Ali Fathollah-Nejad: Berlin Mideast Podcast and book about Iran

14 January 2022. With the Berlin Mideast Podcast, Dr Ali Fathollah-Nejad has initiated the first major German-language podcast on the Middle East.

In each episode, a central topic related to Europe’s neighboring region, the Middle East (North Africa & West Asia), is being discussed, ranging from politics, society, economics, foreign and security policy. The first episode looks at the Arab Spring “long-term revolutionary process” a decade on, the second one at the role of Russia in the Middle East.

Supported by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the podcast team includes co-host Marion Sendker, Golineh Atai (ZDF Cairo correspondent) and Michael Thumann (head of the Moscow office of the ZEIT weekly).

In addition, Dr Fathollah-Nejad, who participated in the M100 Sanssouci Colloquium in 2021, has presented a comprehensive academic book on “Iran in an Emerging New World Order. From Ahmadinejad to Rouhani, Singapore”.

In it he analyses, among other aspects, Iranian foreign policy and international relations from 9/11 to the rise of the former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, examines the different schools of thought underlying Iranian foreign policy, discusses their controversies and criticises mainstream analyses of Iranian domestic and foreign policy in the Rouhani era.