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Dr. Brenda Shaffer is an American-born Israeli-educated writer and research fellow at Harvard. Her main research interests include: Caspian region, Iran, Turkey, the Azerbaijani minority in Iran, ethnic politics and regime stability in Iran, the connections and influences between the Azerbaijanis in Iran and in the Republic of Azerbaijan, Energy, and U.S. Policy in the Caspian region.

Biography

Dr. Shaffer received her Ph.D. from Tel Aviv University and has worked for a number of years as a researcher and policy analyst for the Government of Israel; and served in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). She reads a number of languages, including Turkish, Azerbaijani, Russian, and Hebrew.

Dr. Shaffer is currently a postdoctoral fellow (a temporary research position held by anyone who has completed his/her doctoral studies) at the International Security Program and she is the former Research Director of the Caspian Studies Project at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

• 2001-2004 Post-doctoral Fellow, Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel), “Young Truman Scholar” three-year fellowship in the field of Middle East Studies.
• 2000-2001 Post-doctoral Fellow, Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel), Political Science, International Relations, Middle East Studies.
• 1999-2005 Post-doctoral Fellow, International Security Program, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University (USA).
• 1996-1999 Ph. D. School of History, Tel Aviv University (Israel). Dissertation topic: “The Formation of Azerbaijani Collective Identity: in Light of the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the Soviet Breakup.”
• 1986-1989 MA in Political Science (with specialization in Russian Studies)' Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel). (MA thesis topic: “Soviet Power Projection— the View of the Military.”)
• 1983-1986 BA in Political Science and International Relations, Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel).

Publications

Books

• Author of "Partners in Need: The Strategic Relationship of Russia and Iran" (the Washington Institute for Near East Policy).
• Author of "Borders and Brethren: Iran and the Challenge of Azerbaijani Identity" (MIT Press, 2002).
• Editor of "The Limits of Culture: Islam and Foreign Policy" (MIT Press, 2006).

Book chapters

• “Iran’s Internal Azerbaijani Challenge: Implications for Policy in the Caucasus,” in Moshe Gammer (ed.), The Caucasus (London: Frank Cass, 2004).
• “U.S. Policy in the South Caucasus,” in Dov Lynch (ed.) The South Caucasus: a challenge for the EU (Chaillot Paper 65, EU ISS, December 2003).
• “Azerbaijan” in Waisman and Vasserman (ed.), Political Organizations in Central Asia and Azerbaijan: Sources and Documents (London: Frank Cass, 2003).
• “Azerbaycan Cumhuryetinin Kurulusu: Iran’daki Azeriler Uzerinde Etkisi”, in Emine Gursoy-Naskali and Erdal Sahin (eds.) Turk Cumhuriyetleri (Amsterdam/Istanbul, SOTA Publications, 2002)(in Turkish).
• “Postscript” in David Menashri (ed.), Central Asia Meets the Middle East (London: Frank Cass, 1998).

Articles, Papers, etc

Dr. Shaffer's articles have appeared in a number of newspapers and journals, including an article in Current History entitled “Is there a Muslim Foreign Policy?” and “Iran at the Nuclear Threshold” (Arms Control Today; November 2003). Her Opinion Editorials have been published in the Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, the International Herald Tribune, and The Jerusalem Post. "

Reviews

The following are two reviews of Brenda Shaffer's book Borders and Brethren.

By Evan Siegel

Evan Siegel (a Professor of New Jersey City University) in his review states "The book suffers from some general weaknesses. Its author is prone to make plausible generalizations which, however, are underdocumented when they are documented at all. At one point she claims, In the second half of the nineteenth century, some Azerbaijanis espoused Pan-Islamic ideology, and many of the supporters of Pan-Islam identified with Iran at this time. In addition, many Azerbaijanis were interested in their Turkic identity in a cultural sense, but few supported political unity with other Turkic peoples. The source she cites for this says nothing of the sort. "

Evan Siegel strongly criticises the book for being full of mistakes; inaccuracies; misinterpretation and misquoting sources and the book's failure to provide documentations to support Shaffer’s observations.

In conclusion Evan Siegel adds "Brethren and Borders is a highly political book on an emotional subject which needs careful, dispassionate analysis. Its chapters on the historical background is full of inaccuracies. Its chapters on current events and trends include a few interesting observations which don’t appear in the literature, but most of it is readily available elsewhere."

By Touraj Atabaki

Dr Atabaki (a Professor of International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam, Netherlands) strongly criticises the book for its lack of academic values and its unbalanced and sometimes even biased political appraisal. Atabaki also criticises Shaffer for her vivid shortcomings in the methodology; and her lack of academic accuracy in the data she offers. Atabaki in his review says “With Brenda Shaffer's Borders and Brethren one would expect a contribution to our understanding of future developments in Iran as well as in the neighboring countries. Within the first two chapters, however, the reader becomes disappointed with the unbalanced and sometimes even biased political appraisal that not only dominates the author's methodology but also shapes her selective amnesia in recalling historical data." Atabaki concludes his review by stating "Borders and Brethren is an excellent example of how a political agenda can dehistoricize and decontextualize history".

See also

• Harvard

References

1. http://bcsia.ksg.harvard.edu/person.cfm?program=CORE&item_id=312
2. http://east-asia.haifa.ac.il/staff/bshaffer.htm
3. http://bcsia.ksg.harvard.edu/publication_list_by_person.cfm?item_id=312
4. http://www.azargoshnasp.net/recent_history/atoor/schafferjunkbook.htm
5. http://www.azargoshnasp.net/recent_history/atoor/atabakishaffer.pdf

External links

• John F. Kennedy School of Government
• The President and Fellows of Harvard College
• The ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan
• A Geopolitical Agenda; Dr. Kaveh Farrokh (See section 4c)
• The Nuclear Challenge 3/15/2005 video 23min

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