In the latest of a series of articles focussing on conflict in the broader Middle East, Moritz Pieper and Octavius Pinkard, two BSIS PhD researchers, publish their research in Daily Star (Lebanon) arguing that the ongoing struggle in Syria is one in which delicate internal politics and the competing interests of external actors have combined to create a major refugee crisis.
The focus of Moritz Pieper’s research is on regional and inter-regional power dynamics in the Middle East and Central Asia, with a special interest in non-Western foreign policies toward the Iranian nuclear programme. His PhD dissertation comparatively analyzes Chinese, Russian and Turkish foreign policy toward the Iranian nuclear programme, reflecting on the emergence of alternative narratives of diplomacy over the Iranian nuclear programme in a world of conflicting power centres and on changing conceptions of security cultures toward Iran. He is supervised by Dr. Tom Casier.
Octavius Pinkard’s research has a focus on Lebanese politics and the regional power and security dynamics of the Levant, with a particular emphasis on sub-state actors such as Hezbollah and Hamas and the states that support them, including Syria and Iran. His doctoral thesis examines the political mobilization of the Lebanese diaspora in Europe, and analyzes its attempts to both inform and influence French, British, and EU-level foreign policy towards Lebanon. He is supervised by Dr. Elise Feron.