Dr. Ali Fathollah-Nejad is a German–Iranian political scientist and author, with a focus on Iran, the Middle East, and the post-unipolar world order. He is Founder and Director of the Center for Middle East and Global Order (CMEG), a think-tank devoted to exploring transformations and promoting a foreign policy that reconciles interests and values. He teaches Middle East politics and international security at the Hertie School and is also a Fellow with the University of Bonn’s Center for Advanced Security, Strategic and Integration Studies (CASSIS). In the past, he served as Iran expert with the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), the Brookings Institution, and the American University of Beirut (AUB). Among his publications are, most recently, Iran – How the West is Betraying its Values and Interests [in German] (2025), The Islamic Republic in Existential Crisis (2023), Iran in an Emerging New World Order (2021), and The Islamic Republic of Iran Four Decades On (2020). Fathollah-Nejad holds a PhD from the Department of Development Studies at SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies) and was a post-doc at the Harvard Kennedy School.
