PhD Research

‘American Arms and Iranian Ambitions: The evolving approach towards arming the Shah’s Iran’

My research examines the immense and unprecedented arms deals agreed between the Shah of Iran and successive American Presidents in the 1970s, the developments of the 1960’s between the Shah and the Kennedy and Johnson administrations that paved the way for those deals, and the resulting implications of all the aforementioned on the wider American approach to the Persian Gulf within the Cold War structure

Scholarship on Iran generally clusters around the post World War Two period ending with the 1953 CIA sponsored coup, and then fast-forwards to an examination of the 1979 Islamic revolution and events thereafter. Detailed analysis of events and developments between these periods regarding Iran is sparse and generally unfocused, something my thesis is designed purposefully in response to, and is intended to be the basis for further early career research.

My thesis utilises recently declassified government documents, and is the result of significant fieldwork in the United States.

Away from my thesis I maintain an active interest in contemporary American foreign policy towards Iran and the Middle East, the wider disciplines of international relations and diplomatic history (being something of an interdisciplinarian in that sense), and the international relations of the European Union.

Teaching

I have delivered full lectures, coordinated seminars, and/or conducted grading for the following modules:

• Introduction to European Integration (Year 1)
• Introduction to Globalisation (Year 1)
• Introduction to International Political Studies (Year 1)
• Global Justice (Year 2)
• The EU and European Security (Year 3)

Research Unit

European Governance, Identity and Public Policy