Henner Fürtig

Prof. Henner Fürtig is an Associate at the GIGA Institute for Middle East Studies since September 2018. Previously, he served as Director of the institute from 2009 to 2018 and Acting Vice-President of the GIGA from 2011–2014. His research focuses on Regional Powers in the Middle East and Political Islam, with expertise in Egypt, Iraq, Iran, and the Arabian Peninsula. He holds a PhD (1983) and Habilitation (1988) in Middle Eastern Studies and History.

• Education: Studies in Middle East and History (1971–1976)
• PhD in 1983, Habilitation in 1988
• Positions include roles at the Oriental Institute (Leipzig), German Orient Institute, and Center for Modern Oriental Studies (Berlin)

Research interests emphasize geopolitical shifts, authoritarian governance, and transnational Salafist movements. Key projects include analyzing the Egyptian Salafist movement post-2011 and the rise of regional powers like Brazil and India. He has published extensively on Middle Eastern politics, colonial history, and Gulf dynamics.

Media contributions include interviews on IS remnants, US-Iran relations, and Saudi-Israel ties. Teaching includes courses on 20th-century Middle Eastern upheavals and state-building on the Arabian Peninsula at Universität Hamburg.

Labs/Teams: Core member of the GIGA’s Middle East research network and coordinator of the Regional Powers Network (2008–2018).