Ali A. Mazrui is Albert Schweitzer Professor in the Humanities at the State University of New York in Binghamton, New York. He has been officially received by the heads of state of India and China and has served as chancellor of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. Dr. Mazrui has also served as president of the Association of Muslim Social Scientists of North America. His research interests include the soft power of culture and religion in the Middle East and South Asia and the years of ideological power in Mao's China.

Seifudein Adem is associate professor of political science at the State University of New York in Binghamton, New York. He has taught at universities in Ethiopia, Japan, and the United States. Dr. Adem has published widely on the political economy of Africa-China relations and Africa-Japan relations.