Roxane Farmanfarmaian

Roxane Farmanfarmaian (journalist, editor)
Interests	• “terrorism” • Middle East

Roxane Farmanfarmaian is a specialist in Western policy toward Iran and Iraq, including issues of oil, media, "terrorism" and Islam.

Education

Educated at Princeton University, Farmanfarmaian studied Middle East Studies at degree level, writing her thesis on 'The Entrepreneurial Elites of Iran'. In 2009 she obtained her DPhil in International Studies at the University of Cambridge. Her doctoral thesis, entitled 'Passionate Constructions: Democracy and Islam in Anglo-American Relations with Iran, 1979-1989' received an Honorable Mention for best Dissertation of 2009 from the International Society of Iranian Studies. In 2001 she completed an M. Phil in International Studies at the University of Cambridge, writing a thesis on The Media's Policy Impact in the Confrontation between the West and Islam, 1979-2001.

Career

Farmanfarmaian is an Affiliated Lecturer at the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge, teaching the International Relations of the Modern Middle East on both the MPhil and MStudies programs. She is likewise a Visiting Scholar at the Middle East Center at the University of Utah, teaching graduate and undergraduate courses on Middle East Politics, History, Media and Identity. She is a Senior Fellow at the Global Policy Institute, Metropolitan University, London, and a Middle East expert for Oxford Analytica. Farmanfarmaian, who received a Donner Atlantic Studies Scholarship for her doctoral research at Cambridge University, served as the Editor of the Cambridge Review of International Affairs; and edited the MoD/CSIS report, A New Security Paradigm.

Her specialist knowledge has led to many influential roles. She was Briefer for British Ministry of Defence, Speech to Officers of the Queens Royal Hussars in Sept. 2003 in preparation for their departure to Basra. Other roles she has had are that of Policy Scholar, EastWest Institute; Guest Lecturer, Middle East Department, University of California, Berkeley (1997-2001); Speaker and Commentator, including appearances at: the Council on Citizen Diplomacy, Salt Lake City, Utah; The Commonwealth Club, San Francisco; TheCouncil on Foreign Relations, Dallas; closed sessions with Congressional Representatives, Washington DC; TV and Radio Commentator for, among others: CNN International, BBC, NBC-San Francisco, ABC-Los Angeles, NPR, and WNEW-New York.

A member of various associations that include, British International Studies Association; Authors Guild, New York; British Institute of Persian Studies, London; Pacific Council on International Policy, San Francisco; PEN International Transatlantic Forum, Quandt Foundation (2000,2001, 2004) Fellow, Munich.

Publications

Her publications include: Blood and Oil: Inside the Shah's Iran, (Random House 1997; Modern Library 1998); "War and Peace in Qajar Persia: Implications Past and Present' (editor). She has also had her work published in the commercially-controlled media, such as: The New York Times, USA Today and The Times of London Sunday Magazine. She has also worked for various other newspapers and television stations as journalist or editor.

Videos of her are available from C-Span.

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