Ray Takeyh,
PhDPHD may refer to:* Parisada Hindu Dharma, an Indonesian reform organization* PHD, a track on The Crystal Method album Tweekend* PHD finger, a protein sequence* PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company...
(born 1966), is an
Iranian-American Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East...
scholar, former State Department official and a Senior Fellow at the
Council on Foreign RelationsThe Council on Foreign Relations is an American nonprofit and nonpartisan membership organization dedicated to improving the understanding of U.S. foreign policy and international affairs...
. He is also a contributing editor of
The National InterestThe National Interest is a prominent conservative American bi-monthly international affairs journal published by the Nixon Center. It was founded in 1985 by Irving Kristol and until 2001 was edited by Anglo-Australian Owen Harries...
.
Born in Tehran, Takeyh obtained his doctorate from St Antony's College,
University of OxfordThe University of Oxford , located in the UK city of Oxford, is the oldest surviving university in the English-speaking world and is regarded as one of the world's leading academic institutions. Although the exact date of foundation remains unclear, there is evidence of teaching there as far back...
, in 1997. Prior to joining the Council, he was a fellow in international security studies at
Yale UniversityYale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States. Yale has produced many notable alumni, including five...
, a fellow at the
Washington Institute for Near East PolicyThe Washington Institute for Near East Policy is a Washington, DC-based think tank which concerns itself with U.S.-Middle East policy. It was founded in 1985, with backing from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee , by Martin Indyk, an American lobbyist and research director for AIPAC,...
, a professor at the
National War CollegeThe National War College of the United States is a school in the National Defense University. It is housed in Roosevelt Hall on Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C., the third-oldest Army post still active...
, and a professor and director of studies at the Near East and South Asia center at the
National Defense UniversityThe National Defense University is an institution of higher education funded by the United States Department of Defense, intended to facilitate high-level training, education, and the development of national security strategy. It is chartered by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, with Navy Vice Adm. Ann...
.
Takeyh has written extensively on
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
and on U.S.
Ray Takeyh,
PhDPHD may refer to:* Parisada Hindu Dharma, an Indonesian reform organization* PHD, a track on The Crystal Method album Tweekend* PHD finger, a protein sequence* PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company...
(born 1966), is an
Iranian-American Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East...
scholar, former State Department official and a Senior Fellow at the
Council on Foreign RelationsThe Council on Foreign Relations is an American nonprofit and nonpartisan membership organization dedicated to improving the understanding of U.S. foreign policy and international affairs...
. He is also a contributing editor of
The National InterestThe National Interest is a prominent conservative American bi-monthly international affairs journal published by the Nixon Center. It was founded in 1985 by Irving Kristol and until 2001 was edited by Anglo-Australian Owen Harries...
.
Born in Tehran, Takeyh obtained his doctorate from St Antony's College,
University of OxfordThe University of Oxford , located in the UK city of Oxford, is the oldest surviving university in the English-speaking world and is regarded as one of the world's leading academic institutions. Although the exact date of foundation remains unclear, there is evidence of teaching there as far back...
, in 1997. Prior to joining the Council, he was a fellow in international security studies at
Yale UniversityYale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States. Yale has produced many notable alumni, including five...
, a fellow at the
Washington Institute for Near East PolicyThe Washington Institute for Near East Policy is a Washington, DC-based think tank which concerns itself with U.S.-Middle East policy. It was founded in 1985, with backing from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee , by Martin Indyk, an American lobbyist and research director for AIPAC,...
, a professor at the
National War CollegeThe National War College of the United States is a school in the National Defense University. It is housed in Roosevelt Hall on Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C., the third-oldest Army post still active...
, and a professor and director of studies at the Near East and South Asia center at the
National Defense UniversityThe National Defense University is an institution of higher education funded by the United States Department of Defense, intended to facilitate high-level training, education, and the development of national security strategy. It is chartered by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, with Navy Vice Adm. Ann...
.
Takeyh has written extensively on
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
and on U.S. policy toward the Middle East. He has testified several times before various committees of the
US SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate and the House are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution . Each U.S state is represented by two senators,...
and has appeared as an Iran expert on a variety of television programs, including the
PBSThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television service with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. However, its operations are largely funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting...
NewshourThe NewsHour with Jim Lehrer is an evening television news program broadcast weeknights on PBS in the United States. Unlike most other evening newscasts in the country, each edition is an hour long. The program also runs longer segments than most other news outlets in the U.S., with in-depth...
. Takeyh was also an early critic of the view that democracy promotion in the Middle East would serve U.S. security interests.
In his writings and public appearances, Takeyh has tended to be skeptical about the efficacy of current U.S. efforts to deal with Iran and its
nuclear programThe nuclear program of Iran was launched in the 1950s with the help of the United States as part of the Atoms for Peace program. The support, encouragement and participation of the United States and Western European governments in Iran's nuclear program continued until the 1979 Islamic revolution...
. He has characterized the regime in
TehranTehran is the capital and largest city of Iran, and the administrative center of Tehran Province. Tehran is a sprawling city at the foot of the Tochal mountain range with an immense network of highways unparalleled in Western Asia...
as an opportunistic power that is seeking to expand its influence in the region rather than as an apocalyptic threat to the world. He advocates a U.S. policy approach that would alter Iran's foreign policy calculus rather than on trying to pursue regime change. He is usually seen as one of the main voices in the U.S. calling for diplomatic engagement with Iran rather than continued isolation and does not believe, in the aftermath of the Iraq war, that containment of Iran is possible given changed circumstances in the Middle East. In conjunction with
Vali NasrVali Reza Nasr is an Iranian-American academic and scholar, as well as Professor of International Politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University....
, he published a major essay in the January/February 2008 issue of
Foreign AffairsForeign Affairs is an American magazine on international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations six times annually...
magazine, laying out these views.
In 2009 Takeyh served as an aide to
Dennis RossDennis B. Ross is an American diplomat and author. He has served as the Director of Policy Planning in the State Department under President George H. W...
in the
ObamaObama most commonly refers to Barack Obama , the 44th and current President of the United States.Obama may also refer to:-Locations:*Obama, Fukui, a city in Japan**Obama Castle , the castle from which the Obama Domain was governed...
Administration focusing on Iran policy. When Ross moved from the State Department to the
National Security CouncilA National Security Council is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security...
staff Takeyh returned to the Council on Foreign Relations.
Books
- Ray Takeyh, Hidden Iran: Paradox and Power in the Islamic Republic (Times Books/Henry Holt, 2006). ISBN 0805079769
- Ray Takeyh, Nikolas Gvosdev
Nikolas N. Gvosdev is the former Editor of the bi-monthly foreign policy journal, The National Interest. He was appointed to the post in 2005, after having been the journal's Executive Editor and the founding Editor of the journal's now-defunct separate web edition, In The National Interest...
, The Receding Shadow of the Prophet: The Rise and Fall of Radical Political Islam (Praeger Publishers, 2004). ISBN 0-275-97628-9
- The Origins of the Eisenhower Doctrine: The United States, Britain and Nasser’s Egypt, 1953-1957 (Macmillan Press, 2000)
External links