Steve Niva teaches International Politics and Middle East Studies at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. His primary areas of research and writing include contemporary Middle East politics; U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East; asymmetric warfare and political violence; and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He has written for and served on the editorial board of Middle East Report magazine, and his recent writings have also appeared in Security Dialogue, Middle East Policy, Foreign Policy in Focus (www.fpif.org), Peace Review, Middle East International, Al-Ahram Weekly, The Seattle Times and Counterpunch, among others. He teaches classes and programs that address the relationship between politics, violence and history, with a particular focus on the Middle East, but also on broader international political topics, including globalization and the transformation of war. Every three years he teaches a program that includes a study abroad component (Spring Quarter) to Egypt and Turkey.
Current Research and Writing
My current research examines the changing nature of warfare in the Middle East today, particularly the American transition to counterinsurgency doctrine in Iraq and Afghanistan, the similarities between recent Israeli and American warfighting strategies and techniques, the rise of networked forms of organization and war-fighting and the evolution of “asymmetrical” tactics such as suicide bombings and car-bombings. For more information, see Research and Writing Page on this website.