Two BSIS PhD researchers, Moritz Pieper and Octavius Pinkard, have each recently published two articles in The Atlantic Post. Pieper’s wrote on US-Russian relations in the Syrian crisis, and on the prospects for nuclear negotiations with the new Iranian president. Pinkard’s articles discussed the rationale of current US policy towards Syria, and the central role played by Lebanon’s diaspora community. Their articles can be found here:
Pieper: http://www.theatlanticpost.com/foreign-policy/putin-syria-obama-needs-russia-3575.html
http://www.theatlanticpost.com/middle-east/turkey-middle-east/prospects-iran-nuclear-talks-president-rouhani-2947.html
Pinkard: http://www.theatlanticpost.com/security/blurred-lines-3195.html
http://www.theatlanticpost.com/economy/lebanese-abroad-indispensable-diaspora-2892.html
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 analyzes Chinese, Russian and Turkish foreign policy toward the Iranian nuclear programme, reflecting on the emergence of alternative narratives of diplomacy 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 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 European foreign policy towards Lebanon. He is supervised by Dr. Elise Feron.