The Persian Gulf as a Waterway and a Region: The Birth and Limits of Geopolitical Appetite
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Why have so many U.S. administrations engaged in military confrontations in and over the Persian Gulf in the past five decades? Since the Iran-Iraq War and through to the current Operation Epic Fury, presidents — Republicans and Democrats, neoconservatives, liberal internationalists, and American Firsters —have turned to militarization and war-making in the Gulf to project American power locally and globally. To answer this question, we must contend with the contradictions in the way the waterway is imagined and the material constitution of it as a geographic region. Building on analysis marshalled in Making Space for the Persian Gulf: Histories of Regionalism and the Middle East, Arang Keshavarzian, Professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University, will draw on the long history of geopolitical thought and infrastructures of capitalism that have made the 2026 US-Israeli war on Iran possible. Notably, these same forces have been exposed as the Achilles heel of U.S. power and undermined the possibilities of regional integration that would make regional order sustainable and efficacious.
Speaker Biography
Arang Keshavarzian is Professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University. His research and teaching centers on questions of political economy of Iran and the wider Middle East. He has had a particular interest in the relationship between spatialization, capitalism, and political power. He is the author of Bazaar and State in Iran: The Politics of the Tehran Marketplace and co-editor with Ali Mirsepassi of Global 1979: Geographies and Histories of the Iranian Revolution. His most recent book is Making Space for the Gulf: Histories of Regionalism and the Middle East (Stanford University Press, 2024). It is the recipient of the 2025 Roger Owen Prize from MESA for best book in economic history, economics, and political economy as well as an honorary mention for the 2025 biannual book award from the Association for Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies. His articles on various topics have appeared in several edited volumes as well as Politics & Society; International Journal of Middle East Studies, Geopolitics; Economy & Society; International Journal of Urban and Region Research, and Middle East Report.