Talk:Brenda Shaffer/Temp

=Biography= Dr. Brenda Shaffer is an American-born Israeli-educated, she 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 or 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.


 * John F. Kennedy School of Government


 * The President and Fellows of Harvard College


 * The ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan

=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).

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, and the International Herald Tribune. =Reviews=

Reviews of Brenda Shaffer’s Borders and Brethren by Evan Siegel
http://www.azargoshnasp.net/recent_history/atoor/schafferjunkbook.htm

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."

Reviews of Brenda Shaffer’s Borders and Brethren by Touraj Atabaki
http://www.azargoshnasp.net/recent_history/atoor/atabakishaffer.pdf

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

=External links=
 * John F. Kennedy School of Government


 * The ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan


 * The President and Fellows of Harvard College


 * Review of Brenda Shaffer’s Brethren and Borders Book by Evan Siegel


 * Review of Brenda Shaffer’s Brethren and Borders Book by Touraj Atabaki


 * A Geopolitical Agenda; Dr. Kaveh Farrokh (See section 4c)