People

Head of Programme

Professor Nigel J Ashton is Professor of International History at the LSE and specialises in contemporary Anglo-American relations and the modern history of the Middle East. He is the Head of the Middle East Programme at LSE IDEAS and a member of the IDEAS Management Committee.

Professor Ashton received his undergraduate degree and PhD from Christ's College, Cambridge. Thereafter he lectured at Salford University and the University of Liverpool, before coming to the LSE in 1998. Professor Ashton's main fields of interest are contemporary Anglo-American relations and the modern history of the Middle East. These interests came together in his first book, Eisenhower, Macmillan and the Problem of Nasser: Anglo-American Relations and Arab Nationalism, 1955-59, which looked at the strategies adopted by Britain and the United States to deal with the Arab nationalist challenge during the 1950s. His second book, Kennedy, Macmillan and the Cold War: the Irony of Interdependence broadened the frame of reference to look at Anglo-American relations over a whole range of international issues during the Kennedy Presidency. Kennedy, Macmillan and the Cold War was awarded the Cambridge Donner Book Prize for 2003. This prize rewards excellence in advancing scholarly understanding of transatlantic relations.

In September 2008, his most recent book King Hussein of Jordan: A Political Life was published by Yale University Press. Based on unique and unprecedented access to the private papers of the late King this book provides a comprehensive analysis Hussein's statecraft, including his role in the Middle East peace process, the Arab-Israeli wars of 1967 and 1973, the Iran-Iraq war, the Gulf crisis and the campaign to unseat Saddam Hussein in the 1990s. It also illuminates the personality of one of the most colourful and charismatic Arab leaders of the twentieth century.

Programme Assistant

Christopher Phillips is a PhD student at the department of International Relations. Supervised by Prof. Fred Halliday, his thesis focuses upon the everyday reproduction of state, religious and Arab identity in contemporary Syria and Jordan. He has spent several years living in Syria and is a regular columnist on Middle Eastern politics for The Guardian’s ‘Comment is Free’.  His publications include (with William Wallace), “Reassessing the special relationship,” International Affairs (March 2009). He is currently a research associate for the Foreign Policy Centre. He obtained his BA (Hons) in history from Selwyn College, Cambridge and an MSc in International Relations from the LSE. title=;TagToRender=;IdToRender=;dropdown='

Editor, Shifting Sands

Amber Holewinski is an MSc candidate in the Department of International Relations at the London School of Economics. Her research focuses on the Middle East with an emphasis on the Gulf.