Ali Ansari

Professor Ali M. Ansari is Professor of Iranian History and Founding Director of the Institute for Iranian Studies at the University of St Andrews. He is also a Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute and President of the British Institute of Persian Studies. In 2018, he was elected Honorary Vice President of the British Institute for Persian Studies, and in 2020, he was awarded a two-year Knowledge Exchange Fellowship at the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).

Ansari’s research focuses on the development of the modern Iranian state, with particular emphasis on nationalism, myth-making, and the politics of historiography. His work explores how history has been constructed and contested in modern Iran, and how narratives of national identity have evolved in dialogue with regional dynamics and international power structures, especially in relation to the West. He also writes extensively on the politics and history of the Islamic Republic and Iran’s foreign relations with Britain and the United States.

Ansari is the author of numerous books, including Iran: A Very Short Introduction, Modern Iran Since 1797, Iran, Islam and Democracy: The Politics of Managing Change, The Politics of Nationalism in Modern Iran, and Confronting Iran: The Failure of American Foreign Policy and the Next Great Crisis in the Middle East, and These Islands: A Letter to Britain, which reflects on national identity and historical memory in a British context. His most recent work Iran, takes readers on a journey through Iran’s turbulent history, beginning with the country’s fall from grace as a Great Power in the nineteenth century. He is also editor of the Cambridge History of Iran Vol 8. A widely published author and commentator, Ansari has contributed to outlets including the Financial Times and The Independent.

He holds a doctorate from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, and resides in Fife, Scotland.