Staff profile

Professor Anoush Ehteshami is Professor of International Relations in the School of Government and International Affairs, Durham University. He is also 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.

• Persian Gulf
• international relations of the Middle East
• security and strategic studies of the Middle East

• 2002: Fellow of the World Economic Forum. Have acted as consultant to the RAND Corporation; External Relations DG, European Commission; Oxford Analytica; International Institute for Startegic Studies. In 2002/3: Member, Panel of Experts, Global Survey of Civil-:

Authored book

• Ehteshami, A. Globalization, 9/11 and the Middle East. Lynne Rienner
• Ehteshami, A., Rasheed, A., & Beaujouan, J. (2020). Islam, IS and the Fragmented State. Routledge
• Ehteshami, A., & Horesh, N. (2019). How China's Rise is Changing the Middle East. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429288425
• Ehteshami, A. (2017). Iran: Stuck in Transition. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315271569
• Hinnebusch, R. A., & Ehteshami, A. (2014). The Foreign Policies of Middle East States. (2nd ed.). Lynne Reinner Publisher
• Ehteshami, A., & Zweiri, M. (2013). The Changing Nature of Shia Politics in the Contemporary Middle East. Ithaca Press
• Ehteshami, A. (2013). Dynamics of Change in the Persian Gulf: Political Economy, War and Revolution. Routledge
• Ehteshami, A., & Murphy, E. (2011). The International Politics of the Red Sea. Routledge
• Ehteshami, A., & Zweiri, M. (2007). Iran and the Rise of its Neoconservatives: The Politics of Tehran's Silent Revolution. I.B. Tauris
• Ehteshami, A. (2007). Globalization and Geopolitics in the Middle East: Old Games, New Rules. Routledge
• Ehteshami, A., & Rienner, L. (2002). The Foreign Policies of Middle East States. Lynne Rienner Publishers
• Ehteshami, A. (2001). Iran's Security Policy in the Post-Revolutionary Era. Rand Corporation
• Ehteshami, A. (1999). Political Economy of European Union- Middle East Relations
• Ehteshami, A., & Hinnebusch, R. (1997). Syria and Iran: Middle Powers in a Penetrated Regional System. Routledge

Chapter in book

• Ehteshami, A. (2012). MENA Region: Security and Regional Governance. In S. Breslin, & S. Croft (Eds.), Comparative Regional Security Governance (131-153). Routledge
• Ehteshami, A. (2010). Iranian Perspectives on the Global Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. In B. M. B. Blechman, & K. Alexander (Eds.), National Perspectives on Nuclear Disarmament: Unblocking the Road to Zero (87-112). Stimson Centre
• Ehteshami, A. (2009). 'Iran's Regional Policies since the End of the Cold War'. In A. Gheissari (Ed.), Contemporary Iran (324-348). Oxford University Press
• Ehteshami, A. (2006). Warning: Title Missing. In R. Thakur, & W. P. S. Sidhu (Eds.), The Iraq Crisis and World Order: Structural, Institutional and Normative Challenge. United Nations University Press
• Ehteshami, A. (2006). 2005: The Year of Crisis in Iran. In A. Sagar, C. Koch, & H. T. Ibrahim (Eds.), Gulf yearbook 2005-2006 (349-355). Gulf Research Center
• Ehteshami, A. (2006). 'The Middle east and Security Strategy'. In R. Dannreuther, & J. Peterson (Eds.), Security Strategy and Transatlantic Relations (78-96). Routledge
• Ehteshami, A. (2006). 'The Middle East: Between Ideology and Geopolitics'. In M. Buckley, & R. Singh (Eds.), The Bush Doctrine and the War on Terrorism: Global Responses, Global Consequences (104-120). Routledge
• Ehteshami, A. (2006). 'The Future of Iran's Defense and Nuclear Policy'. In W. Posch (Ed.), Iranian Challenges (73-85). EU Institute for Security Studies
• Ehteshami, A. (2005). 'Islam as a Political Force in International Relations'. In N. Lahoud, & A. Johns (Eds.), Islam in world politics (29-53). Routledge
• Ehteshami, A. (2005). 'Iran, the GCC and Europe: Alternative Strategies'. In C. Koch, & F. Neugart (Eds.), A Window of Opportunity: Europe, Gulf Security and the Aftermath of the Iraq War (39-52). Gulf Research Centre
• Ehteshami, A. (2005). 'GCC-Iran Relations'. In Gulf Yearbook 2004 (181-186). Gulf Research Center
• Ehteshami, A. (2002). 'The Foreign Policy of Iran'. In R. A. Hinnebusch, & A. Ehteshami (Eds.), The foreign policies of Middle East states (283-309). Lynne Rienner
• Ehteshami, A. (2002). Tehran's Tocsin. In A. T. Lennon (Ed.), Contemporary Nuclear Debates: Missile Defense, Arms Control, and Arms Races in the Twenty-First Century (151-157). Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press
• Ehteshami, A. (2002). The Middle East� � Iran and Israel. In M. Webber, & M. Smith (Eds.), Foreign Policy in a Transformed World (255-286). Prentice Hall

Conference Paper

• Zhang, R. (2017). Communications of Ancient China to the West from an Archaeological Perspective. In L. . E. Andersen, A. Ehteshami, M. Sunuodula, & Y. Jiang (Eds.),

Edited book

• Ehteshami, A., & Miyagi, Y. (Eds.). (2015). The Emerging Middle East- East Asia Nexus. Routledge
• Ehteshami, A., & Wright, S. (Eds.). (2008). Reform in the Middle East Oil Monarchies. Ithaca Press
• Ehteshami, A., & Zweiri, M. (Eds.). (2008). Iran's Foreign Policy: From Khatemi to Ahmadinejad. Garnet Publishing

Journal Article

• Ehteshami, A., & Bahgat, G. Iran’s Asianization. The Middle East journal,
• Akbarzadeh, S., Gourlay, W., & Ehteshami, A. (2023). Iranian proxies in the Syrian conflict: Tehran’s ‘forward-defence’ in action. Journal of Strategic Studies, 46(3), 683-706. https://doi.org/10.1080/01402390.2021.2023014
• Ehteshami, A. (2022). ASIANISATION OF ASIA: CHINESE-IRANIAN RELATIONS IN PERSPECTIVE. Asian Affairs, 53(1), 8-27. https://doi.org/10.1080/03068374.2022.2029037
• Ehteshami, A. (2018). Saudi Arabia as a Resurgent Regional Power. The International Spectator, 53(4), 75-94. https://doi.org/10.1080/03932729.2018.1507722
• Ehteshami, A. (2018). Gold at the end of the rainbow? The BRI and the Middle East. Global Policy, 9(3), 387-397. https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12552
• Ehteshami, A. (2018). Iran's role in the Gulf: beyond politics. Orient (Leverkusen), II, 39-48
• Ehteshami, A., Horesh, N., & Xu, R. (2018). Chinese-Iranian Mutual Strategic Perceptions. The China journal (Canberra, A.C.T. Online), 79, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1086/693315
• Bahgat, G., & Ehteshami, A. (2017). Iran’s Defense Strategy: The Navy, Ballistic Missiles and Cyberspace. Middle East Policy, 24(3), 89-103. https://doi.org/10.1111/mepo.12292
• Ehteshami, A. (2015). Regionalization, Pan-Asian Relations, and the Middle East. East Asia, 32(3), 223-237. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12140-015-9233-7
• Ehteshami, A., & Zweiri, M. (2009). 'The Rise of Neoconservatives in Iran'
• Ehteshami, A. (2008). 'Opinion: The reform agenda in the Arab world'. Contemporary Arab Affairs, 1(1), 85-90. https://doi.org/10.1080/17550910701812271
• Ehteshami, A., & Wright, S. (2007). 'Political Change in the Arab Oil Monarchies: From Liberalization to Enfranchisement'. International Affairs, 83(5), 913-932. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2346.2007.00662.x
• Ehteshami, A. (2007). 'Il Jihad Globale e la Guerra Diffusa'
• Ehteshami, A. (2005). 'The Democratisation Process in the Gulf Co-operation Council Countries'. Šuʾūn iǧtimāʿiyyaẗ (Al-Šārqaẗ), 22(86), 56-69
• Ehteshami, A. (2004). 'Islam, Muslim Polities and Democracy'. Democratization, 11(4), 90-110. https://doi.org/10.1080/1351034042000234549
• Ehteshami, A. (2004). 'Iran's International Posture After the Fall of Baghdad'. The Middle East journal, 58(2), 179-194
• Ehteshami, A. (2003). 'Oil, Arms Procurement and Security in the Persian Gulf'. Asian Affairs, 34(3), 260-270. https://doi.org/10.1080/0306837032000136297
• Ehteshami, A. (2003). 'Iran-Iraq Relations After Saddam'. The Washington Quarterly, 26(4), 115-129
• Ehteshami, A. (2003). 'Reform From Above: The Politics of Participation in the Oil Monarchies'. International Affairs, 79(1), 53-75. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2346.00295
• Ehteshami, A. (1999). Is the Middle East Democratizing?. British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 26(2), 199-217. https://doi.org/10.1080/13530199908705683
• Ehteshami, A. (1996). Defence and Security Policies of Syria in a Changing Regional Environment. International Relations, 13(1), 49-67. https://doi.org/10.1177/004711789601300103

Monograph

• Ehteshami, A. (2008). 'Competing Powerbrokers of the Middle East:Iran and Saudi Arabia'. Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research

Working Paper

• Ehteshami, A. (2007). 9/11 As a Cause of Paradigm Shift?
• Ehteshami, A. (1995). The politics of economic restructuring in post-Khomeini Iran