Center for the Study of the Middle East

Major General (USAF, Ret.) Charles Tucker, serves as Executive Director of two International Non-Governmental Organizations: the Sustainable Capacity International Institute, Arezzo, Italy; and the World Engagement Institute, Chicago, IL, USA. In these capacities, he designs and manages institutional capacity building programs throughout the world. He likewise promotes the economic and legal development of people through education, research, documentation, and advocacy. In addition, Prof. Tucker also serves as the International Projects Director for the National Strategy Forum, a non-partisan training institute and think-tank located in Chicago. And he serves on the Board of Directors of the International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers’ Association (ICoCA), Geneva, Switzerland, where, as the U.S Government representative on the 12-member Board, he is charged with promoting, governing and overseeing the implementation of the International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers to promote the responsible provision of private security services and respect for human rights and national and international law by exercising independent governance and oversight of the ICoC.

Gen. Tucker has been an educator, international legal expert, and institutional capacity development practitioner for more than thirty years. Throughout his career, he has routinely served with the US State Department, United Nations and various International Organizations in numerous countries. His academic career includes teaching positions in International Law for the University of Colorado (1999-2002) and DePaul University (2008-2011). He attained the rank of Assistant Professor of Law at the US Air Force Academy and served as Course Director of the Academy’s Comparative International Law Program (1999-2002). He was the founding Co-Editor of the USAFA Journal of Legal Studies and the DePaul University Rule of Law Journal. Prof. Tucker has also served as Adjunct Professor of Business and Labor Management for Bradley University (2002-2008), as Adjunct Professor of Political Science for the University of Maryland (1984-1989), and as Adjunct Professor of Government for Wayland University (1982-1984). Prof. Tucker currently serves as the Co-Course Director of the United Nations’ Annual International Humanitarian Law Symposium. He has lectured as a Visiting Professor at the Vietnam National University (Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội); the Universität Heidelberg (Germany); the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law (Germany); the University of Zagreb (Sveučilištu u Zagrebu, Croatia), the University of Sarajevo (Univerziteta u Sarajevu, Bosnia and Herzegovina); the Middle East Technical University (Orta Dogu Teknik Üniversitesi, Turkey), Ankara Üniversitesi (Turkey), the University of Sulaimani (جامعة السليمانية , Sulaymaniyah, Iraq), and Duhok University (جامعة دهوك , Duhok, Iraq). Prior to retiring from a distinguished active duty and reserve military career, Prof. (Major General, Ret.) Tucker served as the National Guard’s Director of Joint Doctrine, Training and Force Development. He was responsible for overseeing the National Guard’s various Joint Education and Training Centers, as well as its entire Joint Professional Education Program and curricula development efforts. Since his military retirement, he has assisted the Vietnamese, Kenyan and Somali governments with their constitutional and legal development and has published widely on these subjects. He is a 1979 graduate of the University of Notre Dame (B.A., Government) and a 1982 graduate of the DePaul University College of Law (Juris Doctor).