Prof. Dr. Martin Beck

Office Hours

Monday and Tuesday, 5-6pm

Short Bio

Martin Beck, who received their academic education in Tübingen, Germany (Doctor in Social Sciences in 1994 and “Habilitation” in Political Science in 2001), is Professor in International Relations and Security Studies in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Kurdistan Hewlêr (UKH). Martin, who currently serves as Professor in Politics of the Middle East at the University of Marburg, is also affiliated with the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) and is an Associate of GIGA (German Institute for Global and Area Studies). They have previously worked as researcher, academic teacher, and political advisor at universities, research institutes, and think tanks in Europe (Tübingen, Hamburg, Bremen, and Odense), the USA (Denver, Colorado), and not least in the Middle East (Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq). Martin’s research covers international politics and political economy, in particular studies on regional power relations, the Arab–Israeli conflict, regional oil politics, rentier states, securitization policies and migration policies. Martin has published their work in pertinent journals and with renowned publishing houses. For more details see their profile at ResearchGate und Google Scholar. Martin is on Twitter: @martinbeck23.

Publications

Recent Publications

Martin Beck (2023), “Making sense of Lebanon’s approach to the (non-)securitisation of Syrian refugees. a political economic perspective,” Third World Quarterly

Martin Beck and Thomas Richter (2022), “Whither rentierism following the 2014 oil price decline: Trajectories of policy adjustment in the Arab Gulf,” Energy Research and Social Science 91, 102717.

Martin Beck and Thomas Richter (eds) (2021), Oil and the political economy in the Middle East. Post-2014 adjustment policies of the Arab Gulf and beyond (Manchester: Manchester University Press).

Martin Beck (2021), On the making of the German ‘refugee crisis’. Securitizing Muslim immigrants in 2015 and beyond, Journal of Refugee Studies 34.2, 1307-1326.

Martin Beck and Thomas Richter (2021), Pressured by the decreased price of oil. Post-2014 adjustment policies in the Arab Gulf and beyond, in: Martin Beck and Thomas Richter (eds), Oil and the political economy in the Middle East. Post-2014 adjustment policies of the Arab Gulf and beyond (Manchester: Manchester University Press), 1-35.

Martin Beck and Thomas Richter (2021), Oil and political economy in the Middle East. Overcoming rentierism?, in: Martin Beck and Thomas Richter (eds), Oil and the political economy in the Middle East. Post-2014 adjustment policies of the Arab Gulf and beyond (Manchester: Manchester University Press), 237-268.

Martin Beck (2021), Security threats from the Southern Mediterranean as viewed by Europe. A comparative analysis of the ‘long year’ of 1979 and the 2010s, in: Robert Mason (ed.), Transnational security cooperation in the Mediterranean (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan), 19-39.

Martin Beck (2020), The aggravated struggle for regional power in the Middle East. American allies Saudi Arabia and Israel versus Iran, Global Policy 11.1, 84-92.

For a complete list of publications, click here.

Teaching Portfolio

Pedagogical training and merits:

• Seminar attended on teaching methodology (taught by Professor Dr Siegfried Weinmann, spring semester 1986, University of Tübingen)
• Seminar attended on pedagogics (taught by Professor Dr Doris Knab, spring semester 1986, University of Tübingen)
• Venia Legendi awarded for Political Science (awarded by the University of Tübingen (“Habilitation”)), July 2001.
• Venia Legendi awarded for Political Science (awarded by the University of Hamburg (“Privatdozentur”)), August 2004.
• Certification “Teaching in English” (awarded by the University of Southern Denmark, spring semester 2016).

Postgraduate courses and advanced seminars taught

Postgraduate course taught in English, University of Kurdistan Hewlêr (UKH), Erbil, Iraq

• Politics of oil in the Middle East (winter semester 2022/23)
  Postgraduate courses taught in English, Saint Joseph University (USJ), Beirut, Lebanon
• Crisis and conflict: Politics across the Mediterranean (spring semester 2022)
  Geopolitics: Oil and the political economy in the Middle East (spring semester 2022)

Postgraduate courses taught in English, University of Southern Denmark (SDU)

• Economics and natural resources in the Middle East (fall semesters 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016)
• Introduction to history and society of the Middle East (fall semesters 2013, 2014, 2015 (together with Ümit Necef) and 2018 (together with Dietrich Jung)
• Mediterranean Perspectives (digital teaching in the fall semester 2020)
  Politics and international politics in the Middle East (spring semesters 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018; digital teaching in the spring semesters 2019, 2020 and 2021)
• Work placement in the Middle East (fall semesters 2012, 2014 and 2016)

Postgraduate courses taught in English, Birzeit University, Palestine

• International security politics in the Middle East (fall semester 2002)
• Methodology of social sciences (2 lectures) (spring semester 2004)
• The Arab World and the West in the 20th century (fall semester 2001; spring semesters 2002 and 2003)
• The Middle East in international affairs (spring semester 2001)
• Theories of International Relations (fall semester 2003)

Postgraduate course taught in English, Denver University, USA

• The politics of oil (fall semester 1994)

Postgraduate courses taught in German, University of Hamburg, Germany

• International oil politics (winter semester 2006/07)
• The Arab–Israeli conflict (winter semester 2004/05, summer semester 2008)
• The Arab World and the West (summer semester 2007)

Postgraduate course taught in German, University of Bremen, Germany

• Approaches of Political Science (winter semester 2007/08)

Postgraduate courses taught in German, Helmut Schmidt University, Germany

• Concepts and problems of constructive conflict management (spring trimester 2005)
• Crisis region Middle East: State and security (spring trimester 2005)
• The Arab World and the West (spring trimester 2005)
• The Israeli–Palestinian conflict (winter trimester 2004/05)

Advanced seminars taught in German, University of Tübingen, Germany

• Comparison of Latin American and Middle Eastern agrarian policies (together with Marion Hörmann) (summer semester 1991)
• Israel’s foreign policy (summer semester 2000)
• Oil politics in the Middle East (winter semester 1992/93)
• Politics in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (winter semester 1998/99, winter semester 1995/96)
• Rent theories (winter semester 2000/01)
• Security politics in the Middle East after the Cold War (winter semester 1999/2000)
• The Arab–Israeli conflict (summer semester 1996)
• The Intifada (summer semester 1992)
• The Iranian Revolution (winter semester 1994/95)
• The Israeli–Palestinian conflict (summer semester 1998, winter semester 2004/05)
• The political system of Israel (summer semester 1997)
• The system of petrolism in the Middle East (summer semester 1999)
   

Undergraduate courses taught

Undergraduate courses taught in English, University of Kurdistan Hewlêr (UKH), Erbil, Iraq

• Security studies (winter semester 2022/23)
• Research methods II (winter semester 2022/23)

Undergraduate course taught in English, University of Southern Denmark (SDU)

• Transforming economics: From national economies to global markets (spring semester 2013)

Undergraduate course taught in English, Birzeit University, Palestine

• Cooperation in the Arab–Israeli conflict in the 20th century (spring semesters 2001, 2002 and 2003; fall semesters 2001, 2002 and 2003)

Undergraduate courses taught in German, University of Southern Denmark (SDU)

• German cultural history from the Middle Ages to 1871 (fall semester 2017)
• German history and society: 1848 to present (fall semesters 2017 and 2018; digital teaching in the fall semester 2020)
• German history and society: Current affairs (spring semester 2018; digital teaching in the spring semester 2019)
• Main oeuvre of German literature (digital teaching in the spring semester 2020)
• Philosophy of Science (digital teaching in the spring semester 2021)

Undergraduate courses taught in German, University of Bremen

• Conflict in the Middle East (winter semester 2007/08)
• Emerging regional powers (winter semester 2007/08)
• International oil politics (winter semester 2007/08)

Undergraduate courses taught in German, University of Tübingen

• Introduction to Comparative Politics (summer semester 1990, winter semester 1990/91)
• Introduction to Political Science (summer semesters 1991/92 and 1993/94)
• Introduction to Political Sociology (summer semesters 1993, 1994 and 1995)
• Introduction to Political Theory (winter semesters 1996/97 and 1997/98)

Elective courses taught in English, University of Southern Denmark (SDU)

• The politics of oil (spring semester 2014, fall semester 2014)

Elective courses taught in German, University of Southern Denmark (SDU)

• German political cabaret (spring semester 2018)
• German political poems (spring semester 2016)

Lecture series taught in English, Jordan Institute of Diplomacy

• Cross-Mediterranean relations (four-days course, October 2011)

Lecture series taught in German, Bucerius Law School

• The Arab–Israeli conflict (fall semester 2005)