Dr. Jens Heibach

Research Fellow

Dr.  Jens Heibach

  • Short CV

    • 09/2017: 2017 Dissertation Award of the German Middle East Studies Association for Contemporary Research and Documentation (DAVO)
    • Since 01/2017: Research Fellow at GIGA Institute of Middle East Studies
    • 2009 - 2016: Research and Teaching Associate at the Centre for Near and Middle Eastern Studies, Philipps-Universität Marburg
    • 2008 - 2009: Member of the Political and Cultural Department at the German Embassy in Sanaa
    • Education: Diploma in Political Science (Minor: Islamic Studies) at the Freie Universität Berlin; Dissertation “Opposition Cooperation under Authoritarianism: The Case of the Joint Meeting Parties in Yemen” at Philipps-Universität Marburg (2016)

    Current Research

    • Saudi Foreign Policy towards Sub-Saharan Africa

    • Political Opposition in Authoritarian Regimes

    • Political Islam

    • International Relations of the Persian Gulf

    Countries and Regions

    • Yemen

    • Saudi Arabia

    • Sub-Saharan Africa


    Memberships

    • Yemen Policy Center, Member of Advisory Board, since 2020
    • German Political Science Association, Membership in discipline-specific association or network, since 2017
    • International Studies Association, Membership in discipline-specific association or network, since 2017
    • Deutsch-Jemenitische Gesellschaft, Membership in region-specific association or network, since 2012
    • German Middle East Studies Association for Contemporary Research and Documentation, Membership in region-specific association or network, since 2010

    Dr. Jens Heibach

    Research Fellow

    T. +49 40 42825-715[email protected]


    GIGA Focus Middle East | 6/2024

    Non-State Actors and Autocratic Public Diplomacy: A Transregional View

    Public diplomacy looms large in the foreign policies of Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. Zooming in on these states’ engagement with the African continent, this GIGA Focus Middle East explores the role played by real and alleged non-state actors in autocratic public-diplomacy efforts.

    Chapter in Edited Volume | 2024

    Beyond the Soft–Hard Power Binary: Resource Control in Turkey's Foreign Policy Towards Sub-Saharan Africa

    Using the case of Turkey’s Africa policy, this article argues for adopting a process-oriented approach to analysing the foreign policies of (autocratising) states by focusing on the foreign policy situations in which they mobilize power resources; and the extent to which they attempt to gain control over societal power resources.

    Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies | 2024

    Beyond the Soft–Hard Power Binary: Resource Control in Turkey’s Foreign Policy Towards Sub-Saharan Africa

    Using the case of Turkey’s Africa policy under the AKP, this article challenges this reading and its underlying conceptual assumptions.

    International Relations | 2024

    Infrastructural Power in Foreign Policy: Conceptualising States’ Efforts to Mobilise Non-state Actors

    This article translates Michael Mann’s notion of infrastructural power into the foreign policy realm and develops a conceptual framework that allows for the systematic treatment of states’ strategic efforts at mobilising domestic non-state actors.

    British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies | 2024

    Iran’s Foreign Policy Making: Consensus Building or Power Struggle?

    This article seeks to identify ways in which the foreign policy power hierarchy inside the Islamic Republic of Iran can be explained. It uses high-level diplomatic meetings as observable evidence in a novel analytical framework to identify the scope of competition and hierarchies in foreign policy decision-making processes. Results reveal that diplomatic activities of key foreign policy decision makers did not noticeably diverge.

    Research Project | 01/03/2022 - 28/02/2025

    Explaining Middle-Power Engagement in External Regions: A Comparison of Iranian, Saudi, and Turkish Sub-Saharan Africa Policies

    By means of a comparative historical analysis of Iranian, Saudi-Arabian, and Turkish engagement in Africa following the continent’s decolonization processes and running up until 2020, this project seeks to make sense of middle-power engagement in external regions. First, the project will identify the periods of shifting IST engagement in Africa. Second, it will analyze the reasons why, and the conditions under which, IST have stepped up—or reduced—their foreign policy efforts in Africa. Third, it will develop mid-range generalizations on middle-power engagement in external regions.
    DFG, 2022-2025

    Research Project | 01/03/2019 - 01/12/2023

    Mediating Islam in the Digital Age (MIDA), Work Package "Contested Authority and Knowledge Production"

    Work Package 4 ‘Contested Authority and Knowledge Production’ deals with the construction and transformation of religious authority and religious knowledge production in changing circumstances. It addresses questions of legitimacy, power and discipline. The Work Package is part of the Marie Curie Initial Training Network ‘Mediating Islam in the Digital Age’ (MIDA), coordinated by the ‘Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique’ (CNRS).
    EC. Horizon 2020, 2019-2023

    Deutschlandfunk | Interview | 14/11/2024

    Die Huthi im Jemen: Terror am Tor der Tränen

    Huthi-Kämpfer im Jemen drangsalieren Zivilisten, sie überfallen Handelsschiffe im Roten Meer und feuern Raketen auf Israel. Die Ideologie der schiitischen Miliz ist eng mit der blutigen Geschichte des Landes verbunden. Darüber spricht GIGA-Forscher Dr. Jens Heibach im DLF-Podcast "Der Rest ist Geschichte".

    The New Arab | Quote | 26/08/2024

    The STC struggles to define its future in a fragmented Yemen

    In-depth: The proposed UN peace roadmap for Yemen largely reflects bilateral talks between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, with other warring parties frozen out.

    DER SPIEGEL | Interview | 25/07/2024

    Eskalation im Jemen: »Die Huthis haben Blut geleckt«

    Eine tödliche Drohnenattacke in Tel Aviv, Bomben auf Ziele im Jemen als Vergeltung: Nahostexperte Dr. Jens Heibach erklärt was die Huthi-Milizen wollen, welche Rolle Iran spielt und wie sich die Situation entwickeln könnte.

    Teaching | Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, Heidelberg University | 2024

    Die Logik autokratischer Kooperation im Nahen und Mittleren Osten

    Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, Heidelberg University Heidelberg Germany

    Kooperation ist eine Folge sozialer Konflikte und entsprechend ein grundlegendes Phänomen sozialer und mithin politischer Beziehungen. Sie findet sowohl innerhalb als auch zwischen Staaten und Gesellschaften statt, und das auf mehreren Ebenen (mikro, meso, makro) unabhängig vom Regimetyp. Dennoch spielt die Frage der politischen Verfasstheit und Kapazität eines Staates eine wichtige Rolle bei der Bewertung von Anreizen, Formen, Bedingungen und Konsequenzen von Kooperation. Auf Grundlage konzeptioneller Texte widmet sich dieses Seminar den Fragen, wie, warum und wo Kooperation in den autoritären Staaten des Nahen und Mittleren Ostens erfolgt, und was sie hierbei von Kooperation in liberalen Demokratien unterscheidet. Behandelt werden unter anderem folgende Themen: taktische und strategische Kooperation oppositioneller Akteure; Koalitionsregierungen in konsolidierten Autokratien und in Demokratisierungsprozessen; außenpolitische Kooperation autokratischer Staaten; und Kooperationsformen staatlicher und nicht-staatlicher Akteure. Die Veranstaltung ist als Blockseminar (in Präsenz) konzipiert, wobei einige wenige Sitzung auch online stattfinden.

    Teaching | Institut für Politikwissenschaft, Philipps-Universität Marburg | 2023

    Die internationalen Beziehungen des Nahen und Mittleren Ostens und Nordafrikas

    Das Seminar bietet eine Einführung in die internationalen Beziehungen des Nahen und Mittleren Ostens und Nordafrikas seit dem Zweiten Weltkrieg. Thematisiert werden u.a. die Entstehung des regionalen Systems (und seiner Subsysteme); dessen Beziehungen zum globalen System und anderen regionalen Systemen.

    Teaching | Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Marburg | 2016

    Politics and Society of Saudi Arabia

    Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Marburg Marburg Germany

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