Steve Niva teaches International Politics and Middle East Studies at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. His primary areas of research and writing include the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East; asymmetric warfare, counterinsurgency and political violence; and critical sovereignty studies. He has written for and served on the editorial board of Middle East Report magazine (www.merip.org), and his recent writings have also appeared in Middle East Policy, Foreign Policy in Focus (www.fpif.org), Peace Review, Middle East International, Al-Ahram Weekly, The Seattle Times, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Common Dreams, and Counterpunch, among others.
Current Teaching
Spring 2010
U.S. Foreign Policy and the Roots of Terrorism
Fall/Winter 2009-2010
Transforming the Art of War: From Clausewitz to Al-Qaida and Beyond
Spring 2008
War: Consequences and Alternatives (co-taught with Dr. Michael Vavrus)
Fall/Winter 2007-2008
Poetics and Power (co-taught with Leonard Schwartz)
Current Research and Writing
I am currently writing a book on the history and strategy of Palestinian suicide bombings and their relationship to Israeli military violence. While suicide bombings are often portrayed as individual and random acts of fanaticism or desperation, leading to an excessive focus on the “mind of the suicide bomber,” my research has found that suicide bombings are highly organized and patterned and typically use Israeli acts of violence such as assassinations or civilian massacres as a trigger for their attacks. For more information, see Research Page on this website.
I am also working on a research project that examines the changing nature of warfare in the Middle East today, particularly the American transition to counterinsurgency doctrine in Iraq and Afghanistan, the similarities between Israeli and American warfighting strategies and techniques, and the spread of asymmetrical tactics used by militant groups such as suicide bombings and car-bombings. For more information, see Research and Writing Page on this website.