Teaching experience
Overview: Courses Taught
PhD
- The Persian Gulf and Great Powers
Post-Graduate
- Iran in the International System: Domestic and Geopolitical Factors
- Middle East Uprisings
- Globalization and Development in the Middle East (West Asia & North Africa)
- Globalization and Development (globally)
- Contemporary Iran: State, Society and Geopolitics
- Diversity & Education
Under-Graduate
Course Details
04/24–05/24 Visiting Professor
Department of International and Diplomatic Studies | Faculty of International Relations | Prague University of Economics and Business (VSE)
Post-Graduate course »Iran in the International System: Domestic and Geopolitical Factors«
04/20–09/20 Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) (parental-leave position)
Middle East and Comparative Politics | Institute of Political Science (IfP) | University of Tübingen [D] & Coordinator, joint CMEPS MA program with the American University in Cairo’s (AUC) Department of Political Science {parental-leave position}
Other administrative duties: IfP Erasmus Coordinator & member of the IfP’s board.
Post-Graduate course »Contemporary Iran: State, Society and Geopolitics« | Course description: »The seminar seeks to provide students with robust empirical and theoretical knowledge about contemporary Iran. In terms of the time span, the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the post-war period up until the present shall be examined in some detail. It will address a range of issues from a multidisciplinary angle, including state–society relations in the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI), various social movements, the political economy of the IRI, Iranian foreign policy and geopolitical culture, and the international relations of Iran as they have entered the 21st century.«
Post-Graduate course »Middle East Uprisings« | Course description: »This course will provide an overview of the radical uprisings shaking the Middle East and North Africa region during the past decade. It proposes to study them as a “long-term revolutionary process” in both the Arab world (G. Achcar) as well as Iran, in an effort to bridge the tendency of methodological nationalism in Middle Eastern Studies. As such, it is argued that the revolutionary uprisings are fuelled by the dual evil of authoritarianism and the specific natures of capitalism as well as the resulting “triple crisis” (socio-economic, political and ecological). Among the issues to be discussed are: historical backgrounds; regime types; socio-economic, political and ecological indicators; political economies; the roles of social classes; Islamism(s); gender; revolutionary and counter-revolutionary actors; etc. The course will be divided into four sections: (a) The 2010/11 “Arab Spring” revolutionary uprisings; (b) The post-2011 counter-revolutionary wave; (c) the “Arab Spring 2.0” (of 2019/20); and (d) the “long-term revolutionary process” in Iran since 2018/19.«
09/18 – 01/19 Assistant Professor (part-time)
Gulf Studies Center | College of Arts and Sciences | Qatar University (QU), Doha.
In the PhD in Gulf Studies program that includes a joint PhD with the University of Durham (UK) | »The (Persian) Gulf and Great Powers« | Course decription: » This course aims to provide an advanced and comprehensive understanding of the relations between the Persian Gulf region – as defined to comprise the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, Iran and Iraq – and global powers – both established and the (re-) emerging through theoretical and case-study approaches, especially since the end of the Cold War. It starts with an examination of the main International Relations (IR) theories, both mainstream and critical ones, before placing the Gulf sub-region within the international system. It then discusses the role of great powers in the three Gulf Wars (the Iran–Iraq War, Kuwait War and the invasion of Iraq). The second half of the course is devoted to relevant case-studies of the Gulf region’s relations with global powers (in particular, the United States, the European Union and individual BRICS countries) as well as the non-Gulf regional powers (i.e. Turkey and Israel).«
04/16 – 09/16 Visiting Lecturer
Center for Middle Eastern and North African Politics | Otto Suhr Institute of Political Science (OSI) | Department of Political and Social Sciences | Freie Universität (FU) Berlin
»Globalization and Development in West Asia and North Africa« | Course description: »The West Asia and North Africa region (often referred to as the “Middle East”) continues to be the centre of attention internationally for its economics, politics and its geographic location. This course focuses on the impact of globalization on the region’s political, economic and social dynamics and developments. It studies the region in a global context, investigating the extent to which it has been structured by international political economy and global geopolitics as against domestic factors. The course examines major issues in the political economy of West Asia and North Africa, particularly the legacies of colonialism and imperialism as well as the impacts of neoliberalism on the region’s economies and polities. It concentrates on national key resources such as oil and its implications on the state, politics, economy and society. We look at the main political forms and forces, including the authoritarian “rentier state”, pressures for democratization and liberalization, and the rise of political Islam (Islamism). Later on, the course shifts its focus onto conflict and intervention, and resulting perspectives for regional development. Finally, it critically revisits key paradigms in Middle Eastern studies in the wake of the Arab uprisings.«
04/16 – 09/16 Visiting Lecturer
Institute of Sociology | Faculty of Social Sciences | University of Duisburg–Essen (Germany)
»Die ›Arabische Revolte‹: Ein thematischer Überblick« [The Arab Revolt: A Thematic Overview] | Module: »Aktuelle gesellschaftliche Fragen aus soziologischer Perspektive« [Current societal questions from a sociological perspective], BA Globale und Transnationale Soziologie [BA in Global & Transnational Sociology] • The university has been ranked 17th among the world’s new universities (under 50 yrs. old), according to the 2016 Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
04/16 – 09/16 Visiting Lecturer offered but declined
Chair of International Politics | Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences | University of Potsdam (Germany)
»Globalization and Development in West Asia and North Africa«
10/14 – 03/15 Visiting Lecturer
Center for Middle Eastern and North African Politics | Otto Suhr Institute of Political Science (OSI) | Department of Political and Social Sciences | Freie Universität (FU) Berlin
»Contemporary Iran: State, Society and Geopolitics« • Designed & taught the only university course on contemporary Iran in the German capital over the last few years | Post-graduate course taught to a class of more than 30 Bachelor’s, Master’s & PhD students | The Center is arguably Germany’s most renowned academic centre for Middle East studies.
10/11 – 03/12 Visiting Lecturer
Institute of Sociology | Faculty of Social Sciences | University of Duisburg–Essen (Germany)
»Diversity and Education« (in German) | Convenor with Kamuran Sezer (Founder & Director, futureorg Institute for Applied Future and Organizational Research, Dortmund [Germany]) • Class of over 30 prospective school teachers | The university has one of the most multicultural student bodies in Germany.
10/10 – 07/11 Graduate Teaching Assistant
Department of Development Studies | Faculty of Law and Social Sciences | School of
Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London
»Globalisation and Development« (Terms 1 & 2) | Tutorials of a post-graduate course convened by Prof. Gilbert Achcar.
01/10 – 07/10 Visiting Lecturer
Department of Social and Historical Studies | School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Languages | University of Westminster (London)
»Development and Globalization in the Middle East« (Term 2: Jan.–Apr. 2010) | Module Convenor, with Dr. Farhang Morady • Redesigned the syllabus (that was subsequently “taken up” by that university’s Department of Politics and International Relations) | Class of ~35 students.
»Development in the Era of Globalization« (Term 2: Jan.–Apr. 2010), convened by Dr. Farhang Morady | Lecturer of the session »Globalization, the State, Sovereignty and Development«.
Teaching interests
List of courses (in addition to the above taught) for which I have designed syllabi (available upon request):
- The International Politics of the Middle East
- The Middle East in International Relations
- State and Society in the Middle East
- Geopolitics and International Relations (IR) Theories
- Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X: The Changing Ideas of Two Iconic African-American Leaders