Skip to content

Professor Anoush Ehteshami

Professor Anoush Ehteshami

Professor Anoush Ehteshami is Professor of International Relations in the School of Government and International Affairs, Durham University. He is the Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah Chair in International Relations and Director of the HH Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah Programme in International Relations, Regional Politics and Security. He is, further, Director of the Institute for Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies (IMEIS) at Durham, one of the oldest and noted centres of excellence in Middle Eastern studies in Europe. He acts as Co-director (2016-2021) of the £3.9 million AHRC-funded Open Worlds Initiative entitled Cross-Language Dynamics: Reshaping Community. Previously (2006-2016), he acted as Joint Director of the nationally (RCUK)-funded Durham-Edinburgh-Manchester Universities’ research and training Centre for the Advanced Study of the Arab World (CASAW). He was Durham University’s first Dean of Internationalization, 2009-2011, and was the founding Head of the School of Government and International Affairs (2004-9). He has been a Fellow of the World Economic Forum, and served as a member of the WEF’s foremost body, the Global Agenda Councils, 2010-12, focusing on energy. He was Vice-President and Chair of Council of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES) 2000-2003. He is Editor of two major book series on the Middle East and the wider Muslim world, and is member of Editorial Board of seven international journals. His many book-length publications include:
  • How China is Changing the Middle East (with Niv Horesh) (New York, NY: Routledge, 2020), 167pp;
  • Iran: Stuck in Transition (New York, NY: Routledge, 2017), 296pp;
  • Security and Bilateral Relations between Iran & its Arab Neighbors (co-editor) (New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), 240pp;
  • The Emerging Middle East-East Asia Nexus (co-editor) (New York: NY, Routledge, 2015), 192pp;
  • The Foreign Policies of Middle East States (co-editor) (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2014), 399pp;
  •  Dynamics of Change in the Persian Gulf: Political Economy, War and Revolution (New York, NY: Routledge, 2013), 292pp;
  • Iran and the International System (co-editor) (New York, NY, Routledge, 2012), 224pp;
  • The International Politics of the Red Sea (with Emma Murphy) (New York, NY: Routledge, 2011), 265pp;
  • Competing Powerbrokers of the Middle East: Iran and Saudi Arabia (Abu Dhabi: Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research, 2009), 59pp;
  • Reform in the Middle East Oil Monarchies (co-editor) (Reading: Ithaca Press, 2008), 309pp;
  • Globalization and Geopolitics in the Middle East: Old Games, New Rules (New York, NY: Routledge, 2007), 258pp;
  • Iran and the Rise of its Neoconservatives (with Mahjoob Zweiri) (London: I.B. Tauris, 2007);
  • The Middle East’s Relations with Asia and Russia (co-editor) (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2004), 166pp;
  • The Changing Balance of Power in Asia (Abu Dhabi: ECSSR, 1998), 62pp;
  • Syria and Iran: Middle Powers in a Penetrated Regional System (with Ray Hinnebusch) (London: Routledge, 1997), 238pp;
  • Islamic Fundamentalism (co-editor) (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1996), 284pp;
  • After Khomeini: The Iranian Second Republic (London: Routledge, 1995), 244pp;
  • From the Gulf to Central Asia: Players in the News Great Game (editor) (Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1994), 242pp;
  • Iran and the International Community (co-editor) (London: Routledge, 1991), 191pp;
  • Nuclearisation of the Middle East (New York, NY: Brassey’s Defence Publishers, 1989), 197pp.
  He also has over 90 articles in learned journals and edited volumes to his name. His current research agenda revolves around five over-arching themes:
  • The Asian balance of power in the post-Cold War era.
  • The ‘Asianization’ of the international system.
  • Foreign and security policies of Middle East states since the end of the Cold War.
  • The Arab region in transition: Role of state and non-state actors.
  • Good governance in the Middle East.
  View Professor Ehteshami full profile on the Durham University website.