Dr Gerasimos Tsourapas

• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, 2017
• PhD in Politics (SOAS University of London), 2016
• MSc in Middle East Politics (SOAS, University of London), 2012
• MSc in International Political Economy (London School of Economics & Political Science), 2007
• BA in Economics and Political Science (Yale University), 2006

Gerasimos Tsourapas is a Senior Lecturer in Middle East Politics, University of Birmingham. Previously, he was a Senior Teaching Fellow in International Relations at SOAS, University of London (2015-16), a Research Fellow at the University of Aberdeen (2016), and a Visiting Graduate Scholar at the Centre for Migration and Refugee Studies, American University of Cairo (2013-14). 

His doctoral thesis, “Trading People, Consolidating Power: Emigration and Authoritarianism in Modern Egypt,” received the 2016 Best Dissertation Prize of the American Political Science Association (Migration & Citizenship Section). Dr Tsourapas’ research on Egyptian labour migration as an instrument of soft power was awarded the 2015 Best Graduate Paper Prize at the Middle East Studies Association of North America. More recently, he received the 2017 Martin O. Heisler Award of the International Studies Association for work on the politics of migration interdependence in the Middle East.

Dr Tsourapas’ work includes The Politics of Migration in Modern Egypt: Strategies for Regime Survival in Autocracies (Cambridge University Press, 2019), and Migration Diplomacy in the Middle East - Egyptians Abroad & Foreign Policy from Nasser to Morsi (Manchester University Press, forthcoming). He has also published in leading academic journals, including International Studies Quarterly, International Political Science Review, Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies, International Studies Perspectives, and others.

Undergraduate Modules

• International Relations of the Middle East (2017-18)
• Politics of Migrants, Refugees, and Diasporas in the Middle East (2017-18)
• Global Capitalism and Migration (2016-17)
• International Relations Theory (2016-17)
• Introduction to Problems of World History & End of Empire (2016-17)

Postgraduate Modules

• Approaches to Research in Government and Society (2016-17; 2017-18)

I am happy to discuss dissertation and research proposals on any topic related to:

• Migration, refugee, and diaspora politics
• International relations and comparative politics of the Middle East and North Africa
• Authoritarian regimes

Funding | Research Projects

Gerasimos Tsourapas is currently the Principal Investigator for the following three research projects:

The International Politics of Middle East Migration: Problems, Policy, Practice (March 2018 – March 2019).

Funded by a British Academy Rising Star Engagement Award, this project aims to foster a network of early-career political scientists that investigate the interplay between migration and international relations into, out of, and across the Middle East, both historically and in contemporary times. It attempts an interdisciplinary approach that will identify international politics lessons that may be drawn from different disciplines.

 Migration Diplomacy in the Eastern Mediterranean - Inter-State Politics of Population Mobility in the Middle East (April 2017 - March 2019)

Funded by a Council for the British Research in the Levant pilot grant, this two-year project investigates how migratory flows across national borders have affected states' diplomatic interaction. It focuses on the politics of Jordan's management of cross-border population mobility in its international relations on three levels: as a sending state (regarding emigrants in the Arab oil-producing states); as a transit state (regulating Egyptian migrants' transit to the Gulf); and as a host state (regarding its Palestinian population).

The Politics of Forced Migration in the Mediterranean: Interstate Bargaining and Issue-Linkage in Greece and Jordan (April 2017 - Sept 2018)

Funded by a British Academy / Leverhulme Small Grant, this 18-month long project aims to understand how post-2011 forced displacement has affected the behaviour of two key states in the region towards international actors. Greece and Jordan, both heavily affected by an influx of refugee populations, have employed these population flows in diplomatic relations. I hypothesise that forced migration has independently influenced and shaped the two states' diplomatic behaviours, enabling novel interstate bargaining strategies and issue-linkage strategies with international actors. The comparative case-study will focus on the two states' post-2011 negotiations with the European Union. It will allow for an in-depth analysis of how, and under which conditions, forced migration affects the international relations of host states, while also informing policy on states’ strategies in managing refugee inflows

 Recognition | Research Excellence

• Outstanding Early-Career Researcher Prize - School of Government and Society, University of Birmingham (2017). This prize is awarded annually by the School to ‘recognise the work of an outstanding early-career academic whose research has international significance and is breaking new boundaries, placing their research, and the University, at the global forefront of their discipline.’
• Martin O. Heisler Award - International Studies Association (2016), for a research paper entitled "Labor Migrants as Political Leverage? Population Mobility and Coercion in the Arab World.” This award, sponsored by the Ethnicity, Nationalism and Migration Section (ENMISA), recognises the best paper presented at a panel or poster session by a graduate student at the ISA Annual Convention. 
• Best Dissertation Award - American Political Science Association (2016), for a dissertation entitled "Trading People, Consolidating Power: Emigration and Authoritarianism in Modern Egypt.” This award, sponsored by APSA's Migration & Citizenship Section, recognises the best dissertation on migration and/or citizenship.
• Graduate Student Paper Prize - Middle East Studies Association (2015), for a research paper entitled "Labour Emigration and State Strength during the Arab Cold War.” This award recognises the best paper by a graduate student on any aspect of post 600 CE Middle East.

Dr Tsourapas has been elected Treasurer of the American Political Science Association’s Section on Migration and Citizenship (2017-19), and Treasurer of the International Studies Association Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Migration Studies Section (2017-19). 

He is also a Founding Member and current Secretary of the British International Studies Association Working Group on International Politics of Migration, Refugees, and Diasporas.