The Middle East and Gulf region have become focal points of global attention within a shifting multipolar world order marked by intensifying geopolitical rivalries. Ongoing conflicts — from the war between Palestinians and Israelis to the crises in Libya, Sudan, and Yemen — illustrate the enduring instability of the region. At the same time, Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar have emerged as influential regional and international actors, pursuing assertive foreign policies, mediating in global conflicts, and shaping the economic and political landscape of the broader Middle East.
Beyond their immediate region, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are extending their geopolitical and economic reach into Africa through investments in logistics, mining, renewable energy, and infrastructure, as well as through security partnerships. Yet African states are not passive recipients of Gulf engagement. They actively negotiate, resist, and leverage these partnerships through resource nationalism, regional organizations, and strategic bargaining. This growing Gulf–Africa interdependence reflects a new transregional order in which agency is distributed, contested, and redefined.
Understanding the Middle East and the Gulf requires a systematic and interdisciplinary approach that links political, societal, and economic transformations across regions. This demands moving beyond Eurocentric and postcolonial lenses that often reduce the region to an object of Western intervention or external determinism. Mainstream paradigms in international relations, even those such as neoclassical realism that acknowledge the role of domestic variables, continue to overlook how local structures, state logics and formation, and historical trajectories shape political outcomes.
In my recent research, I have developed the concept of contextual realism to address these gaps. Unlike structural realism, which privileges systemic constraints, contextual realism foregrounds the co-constitutive relationship between state formation, regional politics, and international structures. It argues that the internal logics of states — their institutional histories, elite configurations, and modes of legitimacy — interact with regional rivalries to produce distinct political outcomes. This framework merges the ontological realism of critical theory with the interpretive sensitivity of constructivism, allowing for middle-range theorizing that is empirically grounded and conceptually generative. Contextual realism thus provides a corrective to both Eurocentric universalism and cultural relativism, offering a theory rooted in the region’s lived complexities yet relevant to broader debates in global political science.
My work as at the Institute of Political Science will focus on advancing both research and policy-relevant analysis of the Middle East, the Gulf, and their transregional interconnections. Building on my theoretical approach of contextual realism, I aim to generate empirically grounded insights into the logics of state formation, legitimacy, and governance in the region — and to translate these insights into frameworks that inform academic, public, and policy debates.
This work seeks to bridge the gap between theory and practice by combining conceptual innovation with context-sensitive research. It rests on the conviction that rigorous political analysis can contribute not only to scholarly understanding but also to more effective and inclusive policymaking.
Concretely, my research and policy engagement will:
This combined research and policy-oriented agenda reflects my commitment to a form of political science that is both analytically rigorous and socially responsive. It aims to advance scholarly debates while offering practical insights that support peacebuilding, governance reform, and human development in the Middle East, the Gulf, and their wider transregional contexts.
My work at the Institute will be guided by an ethos of critical inquiry and open dialogue, promoting evidence-based perspectives that transcend ideological or media-driven narratives. By combining theoretical innovation with engagement on the region’s pressing challenges, my goal is to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the Middle East, the Gulf, and Africa — and to position the Institute of Political Science as a site of excellence for research, teaching, and exchange on these interconnected regions.