on party politics and government formation in Nepal, public commemoration of Nepal’s Maoist rebellion and challenges to Indo-US strategic cooperation in the India-Pacific.
Key has lectured at notable institutions, including Chatham House in London, the Woodrow Wilson Center and the National Foreign Affairs Training Center. He has presented papers at international conferences from Toronto, Canada, to Dhaka, Bangladesh. He has also participated in briefings and policy sessions on South Asian affairs at the United States Department of State. He has published works in journals as diverse as Asian Affairs, German Life and Practicing Texas Politics.
He was a member of the Sweet Briar faculty from 1990 until 2006 and returned to Sweet Briar in 2016 following 10 years as the Haggerton Professor and chair of the Department of Political Science at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas.