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Dr Francis Owtram

BA Manchester, PhD (LSE)

Honorary Research Fellow

Francis Owtram has a PhD in International Relations from the London School of Economics and is the author of A Modern History of Oman: Formation of the State Since 1920 (IB Tauris, 2004).  He has taught at the University of Southampton (The Middle East and the West in the 20th Century, Department of Adult Continuing Education) and the University of Exeter (International History, Department of Lifelong Learning).  From 2007-2012 he was Assistant Professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Kurdistan Hewler, Erbil, Iraq, where he taught International Relations of the Middle East, Global Political Economy and International Security at Masters level and International Relations, Comparative Politics, and Politics of the Middle East at undergraduate level.  

His research interests focus on the Modern History, Politics and International Relations of the Middle East, with special reference to the Gulf States and a particular focus on Oman, Iraq and the Kurds. His research also covers  unrecognized states, paradiplomacy and transnational migration.  Publications include 'The State We're In: Post-Colonial Sequestration and the Kurdish Quest for Independence since the First World War’ in The Routledge Handbook on the Kurds, M. Gunter (ed), London, Routledge, 2018;  'The Foreign Policies of Unrecognized States' in N. Caspersen and G. Stansfield (eds) Unrecognized States in the International System (Routledge/Exeter Studies in Ethno Politics, 2010); and a co-edited volume (with Annemarie Profanter) Citizenship in Transition: New Perspectives on Transnational Migration from the Middle East to Europe (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013). For list of publications please see research tab.

Since 2013 he has been a Gulf History Specialist in the British Library Qatar Foundation Partnership, at the British Library, London, working on the development of the Gulf History online archive available through the Qatar Digital Library (QDL}.He has contributed articles for the QDL on topics such as Britain and Oman since 1750, Muscat and the Monsoon, Frankincense in Dhofar, The Financial Troubles of Said bin Taimur and Bertram Thomas and the Exploration of the Arabian Peninsula. He has aslo contributed articles to OpenDemocracy on the Kurds in Iraq and the LSE Middle East Centre blog on Britain and the Kurds and  Oman after Qaboos. He is currently researching the modern history, political economy and international relations of Oman as well as the Kurds and the contemporary state system for a number of publication projects. He tweets @francisowtram

Research interests

Publications

Books

·      Owtram, F. monograph on Oman for Routledge Contemporary Middle East series,  under contract (London, Routledge 2025) 

·       Owtram, F. monograph in Kurdish Studies series, IB Tauris with LSE Middle East Centre, under contract (London, IB Tauris 2025) 

     Profanter, A. and Owtram, F. (editors) Citizenship in Transition: New Perspectives on Transnational Migration between the Middle East and Europe.  Newcastle, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013   Reviewed by Christian Lekon, LSE Middle East Centre blog

·       Owtram, F.  A Modern History of Oman: Formation of the State since 1920. London, IB Tauris, 2004

Articles

Owtram, F. Oman: Economy in The Middle East and North Africa, 2024, Routledge, October 2023

Owtram. F. Qatar: Economy in The Middle East and North Africa, 2024, Routledge, October 2023

Owtram, F. Oman: Economy in The Middle East and North Africa, 2023,  Routledge, November 2022

Owtram, F. Qatar: Economy in The Middle East and North Africa, 2023,  Routledge, November 2022

Due-Gundersen, N. and Owtram, F. The Foundation, Development and Future of the Omani Rentier State: From the Dhofar War to Vision 2040 in Arabian Humanites Special Issue 16, Oman: au fil du temps Vol. II. 

Owtram, F. Oman: Economy in The Middle East and North Africa, 2022,  Routledge, November 2021

Owtram, F. Oman: Economy in The Middle East and North Africa, 2021,  Routledge, November 2020

Owtram, F., Profanter, A., and Maestri, E. ‘In Oman No Security for Migrant Health Workers Fighting the Pandemic' Open Democracy,  July 2020 

  Turkey and Two Middle Eastern 'Quasi States': Turkish Relations with the Kurdistan Regional Government and the Palestinian National Authority, Turkeyscope, Moshe Dayan Center for African and Middle Eastern Studies, December 2017 

·        Park, W., Jongerden, J., Owtram, F. and Yoshioko, A. ‘Note on the Independence Referendum in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and disputed areasKurdish Studies, October 2017

·       Owtram, F. ‘Kurds in Iraq: From Sykes-Picot to No-Fly Zones and BeyondOpen Democracy, September 2017 

·       Mohammad, H.K. and Owtram, F.   Paradiplomacy of Regional Governments in International Relations: Foreign Relations of the Kurdistan Regional Government (2003-2010), Iran and the Caucaus, vol. 18, Brill, 2014, 65-84

·       Owtram, F. ‘The Kurdistan Region of Iraq: Ethnic Conflict and the Survival of Dynastic Republicanism in a De Facto’ StateEthnic Conflict  in Artens, J. (ed) De Facto States and Ethnic Conflicts P@X online bulletin, vol. 21, Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, September 2012, 13-15

Book Chapters

·      Owtram, F. The Evolution of the Paradiplomacy of Kurdistan-Iraq: Causes and Constraints in Between Diplomacy and Non-Diplomacy: Foreign Relations of Kurdistan-Iraq and PalestineGurbey. G., Hofmann, S. and Seyder. F.. (eds), PalgraveMacMillan, 2023.

    Owtram, F. "Friend to All, Enemy of None": Oman's Quiet Diplomacy Since 1970. In A.J. Fromherz and A. Al-Salimi (eds) Sultan Qaboos and Modern Oman, 1970-2020, Edinburgh University Press, 2022. 

    Owtram, F. ‘The State We’re In: Post-Colonial Sequestration and the Kurdish Quest for Independence since the First World War’ in The Routledge Handbook of the Kurds, M. Gunter (ed), London, Routledge, 2018.

·       Owtram, F. From Shotgun Marriage to Amicable Divorce? The Kurdistan Region of Iraq: Self-Determination, Secession and Recognition in Comparative Perspective’  in Federalism, Secession and International Regime of Recognition: Iraqi Kurdistan at the Crossroads, London, Routledge, 2019.

·       Owtram, F. ‘The Kurdistan Region of Iraq and the Federal Constitution: A Perimeter Plinth of State Territorial Integrity or a Stepping Stone to Secession’, in G. Stansfield and M. Shareef (eds), The Kurdish Question Revisited, London, Hurst, 2017.

·       Owtram, F. ‘The Kurds, Oil and the Drive for Independence: Ace in the Hole or Joker in the Pack’ in A. Danilovich (ed), Iraqi Kurdistan in Middle East Politics, London, Routledge, 2017.

·       Owtram, F. ‘The Federalization of Natural Resources in A. Danilovich’, Iraqi Federalism and the Kurds: Learning to Live Together, Farnham,  Ashgate 2014.

·       Danilovich, A. and Owtram, F.  Federalism as a Tool to Manage Conflicts and Associated Risks in Danilovich, A. Iraqi Federalism and the Kurds: Learning to Live Together, Farnham, Ashgate 2014.

·       Profanter, A. and Owtram, F. ‘Introduction -  Celebrating Difference: In Search of Paradigms Addressing Barriers to Transnational Migration’, in Profanter, A. and Owtram, F. (eds) Citizenship in Transition: New Perspectives on Transnational Migration from Europe to the Middle East. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013

·       Owtram, F, ‘The Foreign Policies of Unrecognized States’ in Casperson, N. and Stansfield, GRV. (eds) Unrecognized States in the International System.  London: Routledge, 2011.

·       Owtram, F. ‘L’Oman et l’Occident: la formation de l'État omanais depuis 1920’ in M. Lavergne (ed) L’Oman contemporain: état, territoire,  identité, Paris, Karthala, 2002)

British Library Expert Articles on  the Qatar Digital Library

·        Muscat and the Monsoon July 2015

·       Oman and Britain since 1750: A Close Relationship  December 2014

·       The Financial Troubles of Sa’id bin Taimur October 2014

·       Frankincense in Dhofar: An Ancient Trade at the Centre of19th Century Troubles December 2014

·      Spies,Ships and Strategic Communication: Anglo-French Competition in the Gulf  July 2017

·       Skull Measuring, Oil Seepages and Desert Crossings: Bertram Thomas and the Exploration of the Arabian Peninsula  April 2019

     A Dispensary for Doha: Healthcare, Subterfuge and External Political Influence in Late 1940s Qatar, October 2021

     Petroleum and the Politics of Non-Interference: The First Political Officer in Qatar, March 2021  

     Britain, the Al Bu Sa'id Sultanate and the Musandam Peninsula, 1800-1932, December 2021 

     St John Philby's Mission to Najd: Across the Heart of Arabia May 2023

      The Lesser-Known Early Years of Sultan Qaboos, July 2023     

       LSE Middle East Centre Blogs

Owtram, F. 'Lausanne's Legacy: Lord Curzon, A Peace Treaty and a Century of Conflict' LSE Middle East Centre blog, 15 September 2023

Owtram, F. and Hayek, M. Oman in the COVID-19 Pandemic: People, Policy and Economic Impact, LSE Middle East Centre blog, 23 July 2020

Owtram, F. 'No Friends but the Mountains: The Toxic Legacy of British Officialdom for the Kurds after the First World War' LSE Middle East Centre blog, 15 October 2019

Owtram, F. Oman After Qaboos: Continuities, Challenges and Choices, LSE Middle East Centre blog, 24 January 2020

British Library blogs

·      T.E. Lawrence and the Hashemite Dynasty: From the Hijaz in Arabia to Cloud's Hill, Dorset Untold Lives, August 2023        

     From Dhofar to Doha and a Road Trip to Riyadh: Bertram Thomas’ Sojourns in Arabia, Untold Lives, February 2015        

·       Preparation Pays Off: Bertram Thomas and the Crossing of the Empty Quarter, Untold Lives, December, 2015

·      Anyone for tennis: relaxation and social mingling in the Gulf, Untold Lives, July 2015    

·       New online portal on Gulf History involving IR Dept PhD alumnus, Francis Owtram’ LSE Department of International Relations blog and LSE Middle East Centre blog, June2015   

·       Making waves with the Qatar Digital Library, British Library Science blog, December, 2014

·       The Early US Navy in the Gulf, British Library Americas blog, May 2013

 

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