Brenda Shaffer

Dr. Brenda Shaffer
Visiting Faculty
Email: bshaffer@univ.haifa.ac.il

Areas of Interest: the role of energy in foreign policy, the Caucasus, and Caspian energy.  

Dr. Shaffer  is a faculty member in the School of Political Science at the University of Haifa. She is also a Visiting Professor at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy.  Dr.  Shaffer previously served as the Research Director of the Caspian Studies Program at Harvard University. Among her recent publications is the book Energy Politics (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009). Dr. Shaffer is also the author of Borders and Brethren: Iran and the Challenge of Azerbaijani Identity (MIT Press, 2002). Brenda is the editor of the book Limits of Culture: Islam and Foreign Policy (MIT Press, 2006).  She is the co-editor of the book, Beyond the Resource Curse (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012). Among her recent articles is “Israel— new natural gas producer in the Mediterranean” (Energy Policy 2011); “Caspian energy phase II: Beyond 2005” (Energy Policy 2010); “Foreign Policies of the landlocked states of the former Soviet Union” (Post-Soviet Affairs 2011) and “Foreign Policies of the States of the Caucasus: Evolution in the Post-Soviet Period” (Journal of International Relations, Ankara, 2010). She serves as a lecturer and consultant on energy issues and the Caucasus and Caspian region to a number of public organizations, governments and regional security organizations. She has also given Congressional testimony on US policy in the Caspian region. Dr. Shaffer's op-eds have appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Wall Street Journal, the International Herald Tribune, Christian Science Monitor and the Boston Globe.