political scientist & analyst
deutsch-iranischer politologe
politologue irano-allemand
Dr. (PhD) Ali Fathollah-Nejad is a German–Iranian political scientist and author, working at the intersection of Middle East politics, international relations, and development studies. He is Founder and Director of the Center for Middle East and Global Order (CMEG). He is also Lecturer in Middle East politics and international security at the Hertie School – The University of Governance in Berlin and Fellow with the University of Bonn’s Center for Advanced Security, Strategic and Integration Studies (CASSIS). Among his publications are, most recently, the much-acclaimed (“best 10 books” of spring 2025, Der Tagespiegel daily) Iran – How the West is Betraying its Values and Interests [in German] (2025, Aufbau), The Islamic Republic in Existential Crisis: The Need for a Paradigm Shift in the EU’s Iran Policy (2023, European Union Institute for Security Studies, Chaillot Paper), the much-acclaimed book Iran in an Emerging New World Order (2021, Palgrave), The Islamic Republic of Iran Four Decades On: The 2017/18 Protests Amid a Triple Crisis (2020, Brookings), where he suggested the start of a long-term revolutionary process in Iran. Fathollah-Nejad is also the former Iran expert of the Brookings Institution in Doha (BDC, 2017–20), the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP, 2015–18), and the American University of Beirut’s Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs (AUB-IFI, 2022–24) as well as a 2022 McCloy Fellow on Global Trends of the American Council on Germany (ACG). Fathollah-Nejad holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from the Department of Development Studies at SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London) and was the winner of the 2016/17 post-doctoral fellowship of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Iran Project. He has taught, among others, at universities in London, Berlin, Doha, Tübingen, and Prague. The author of some 300 articles in English, German and French – with translations into a dozen other languages –, Fathollah-Nejad is also a regular commentator for leading outlets across the globe.
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Dr. (PhD) Ali Fathollah-Nejad ist ein deutsch-iranischer Politologe und Autor mit Schwerpunkt Naher/Mittlerer Osten, westlicher Außenpolitik und post-unipolarer Weltordnung. Zuletzt erschien von ihm Iran – Wie der Westen seine Werte und Interessen verrät (Vorwort: Natalie Amiri, Aufbau). Er ist Gründer und Direktor des Center for Middle East and Global Order (CMEG), einer ehrenamtlich geführten Denkfabrik, die zu Transformationen und einer Interessen und Werte versöhnenden Außenpolitik forscht. Er lehrt zudem Nahost-Politik und internationale Sicherheit an der Hertie School in Berlin und unterrichtete zuvor an Universitäten in Prag, Tübingen, der FU Berlin und in London. Fathollah-Nejad promovierte in Entwicklungstudien und Internationalen Beziehungen an der renommierten School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London und war Postdoktorand an der Harvard Kennedy School. Fathollah-Nejad ist ehemaliger Iran-Experte der Brookings Institution in Doha (BDC, 2017–20), der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik (DGAP, 2015–18) und des Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs der American University of Beirut (AUB-IFI, 2022–24) sowie 2022 McCloy Fellow on Global Trends des American Council on Germany (ACG). Er ist Autor von über 300 Aufsätze in Englisch, Deutsch und Französisch und gefragter Kommentator für Medien weltweit.
Iran Monthly Brief (2022)
(2022) Iran in Focus, Beirut: Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs (IFI), American University of Beirut (AUB).
#IranInFocus is a monthly brief written by Dr. Ali Fathollah-Nejad, Senior Fellow at IFI, that comments on current international, political, economic, and social issues in Iran. (www.ifipolicyblog.com/iran-in-focus.html)
Iran Weekly Newsletter (2021)
May–Aug. 2021 Iran 1400 Brief: Beyond the Headlines, Amman/Beirut: Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom’s Middle East and North Africa office (FNF MENA).
Covering Iran’s domestic & international challenges (above all, the nuclear talks).
Berlin Mideast Podcast (2021–2022)
Der Berlin Mideast Podcast diskutiert regelmäßig mit ausgewiesenen ExpertInnen ein zentrales Thema in Bezug auf Europas Nachbarregion, dem Nahen/Mittleren Osten (Nordafrika & Westasien). So werden Politik, Gesellschaft, Wirtschaft, Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik im und gegenüber dem Nahen und Mittleren Osten unter die Lupe genommen. Das Team besteht aus den Co-Hosts (und Initiator) Ali Fathollah-Nejad & Marie Sina sowie regemäßig Golineh Atai & Michael Thumann. Mit freundlicher Unterstützung der Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. #BerlinMideastPodcast
2023 The Islamic Republic in Existential Crisis: The Need for a Paradigm Shift in the EU’s Iran Policy, Paris: European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS), Chaillot Paper, No. 178.
2021 Iran in an Emerging New World Order: From Ahmadinejad to Rouhani, Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan (Studies in Iranian Politics), May. {details & advance praise}
2020 The Politics of Culture in Times of Rapprochement: European Cultural and Academic Exchange with Iran (2015–16), new forewords by A.-H. Cheheltan & A. Adib-Moghaddam, Potsdam: Wissenschaftsverlag WeltTrends.
2020 The Islamic Republic of Iran Four Decades On: The 2017/18 Protests Amid a Triple Crisis, Washington, DC: Brookings Institution & Doha: Brookings Doha Center, April (60 pp.) • in Arabic translation by Brookings Doha. {see also ongoing research project on “Iran’s long-term revolutionary process“, incl. publications & media commentary in multiple languages}