Professor Gerd Nonneman Lic. Or. Phil. & Lic. Dev. St. (Ghent); MA Middle East Politics (Exeter); PhD Politics (Exeter)

Extension: 5256

Telephone: 01392 269256

Professor of International Relations & Middle East Politics; Al-Qasimi Professor of Gulf Studies

Born in Flanders and educated at Ghent University (Belgium) in Oriental Philology (Arabic) and, at postgraduate level, in Development Studies, Professor Nonneman subsequently worked in the commercial sector in Iraq for a number of years during the 1980s, before returning to academia and further studies - including a doctorate in Middle East Politics at Exeter University.

After teaching Middle East politics and political economy at Manchester and Exeter Universities, and a spell as Visiting Professor at the International University of Japan, he taught International Relations and Middle East Politics at Lancaster University from 1993 to 2007, returning at last to his 'second home', Exeter, in the summer of 2007 to take up his present position.

He was a member of the UKs 2001 national Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) panel on Middle Eastern Studies, and served as Executive Director of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES), 1998-2002. He is also an associate Fellow of the Middle East Programme at Chatham House (Royal Institute of International Affairs), serving as the Programme's specialist on the Arab Gulf states. (http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/about/directory/view/-/id/132/)

Aside from his academic work, Prof. Nonneman has written for specialist political and economic analysis publications such as the Economist Intelligence Unit and acted as a consultant to or worked with a range of companies, national and international official institutions including the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, foreign ministries in Europe and elsewhere, the European Commission, and various NGOs - ranging from Amnesty International to the Bertelsmann Foundation.

Prof. Nonneman is Director of the IAIS's Gulf Studies programme

Main areas of interest

Currently his main areas of interestare the politics and political economy of the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula, the political and economic history of Yemen, the foreign policies of Middle Eastern states, relations between the Middle East and Europe, and the dynamics and prospects of political reform in the Gulf monarchies.

Among his most recent publications are:

‘Political Reform in the Gulf Monarchies: From Liberalisation to Democratisation? A Comparative Perspective’, opening chapter in A. Ehteshami & S. Wright (eds.), Reform in the Middle East Oil Monarchies (Reading: Ithaca Press, 2008), pp. 3-45.

‘EU-GGC Relations: Dynamics, Perspectives and the Issue of Political Reform’, Journal of Social Affairs [AUS, Sharjah], Vol. 23, No. 92, Winter 2006 [published 2007], pp. 13-33.

‘Security in the Wider Middle East: a question of avoiding self-fulfilling prophecies’, Keynote Address, NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Mediterranean Special Group, Naples, 2 July 2006.

EU-GCC Relations: Dynamics, Patterns and Perspectives, Gulf Papers Series (Dubai: Gulf Research Center, 2006)

Saudi Arabia in the Balance: Political Economy, Society, Foreign Affairs (New York University Press, 2006 / Hurst & Co, 2005) (co-editor & contributor, with Paul Aarts)

Analyzing Middle Eastern Foreign Policies, and the relationship with Europe (Routledge, 2005).

‘The Gulf States and the Iran-Iraq War, revisited: pattern shifts and continuities’, in L. Potter and G. Sick (eds.), Iran, Iraq and the Legacy of War: Unfinished Business (New York: Palgrave, 2004) (paperback edition October 2006).

‘A European View of US Policy in the Arab-Israeli Conflict’, Chaillot Papers, 62, Paris: EU Institute for Security Studies, July 2003, 33-46.

Terrorism, Gulf Security and Palestine: Key issues for an EU-GCC Dialogue (RSC policy paper 02-2). Florence: Robert Schuman Centre, European University Institute, 2002.

‘Rentiers and Autocrats, Monarchs and Democrats, State and Society: the Middle East between globalisation, human "agency", and Europe’, in International Affairs, Vol. 77, No. 1 (January 2001), 175-195.

‘Saudi-European Relations, 1902-2001: a pragmatic quest for relative autonomy'", International Affairs, 77(3), July 2001, 631-661.

Governance, Human Rights & the Case for Political Adaptation in the Gulf (RSC policy paper 01-3). Florence: Robert Schuman Centre, European University Institute, 2001, 34pp.

‘Constants and Variations in British-Gulf Relations’, in J. Kechichian (ed.), Iran, Iraq and the Arab Gulf States , New York: Palgrave, 2001, 325-350.

For a full list of publications, including those before 2001, see the tab 'PUBLICATIONS'