Uzi Rabi

Uzi Rabi is an Israeli Professor and the Head of the Program for Regional Cooperation at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University. and completed a PhD at Tel Aviv University in 2000.

Career Rabi began working at Tel Aviv University in 2000, initially as a lecturer. He was affiliated with University of San Diego as a visiting professor from 2004 to 2005.

Publications Rabi specializes in the modern history and political evolution of states and societies in the Middle East, with a particular emphasis on Iranian-Arab relations, the intersection of oil and politics in the region, and Sunni-Shi'i dynamics. Rabi has authored several books in both English and Hebrew and has also published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals such as Middle Eastern Studies, the British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies and the Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. One reviewer, William L. Ochsenwald, commented that the book is "particularly valuable in its critical analysis of British-Omani relations". Isaac Kefir wrote that while Rabi had an "expansive knowledge of the region" he "at times ... fails to develop key concepts and ideas, or fully explain his observations". A related book in Hebrew, Yemen: The Anatomy of a Failed State (HaKibbutz HaMeuchad), was published in 2014.

In 2019 he published The Return of the Past – State, Identity, and Society in the Post-Arab Spring Middle East with Lexington Books, which examined the upheaval in the Middle East following the Arab Spring, highlighting its profound geopolitical and socio-political transformations.

Journal articles (with Nugzar Ter-Oganov) "The Military of Qajar Iran: The Features of an Irregular Army from the Eighteenth Century to the Early Twentieth Century," Iranian Studies, vol. 45 (2012), No. 3, pp. 333–354. "Oman and the Arab–Israeli Conflict: The Reflection of a Pragmatic Foreign Policy," Israel Affairs, vol. 11 (2005), pp. 535–551 "Oman's Foreign Policy: The Art of Keeping All Channels of Communication Open," Orient (2005), pp. 549–564 "The Dynamics of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC): The Ceaseless Quest for Regional Security in a Changing Region," Orient (2004), pp. 281–295."Oil Politics and Tribal Rulers in Eastern Arabia: The Reign of Shakhbut (1928–1966)," British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 33 (2004), pp. 37–50. "Kuwait’s Changing Strategic Posture: Historical Patterns," Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 27, No. 4, (2004), pp. 52–65 "Majlis al-Shura and Majlis al-Dawla: State Formation in an Oil State: Oman as a Case Study," Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 38, no. 4, (2002), pp. 41–50.

Chapters “The Kuwaiti Royal Family in the Post-liberation Period: Reinstitutionalizing the 'First among Equals' System in Kuwait”, in: J. Kostiner (ed.), Middle East Monarchies: The Challenge of Modernity (Boulder, London: Lynne Rienner, 2000) “The Shi’is in Bahrain: Class and Religious Protest”, in: O. Benjio and G. Ben-Dor (eds.), Minorities in the Middle East (Boulder, London: Lynne Rienner, 1999), pp. 171–188

Books Yemen: Revolution, Civil War, and Unification The Emergence of States in a Tribal Society: Oman Under Sa'id bin Taymur, 1932–1970 Saudi Arabia: An Oil Kingdom in the Labyrinth of Religion and Politics (Hebrew) Back to the Future (Resling, 2016, in Hebrew) The Return of the Past - State, Identity and Society in the Post-Arab Spring Middle East (Lexington Books, 2019) ISIS and the Islamic State Vision (co-written with Dr. Michael Barak, Resling 2021, in Hebrew)

Edited works

The Gulf States: Between Iran and the West, edited by Uzi Rabi and Yoel Guzansky. A joint publication by the Moshe Dayan Center and the Institute for National Security Studies Iran's Time (Hebrew) International Intervention in Local Conflicts: Crisis Management and Conflict Resolution Since the Cold War Lost in Translation: Forgotten Paradigms of the Arab Spring (co-edited with Abdelilah Bouasria)