Bruce Gilley (born July 21, 1966) is a Canadian–American professor of political science and director of the PhD program in Public Affairs and Policy at the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University.
[4] Gilley gained international acclaim but also a storm of criticism for his highly controversial peer-reviewed article "The Case for Colonialism," published in an advance online edition of the scientific journal Third World Quarterly in 2017.
Gilley, a Canadian born American of Scottish descent[1] received his Bachelor of Arts in economics and international relations from the University of Toronto in 1988.
[4][5] He became an associate professor in 2008 at the Department of Political Science of the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University.
"[citation needed][11][17] The article was ultimately withdrawn with Gilley's assent after the editor had received threats of violence and it was re-published in the National Association of Scholars' journal Academic Questions in April 2018.
Gilley's biography of Sir Alan Burns, entitled The Last Imperialist: Sir Alan Burns's Epic Defense of the British Empire, was withdrawn from publishing by Rowman & Littlefield after J. Moufawad-Paul started a petition, which gained more than 1000 signatories, saying the author espoused a "pro-colonial" and "white nationalist" perspective.
The tremendous fear among the population of Hong Kong prior to the transfer of power to China in 1997 made a big impression on him.
[1] In 2017, Gilley withdrew from the American Political Science Association, stating that he considered it to lack intellectual diversity and to possess an anti-conservative bias.
[26][27] On 23 April 2024, Gilley attracted controversy for remarks during a lecture at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur stating that Malaysia "could never be a trusted friend of the West because its leaders are supporting a "second Holocaust against the Jewish people."