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Jeannie Sowers

PROFESSOR
Phone: (603) 862-1752
Office: Political Science, Horton Social Science Center Rm 341, Durham, NH 03824
Websites:
Curriculum Vitae

Jeannie L. Sowers is Professor and Chair of the Political Science and International Affairs Department at the University of New Hampshire. Her research explores political and environmental change in the Middle East and North Africa, with a recent focus on protracted conflicts and environmental infrastructures.

Her books include Environmental Politics in Egypt: Experts, Activists, and the State (Routledge, 2013), Modern Egypt: What Everyone Needs to Know with Bruce Rutherford (Oxford University Press, 2019), The Journey to Tahrir: Revolution, Protest, and Social Change in Egypt (Verso, 2012), The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Environmental Politics (2023), and a number of articles and book chapters. She is currently a non-resident fellow at the Foreign Policy Program, Brookings Institution, and in 2021-22 held a Faculty Leave Fellowship at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies, Brandeis University.

At UNH, Prof. Sowers teaches courses in environmental politics, Middle East politics, comparative politics, and international relations for the Department of Political Science and International Affairs. She is a member of the graduate faculty for the Natural Resources and Earth Systems Science Ph.D. program.

Prof Sowers serves on the editorial board of Global Environmental Politics, is a member of Environmental Studies Executive Committee for the International Studies Association (ISA), and and a former editorial board member for Middle East Report. She holds a BA from Harvard University and PhD. from Princeton University. She has held postdoctoral fellowships and visiting appointments at Brandeis University, Harvard University and Oxford University. Her research has been funded by Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, the Gerda Henkel Stiftung, and the American Council of Overseas Research Centers, among others.

Courses Taught

  • IA 501: Global Issues Intrntnl Affairs
  • POLT 444: Politics &Policy Warming World
  • POLT 559: Comp Politics of Middle East
  • POLT 695: Independent Study
  • POLT 696: Independent Study
  • POLT 740/840: States and Societies Mid East
  • POLT 751/851: Comp Environmental Politics

Education

  • Ph.D., Political Science, Princeton University
  • M.A., Political Science & Government, Princeton University
  • B.A., Harvard University

Research Interests

  • Conflict and human security
  • Egypt
  • Environmental politics and social change
  • Middle East
  • Political Ecology
  • Political economy
  • Political Science
  • Social movements
  • War and Society

Selected Publications

  • Weinthal, E., & Sowers, J. (2023). Targeting Libya’s rentier economy: The politics of energy, water, and infrastructural decay. Environment and Security, 1(3-4), 187-208. doi:10.1177/27538796231217548

  • Sowers, J., VanDeveer, S. D., & Weinthal, E. (Eds.) (2023). The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Environmental Politics. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197515037.001.0001

  • Daoudy, M., Sowers, J., & Weinthal, E. (2022). What is climate security? Framing risks around water, food, and migration in the Middle East and North Africa. WIREs Water, 9(3). doi:10.1002/wat2.1582

  • Sowers, J., & Weinthal, E. (2022). The Environmental and Health Impacts of the Ukraine War. UC Press Blog: University of California Press. Retrieved from https://www.ucpress.edu/

  • Sowers, J., & Weinthal, E. (2021). Health and Environmental Tolls of Protracted Conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa. Current History, 120(830), 339-345. doi:10.1525/curh.2021.120.830.339

  • Sowers, J., & Weinthal, E. (2021). Humanitarian challenges and the targeting of civilian infrastructure in the Yemen war. International Affairs, 97(1), 157-177. doi:10.1093/ia/iiaa166

  • Sowers, J. (2019). Understanding Climate Vulnerability in the Middle East and North Africa. International Journal Middle East Studies, 51(4), 621-625. doi:10.1017/s0020743819000692

  • Weinthal, E., & Sowers, J. (2019). Targeting infrastructure and livelihoods in the West Bank and Gaza. International Affairs, 95(2), 319-340. doi:10.1093/ia/iiz015

  • Sowers, J., & Rutherford, B. (2018). Modern Egypt What Everyone Needs to Know. What Everyone Needs to Know, Oxford University Press.

  • Sowers, J. L., Weinthal, E., & Zawahri, N. (2017). Targeting environmental infrastructures, international law, and civilians in the new Middle Eastern wars. Security Dialogue, 48(5), 410-430. doi:10.1177/0967010617716615

  • Sowers, J., Vengosh, A., & Weinthal, E. (2011). Climate change, water resources, and the politics of adaptation in the Middle East and North Africa. CLIMATIC CHANGE, 104(3-4), 599-627. doi:10.1007/s10584-010-9835-4

  • Sowers, J. (2007). Nature Reserves and Authoritarian Rule in Egypt. The Journal of Environment & Development, 16(4), 375-397. doi:10.1177/1070496507309112

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