Farhang Morady

I am a Reader in International Development at the University of Westminster in London, where I have taught and researched international political economy for nearly three decades. My work focuses on how global power structures shape national trajectories, with sustained focus on Iran, the Middle East, and the political economy of energy, authoritarianism and resistance.

My research on Iran began with my PhD at the University of Leeds in 1994, which examined the relationship between Shia Islam and Iranian modernisation. That foundation runs through Contemporary Iran: Politics, Economy, Religion (Policy Press, 2020), which analyses Iran's integration into the global capitalist system, and my recent article "The Crisis of Legitimacy in Iran and the Ongoing Struggle for Freedom" (Research in Political Economy, 2025). I am currently completing a new book on the political economy of Iran in a multipolar world.

Alongside my scholarly work, I have edited several international volumes on globalisation, development, and sustainability, including The Power Dilemma: Order, Development and Governance (2023), Education, Equality and Sustainability (2024), and forthcoming volumes with Edward Elgar (Reimagining Education in the Age of AI and Global Sustainability, 2027) and Emerald (Economics and Tourism, 2026). I sit on the editorial boards of the Journal of Interface, the International Journal of Politics and Economics, and the Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences.

In 2016, I founded the Democratic Education Network (DEN), a student-led international platform now embedded across the BA International Relations curriculum at Westminster and co-taught with the Deputy Vice-Chancellor and the Head of the Centre for Education and Teaching Innovation. Since its founding, DEN has engaged over a thousand students across ten disciplines and partnered with institutions in over ten countries. I was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship in 2022, was a finalist in two categories at the 2025 European Green Gown Awards, and served as Runner-Up for Student Experience at the 2019 Guardian University Awards.

I hold Visiting Professorships at Hanoi University and Kasetsart University, Bangkok, and collaborate with academic partners across South and Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. I contribute regularly to public debate on Iran and the wider Middle East. My writing has appeared in The Conversation, REBEL News, and elsewhere, and I publish analytical commentary at farhangmorady.net.My research is grounded in critical political economy and driven by a longstanding interest in how ordinary people in the Middle East navigate authoritarianism, sanctions, and the reordering of global power. I believe rigorous academic analysis matters most when it can help wider audiences make sense of the moments that shape their lives.

My journal articles further develop these themes, including “The Crisis of Legitimacy in Iran and the Ongoing Struggle for Freedom” (Research in Political Economy, 2025) and several public-facing pieces such as The Conversation (2025) article on Iran’s internal vulnerabilities following regional conflict.

Earlier work, such as Sociedad Compleja; Justicia y Desarrollo (2012), demonstrates my long-standing engagement with global justice debates across different regions. Collectively, my publications reflect a research agenda grounded in critical political economy, global justice, and the evolving challenges of governance and development in a rapidly changing world.