Dr Hendrik Jan Kraetzschmar

Profile

Background

I completed my undergraduate studies in Political Science and Social Anthropology at the University of Heidelberg (Germany) in 1996, before moving to London to pursue an MA in Comparative Politics at the London School of Economic and Political Science (LSE).

Between 1999 and 2005 I studied for a PhD in Middle East Politics at the same institution. Before joining the Department of Arabic, Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at Leeds University in September 2007 I lectured for two years in Middle East Politics at the American University in Cairo. At Leeds University I am teaching a wide range of subjects in the Comparative and International Politics of the region.

Research Supervision

I have been involved in MAR/PhD supervision since joining Leeds University in 2007. I am willing to supervise students in any field of Comparative Politics of the Middle East and North Africa.

Past/present projects supervised include research on Saudi Foreign Policy, GCC relations, electoral / party politics in post-revolutionary Egypt, Salafism in Egypt, civil society and sectarianism in the Gulf, the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria and on youth and gender attitudes in Jordan. 

I have been invited to examine MAR and PhD projects here at the University of Leeds, as well as at Durham University and the universities of Birmingham, Manchester, Sunderland and Exeter.

Publications

(Co-)Authored Volumes:

• Kraetzschmar, H., V. Resta and F. Cavatorta. Coalition Governments and Multiparty Politics in the Arab World. Edinburgh University Press (forthcoming, 2025)

(Co-)Edited Volumes:

• Kraetzschmar, H. & P. Rivetti  (eds.) 2018. Islamists and the Politics of the Arab Uprisings: Governance, Pluralisation and Contention. Edinburgh University Press.
• Kraetzschmar, H. (ed.) 2012. Opposition Cooperation in the Arab World: Contentious Politics in Times of Change. Routledge.
• Schwarzmantel J. and H. Kraetzschmar (eds.) 2011. Democracy and Violence: Global Challenges and Local Debates. Routledge.

Special Issues:

• Kraetzschmar H. and F. Cavatorta (eds.) Special Issue: The Politics of Multiparty Coalition Governments in the Arab World.Middle East Law and Governance (forthcoming in 2023)
• Kraetzschmar, H. 2011. Special Issue: The Dynamics of Opposition Cooperation in the Arab World. British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 38/3. 
• Schwarzmantel, J. and H. Kraetzschmar (eds.) 2010. Special Issue: Democracy and Violence. Democratization 17/2. 

Book Chapters:

• Kraetzschmar, H., A. Delatolla and R. Cleminson. ‘Life in an Interstitial Enclave: The Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Communities of Spanish Ceuta’. In Serena Tolino and Arash Guitoo (eds) Routledge Handbook on LGBTQI+ in West Asia and North Africa (WANA) (forthcoming, 2024). 
• Kraetzschmar, H. 2023. ‘Partial and Non-Partisan: Municipal Elections in Saudi Arabia’. In Francesco Cavatorta and Valeria Resta (eds) Routledge Handbook on Elections in the Middle East and North Africa, Routledge. 
• Resta, V. and H. Kraetzschmar, H. 2023. ‘Political Parties in the Arab Middle East’. In Gyda Sindre, Neil Carter, N., Sofia Vasilopoulou and Daniel Keith (eds) Routledge Handbook on Political Parties, Routledge.
• Kraetzschmar, H. 2020. ‘Political Intermediation in the Arabian peninsula: Partisan Organisations, Elections and Representation in Bahrain, Kuwait and Yemen’; in Francesco Cavatorta, Lise Storm and Valeria Resta (eds.) Routledge Handbook on Political Parties in the Middle East and North Africa, Routledge.
• Zaccara, L. C. Freer and H. Kraetzschmar. 2018. 'Kuwait’s Islamist Proto-parties and the Arab Uprisings: Between Opposition, Pragmatism and the Pursuit of Cross-Ideological Cooperation',  in H. Kraetzschmar and P. Rivetti (eds) Islamists and the Politics of the Arab Uprisings: Governance, Pluralisation and Contention. Edinburgh University Press.
• Kraetzschmar, H. and Saleh, A. 2018. 'The Struggle for Power and the 'Secular-Islamist' Binary in Post-Mubarak Egypt', in H. Kraetzschmar and P. Rivetti (eds) Islamists and the Politics of the Arab Uprisings: Governance, Pluralisation and Contention. Edinburgh University Press.
• Bilgili, N. and H. Kraezschmar. 2018. 'A Critique from Within: The Islamic Left in Turkey and the AK Party’s Neo-Liberal Economics', in H. Kraetzschmar and P. Rivetti (eds) Islamists and the Politics of the Arab Uprisings: Governance, Pluralisation and Contention. Edinburgh University Press.
• Rivetti, P. and H. Kraetzschmar. 2018. 'Political Islam and the Arab Uprisings', in H. Kraetzschmar and P. Rivetti (eds) Islamists and the Politics of the Arab Uprisings: Governance, Pluralisation and Contention. Edinburgh University Press.
• Kraetzschmar, H. 2018. 'In the Shadows of Legality: Proto-Parties and Participatory Politics in the Emirate of Kuwait’, in L. Storm and F. Cavatorta (eds.) Political Parties in the Arab World: Continuity and Change. Edinburgh University Press.
• Cavatorta, F. & Kraetzschmar, H. 2014. 'Ballots over Bullets: Islamist Groups, the State and Electoral Violence in Egypt and Morocco' in J. Haynes (ed.) Religion and Political Change in the Modern World. Routledge.
• Kraetzschmar H. 2010. 'Opposition Cooperation in Electoral Autocracies: The United National Front for Change in Egypt's 2005 Parliamentary Elections', in Albrecht H. (ed.) Contentious Politics in the Middle East, University of Florida Press.
• Kraetzschmar, H. & Pontes-Resende, M. 2005. 'Parties of Power as Roadblocks to Democracy - the Ukraine and Egypt Compared' in Emerson, M. (ed.) Democratisation in the European Neighbourhood, CEPS Brussels.

Journal Articles 

• Cavatorta F. and H. Kraetzschmar. 2023. “Multiparty Coalition Governments in the Arab World: An Introduction.” Middle East Law and Governance (forthcoming, 2023)
• Kraetzschmar H and F. Cavatorta. 2023. “Multuparty Cabinets and Coalition Governance in the Arab Middle East and North Africa”. Middle East Law and Governance (forthcoming, 2023)
• Kraetzschmar, H and B. Zollner. 2020. 'We are all Wasatiyyun: The Shifting Sands of Center Positioning in Egypt's Early Post-Revolutionary Party System'. Middle East Critique 29/2, pp. 1–20.
• Kraetzschmar, H. 2015. 'Associational Life under Authoritarianism: The Saudi Chamber of Commerce and Industry Elections' Journal of Arabian Studies 5/2, pp. 184–215.
• Kraetzschmar, H. & Saleh A. 2015. 'Politicized Identities, Securitized Politics: The Sunni-Shi’a Politics in Egypt and Beyond', The Middle East Journal 69/4, pp. 545–562.
• Kraetzschmar, H. 2013. 'Empowerment through the Ballot Box? Women's Suffrage and Electoral Participation in the Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry', Journal of Arabian Studies 3/1, pp. 102–119.
• Kraetzschmar, H. and E.M. Lahlali. 2012. 'The State of e-Services Delivery in Kuwait: Challenges and Opportunities' Kuwait Programme on Development, Governance and Globalisation in the Gulf States Publication (LSE), pp. 1–41. 
• Kraetzschmar, H. (ed.) 2011. 'Mapping Opposition Cooperation in the Arab World: From Single-Issue Coalitions to Transnational Networks', British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 38/3, pp. 287–302.
• Cavatorta, F. & Kraetzschmar, H. 2010. 'Ballots over Bullets: Islamist Groups, the State and Electoral Violence in Egypt and Morocco' Democratization 17/1, pp. 326–349.
• Kraetzschmar, H.J. 2010. Electoral Rules, Voter Mobilization and the Islamist Landslide in the Saudi Municipal Elections of 2005. Contemporary Arab Affairs 3/4, pp. 485–502.
• Kraetzschmar, H. Schwarzmantel, J. (eds.) 2010. 'Special Issue: Democracy and Violence', Democratization 17, 1.
• Contributed to: Dean, L. (ed.) The Middle East and North Africa 2008. Routledge (rewriting & updating of Egypt chapter).
• Contributed to: Dean, L. (ed.) The Middle East and North Africa 2007. Routledge (rewriting & updating of Egypt chapter).
• Kraetzschmar H. 2006. 'The Politics of Electoral Reform in the Middle East and North Africa', Journal of Democracy Review Vol. 21, Cairo, pp. 11–19 (Published in Arabic & English).

Working Papers, Reports & Short Pieces:

• Kraetzschmar, H., A. Delatolla and R. Cleminson. 2023. Exploring Diversity in an Interstitial Urban Locale: The LGBTQ+ Communities of Spanish Ceuta. Institute of Ceutan Studies (forthcoming) 
• Kraetzschmar H. & Zollner, B. 2017. 'Egypt's authoritarian regime plays to conservative mainstream in wave of LGBTQ arrests', The Conversation, 23 October.
• Kraetzschmar, H. 2015. 'How the Tunisian national dialogue saved a country from collapse', The Conversation, 9 October.
• Kraetzschmar, H. & Voltmer, K. 2014. 'Investigating the Media and Democratisation Conflicts: Research Design and Methodology of Media, Conflict and Democratisation', MeCoDEM Working Paper. 

Responsibilities

• Deputy Head of School
• School of Languages, Cultures and Societies

Research interests

My research interests are in the fields of the Comparative Politics of the Middle East and North Africa, with a specific focus on regime types and survival, political institutions, regime-society relations, politics of opposition and participation, electoral, coalition and party politics as well as gender and empowerement.

I am currently involved in research projects exploring various aspects of ellectoral and party politics in the MENA region, including research on the dynamics of multiparty coalition governance and electoral reform. As part of an interdisciplinary team of experts here at the University of Leeds, I am also leading a pilot project on the LGBTQ community in Ceuta and Melilla. The research is funded in part by the Ceutan Institute of Studies. 

My country expertise is in the comparative politics of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries as well as Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia.

I am a member of the University of Leeds Queer Area Studies Network.

• Development of e-Government in Kuwait
• Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry Project

Qualifications

• PhD Comparative Politics of the Middle East
• MA Comparative Politics
• BA Social Anthropology and Politics

Professional memberships

• British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES)

Student education

I am the Director of Postgraduate Taught Education in the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies and teach on a number of undergraduate Middle East politics and broader politics modules.

I have experience supervising doctoral students in the fields of Middle East politics and am currently co-supervising the following PhD candidates:

• Nabaa Almualem
• Mahmoud Elmasry
• Sultan Al-Azri

Research groups and institutes

• Arabic
• Politics
• Gender
• Queer Area Studies Network

Current postgraduate researchers

• Mahmoud Elmasry