Dr Shabnam Holliday

Qualifications

Professional membership

• British Society for Middle Eastern Studies
• British Institute of Persian Studies
• British International Studies Association

Roles on external bodies

• Director Modern Research Project, 'Iran and the International', British Istitute of Persian Studies (British Academy)
• Member of the Research Committee, British Istitute of Persian Studies (British Academy)

Teaching interests

I currently teach and lead 3 modules:

• Stage 1, Discovering World Politics. This is a team-taught module that introduces stage 1 students to the concep of power through diffeernt case studies, topics and approaches. This includes the 'Arab Spring'; Natural resources and power in Africa; the relationship between legitimacy, power and authority; plastic and ocean governance; Covid-19 and security; protests globally and power as resitance; and Covid-19 and international politics.
• Stage 3, The Politics and International Relations of the Middle East. This module examines confict and rivalry in the MIddle East by highlighting the intereconnection between domestic and international politics, and highlighting the importance of historica context.
• MA, The International Relations of the MIddle East: A critical approach. This module examines international relations in the region by exploring the somestic and international dynamics of popular uprisings in the Middle East, icluding the 'Arab Spring'.

PhD supervision

I am interested in supervising students in the following areas:

• Iranian foreign policy and politics, including nationalism and the role of political identity
• Political change and transformation in the MENA region
• Populism in the Global South
• World order and the Global South

Staff serving as external examiners

Open University, Undergraduate programmes, POLIS

Research interests

I am Associate Professor in International Relations. My research interests are focused on 3 areas:

The role of ideas in Iran and their relationship with domestic and international politics

I have looked at the ideas of ‘nation’, ‘democracy’, and ‘the people’ in the context of the Islamic Republic of Iran. My publications have looked at how these ideas are constructed and the meanings that are attached to them. Building on this, I am currently working on the idea of ‘world order’.

Approaches towards a more inclusive and non-Eurocentric IR

I come from an Area Studies and Middle East Politics background and found myself in IR because of my interest in Iran’s relationship with the international. This experience has led me to question and interrogate IR’s Eurocentricity and particularly the relationship between the ‘West’ and ‘the rest’.

Political change, revolution, and legitimacy in post-revolutionary situations

I am interested in the dynamics that lead to revolution and how legitimacy is maintained after a major change in a domestic political order. I have used Antonio Gramsci’s work to explore these dynamics.