About Dr. Saqer AlKhalifa

About the Author

Dr. Saqer AlKhalifa

Professor · Policy Advisor · Author of Shackles of Democracy and The Trust Trap

Dr. Saqer AlKhalifa is a professor at the American University of Bahrain and a senior advisor at Bahrain’s Ministry of Education. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Claremont Graduate University and an M.A. from The American University in Washington, D.C.

A published scholar and international speaker, he has spent over two decades designing reforms across education, sport governance, and youth development. He is a 30-time IRONMAN finisher, a graduate of The Citadel, and the founder of both the Bahrain Triathlon Federation and the Bahrain School and Collegiate Sports Federation.

Shackles of Democracy (2026) argues that democracy as we know it has no future, and builds that case on twenty-two statistical models from public data, all published in full for anyone to check. The Trust Trap: Escaping the Systems Keeping Countries Poor, with a foreword by Dr. Paul J. Zak, treats trust as infrastructure a country can design, with case studies from Bahrain, Rwanda, Finland, Estonia, Japan and the United States.

He appears on Bahrain TV and speaks to universities, ministries and companies on institutional reform, education and trust. Recent interviews and talks are on his YouTube channel, and speaking and media requests go through the speaking page.

His doctoral dissertation is available in full: read the dissertation (PDF).

alkhalifa.sager@gmail.com