Iran is a dynamic country with significant geostrategic importance. After nearly five decades of revolution and coming of age, Iran’s economy, society, and new generations are poised for significant change. Despite extensive foreign policy and public focus on Iran, the lens to understand Iran continues to be a very narrow one that does not consider the country’s complex realities.
The Rethinking Iran Initiative at The Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) intends to provide a unique platform that provides fresh, accurate and timely knowledge about Iranian society, economics, politics and international affairs for the public square discussing and debating Iran.
co-directors
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Vali Nasr is the Majid Khadduri Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, and a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center. He served as the eighth Dean of Johns Hopkins SAIS between 2012 and 2019 and served as Senior Advisor to U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke between 2009 and 2011. Nasr is the author of The Dispensable Nation: American Foreign Policy in Retreat; Forces of Fortune: The Rise of a New Middle Class and How it Will Change Our World; The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam will Shape the Future; Democracy in Iran: History and the Quest for Liberty; Islamic Leviathan, Islam and the Making of State Power; Mawdudi and the Making of Islamic Revivalism; Vanguard of Islamic Revolution: Jama'at-i Islami of Pakistan; and How Sanctions Work: Iran and the Impact of Economic Warfare (Stanford University Press 2024; co-authored with Narges Bajoghli, Djavad Salehi-Esfahani, and Ali Vaez); and numerous articles in scholarly journals. He has advised senior American policymakers, world leaders, and businesses, including the President, Secretary of State, senior members of the Congress, and presidential campaigns. He has written for New York Times, Foreign Affairs, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post, among others.
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Narges Bajoghli (pronounced: Nar-guess Baa-jogh-lee) is Assistant Professor of Middle East Studies at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. She is an award-winning anthropologist, scholar, and writer. Trained as a political anthropologist, media anthropologist, and documentary filmmaker, Narges' academic research is at the intersections of media, power, and resistance in Iran and the United States. Her first project focused on regime cultural producers in Iran, and was based on ethnographic research with Basij, Ansar-e Hezbollah, and Revolutionary Guard media producers. The resulting book, Iran Reframed: Anxieties of Power in the Islamic Republic (Stanford University Press 2019) was awarded the 2020 Margaret Mead Award (American Anthropological Association & Society for Applied Anthropology); 2020 Choice Award for Outstanding Academic Title (American Library Association); and the 2021 Silver Medal in Independent Publisher Book Awards for Current Events (Political/Economic, Foreign Affairs). Her second book, co-authored with Vali Nasr, Djavad Salehi-Esfahani, and Ali Vaez, is How Sanctions Work: Iran and the Impact of Economic Warfare (Stanford University Press 2024). She is currently writing her third book, on survivors of chemical warfare, supported by the Catalyst Award at Johns Hopkins University Narges has written for The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, Foreign Affairs, The Guardian, Foreign Policy, and Jacobin. She has also appeared as a guest commentator on Iranian politics on CNN, DemocracyNow!, NPR, BBC WorldService, BBC NewsHour, and PBS NewsHour as well as in Spanish on radio across Latin America.
Staff
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Amanda Zamora serves as a Research Assistant for Rethinking Iran. She is currently pursuing her M.A. in International Relations at JHU SAIS, where she focuses on Security, Strategy, Statecraft, and the Middle East. Amanda has previously participated in the U.S. Department of State’s collaborative initiative, Diplomacy Lab. She earned her B.A. in International Relations with a minor in Economics from Florida International University.
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Nadia Sleiman is a Research Assistant for SAIS Rethinking Iran this fall. She is currently pursuing her M.A. in International Relations at JHU SAIS, where she focuses on Governance, Politics, and Society and the Middle East. She received her B.A. in International Studies at American University, with a concentration in conflict resolution. Nadia has previously held positions at Refugee Alliance International and the International Institute of Buffalo. Her expertise includes conflict mediation and international human rights law.
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Shehab Khashoggi serves as a Research Assistant at SAIS Rethinking Iran. Currently, he is pursuing his M.A. in International Relations at JHU SAIS, where he focuses on Technology and Innovation, and the Middle East. Shehab has a history of volunteer work at NYU Langone Medical Center as well as experience with project management. He received his B.A. in Politics from New York University, and his primary academic interest is researching non-democratic institutions. His skills include data analysis and proficiency in Arabic and French.
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Yan Shen serves as a Research Assistant for SAIS Rethinking Iran in fall 2024. He is currently pursuing a dual master’s degree in international relations at both JHU SAIS and Tsinghua University, where he focused on Security, Strategy, and Statecraft and the Middle East. His general research interests are Middle East politics, political violence and computational social science. He received his B.A. in English with a focus on International Organizations from Beijing Foreign Studies University and studied Politics at Magdalen College, Oxford as a registered visiting student.
