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.

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

• Energy Policy Group

• Durham Middle East Monographs Series
• Durham Modern Middle East and Islamic World Series
• Open Democracy
• The Contemporary Middle East Series

• 2016: Cross-Language Dynamics: Reshaping Community (OWRI)(£325055.57 from AHRC)
• 2016: H2020-MEDRESET: A comprehensive, integrated,and bottom-up approach to reset our understanding of the Mediterranean space, remap the region and reconstruct inclusive, responsive and flexible EU policies in it.(£131665.17 from European Commission)

• 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-:

Available for media contact about:

• Religion: Islamic fundamentalism
• International: Defence & disputes: Middle Eastern politics
• International: Defence & disputes: security & strategic affairs
• International: Defence & disputes: international defence-related issues (nuclear proliferation, etc.)
• International: Defence & disputes: Islamic fundamentalism
• International: Defence & disputes: Arab-Israeli relations
• International: Politics, institutions & law: Middle East
• International: Politics, institutions & law: Central Asia
• International: Politics, institutions & law: defence
• Middle East: Iran, Iraq & other Gulf states
• Middle East: Islamic fundamentalism
• Middle East: Politics of the Red Sea

Authored book

• Ehteshami, Anoushiravan, Rasheed, Amjed & Beaujouan, Juline (2020). Islam, IS and the Fragmented State. Routledge.
• Ehteshami, Anoush & Horesh, Niv (2019). How China's Rise is Changing the Middle East. Routledge.
• Ehteshami, Anoushiravan (2017). Iran: Stuck in Transition. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
• Hinnebusch, Raymond A. & Ehteshami, Anoush (2014). The Foreign Policies of Middle East States. Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Reinner Publisher.
• Ehteshami, Anoush (2013). Dynamics of Change in the Persian Gulf: Political Economy, War and Revolution. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
• Ehteshami, Anoush & Zweiri, Mahjoob (2013). The Changing Nature of Shia Politics in the Contemporary Middle East. Ithaca Press.
• Ehteshami, Anoush & Murphy, Emma (2011). The International Politics of the Red Sea. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
• Ehteshami, Anoush & Zweiri, Mahjoob (2007). Iran and the Rise of its Neoconservatives: The Politics of Tehran's Silent Revolution. London New York: I.B. Tauris.
• Ehteshami, Anoush (2007). Globalization and Geopolitics in the Middle East: Old Games, New Rules. London: Routledge.
• Ehteshami A (2005). Globalization, 9/11 and the Middle East. Lynne Rienner.
• Ehteshami A & Lynne Rienner (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, Anoush (2012). 'MENA Region: Security and Regional Governance'. In Comparative Regional Security Governance. Breslin, Shaun & Croft, Stuart Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. 131-153.
• Ehteshami, Anoush (2010). 'Iranian Perspectives on the Global Elimination of Nuclear Weapons'. In National Perspectives on Nuclear Disarmament: Unblocking the Road to Zero. Blechman, Barry M. & Bollfrass, Alexander, K. Stimson Centre. 87-112.
• Ehteshami, Anoush (2009). 'Iran's Regional Policies since the End of the Cold War'. In Contemporary Iran. Gheissari, Ali New York: Oxford University Press. 324-348.
• Ehteshami, Anoush (2006). 'The Future of Iran's Defense and Nuclear Policy'. In Iranian Challenges. Posch, Walter EU Institute for Security Studies. 73-85.
• Ehteshami, Anoush (2006). In The Iraq Crisis and World Order: Structural, Institutional and Normative Challenge. Thakur, Ramesh & Sidhu, Waheguru Pal Singh United Nations University Press.
• Ehteshami, Anoush (2006). 'The Middle east and Security Strategy'. In Security Strategy and Transatlantic Relations. Dannreuther, Roland & Peterson, John London: Routledge. 78-96.
• Ehteshami, Anoush (2006). '2005: The Year of Crisis in Iran'. In Gulf Yearbook 2005-2006. Sagar, Abdulaziz, Koch, Christian & Ibrahim, Hasanain Tawfiq Dubai: Gulf Research Center. 349-355.
• Ehteshami, Anoush (2006). 'The Middle East: Between Ideology and Geopolitics'. In The Bush Doctrine and the War on Terrorism: Global Responses, Global Consequences. Buckley, Mary & Singh, Robert Routledge. 104-120.
• Ehteshami, Anoush (2005). 'Iran, the GCC and Europe: Alternative Strategies'. In A Window of Opportunity: Europe, Gulf Security and the Aftermath of the Iraq War. Koch, Christian & Neugart, Felix Dubai: Gulf Research Centre. 39-52.
• Ehteshami, Anoush (2005). 'GCC-Iran Relations'. In Gulf Yearbook 2004. Dubai: Gulf Research Center. 181-186.
• Ehteshami, A. (2005). 'Islam as a Political Force in International Relations'. In Islam in World Politics. Lahoud, Nelly & Johns, Anthony London: Routledge. 29-53.
• Ehteshami A (2002). 'The Foreign Policy of Iran'. In The Foreign Policies of Middle East States. Hinnebusch, Raymond A. & Ehteshami A Boulder, Co.: Lynne Rienner. 283-309.
• Ehteshami, A (2002). Tehran's Tocsin. In Contemporary Nuclear Debates: Missile Defense, Arms Control, and Arms Races in the Twenty-First Century. Lennon, Alexander T.J. MIT Press. 151-157.
• Ehteshami A (2002). The Middle East� � Iran and Israel. In Foreign Policy in a Transformed World. Mark Webber & Michael Smith Prentice-Hall. 255-286.

Edited book

• Ehteshami, Anoushiravan & Miyagi, Yukiko (2015). The Emerging Middle East- East Asia Nexus. Durham Modern Middle East and Islamic World Series, 36. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
• Ehteshami, Anoushiravan. & Zweiri, Mahjoob. (2008). Iran's Foreign Policy: From Khatemi to Ahmadinejad. Garnet Publishing, Limited.
• Ehteshami, Anoushiravan. & Wright, Steven. (2008). Reform in the Middle East Oil Monarchies. Ithaca Press.

Journal Article

• Ehteshami, Anoushiravan (2022). ASIANISATION OF ASIA: CHINESE-IRANIAN RELATIONS IN PERSPECTIVE. Asian Affairs 53(1): 8-27.
• Akbarzadeh, Shahram, Gourlay, William & Ehteshami, Anoushiravan (2022). Iranian proxies in the Syrian conflict: Tehran’s ‘forward-defence’ in action. Journal of Strategic Studies
• Ehteshami, Anoushiravan & Bahgat, Gawdat (2019). Iran’s Asianization. Middle East Journal
• Ehteshami, Anoush (2018). Saudi Arabia as a Resurgent Regional Power. The International Spectator: Italian Journal of International Affairs 53(4): 75-94.
• Ehteshami, Anoush (2018). Gold at the end of the rainbow? The BRI and the Middle East. Global Policy 9(3): 387-397.
• Ehteshami, Anoush (2018). Iran's role in the Gulf: beyond politics. Orient II: 39-48.
• Ehteshami,Anoushiravan, Horesh, Niv & Xu, Ruike (2018). Chinese-Iranian Mutual Strategic Perceptions. The China Journal 79: 1-20.
• Bahgat, Gawdat & Ehteshami, Anoushiravan (2017). Iran’s Defense Strategy: The Navy, Ballistic Missiles and Cyberspace. Middle East Policy 24(3): 89-103.
• Ehteshami, Anoushiravan (2015). Regionalization, Pan-Asian Relations, and the Middle East. East Asia 32(3): 223-237.
• Ehteshami, A. & Zweiri, Mahjoob. (2009). 'The Rise of Neoconservatives in Iran'. Geopolitical Affairs 1(1): 157-172.
• Ehteshami, A. (2008). 'Opinion: The reform agenda in the Arab world'. Contemporary Arab Affairs 1(1): 85-90.
• Ehteshami, Anoush. & Wright, Steve. (2007). 'Political Change in the Arab Oil Monarchies: From Liberalization to Enfranchisement'. International Affairs 83(5): 913-932.
• Ehteshami, Anoush. (2007). 'Il Jihad Globale e la Guerra Diffusa'. Gnosis: Rivista Italiana di Intelligence 13(1): 87-96.
• Ehteshami, Anoush (2005). 'The Democratisation Process in the Gulf Co-operation Council Countries'. Journal of Social Affairs 22(86): 56-69.
• Ehteshami, A. (2004). 'Iran's International Posture After the Fall of Baghdad'. Middle East Journal 58(2): 179-194.
• Ehteshami, A (2004). 'Islam, Muslim Polities and Democracy'. Democratization 11(4): 90-110.
• Ehteshami, A (2003). 'Reform From Above: The Politics of Participation in the Oil Monarchies'. International Affairs 79(1): 53-75.
• Ehteshami, A (2003). 'Iran-Iraq Relations After Saddam'. The Washington Quarterly 26(4): 115-129.
• Ehteshami, A (2003). 'Oil, Arms Procurement and Security in the Persian Gulf'. Asian Affairs 34(3): 260-270.
• Ehteshami A (1999). Is the Middle East Democratizing? British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 26(2): 199-218.
• Ehteshami A (1996). Defence and Security Policies of Syria in a Changing Regional Environment. International Relations 13(1): 49-67.

Monograph

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

Working Paper

• Ehteshami, Anoush (2007). '9/11 As a Cause of Paradigm Shift?'. (07/02).