Middle East Geopolitical Escalation: Global Impact Assessment and Strategic Risk Management

Mohsen Solhdoost is an Assistant Professor of International Relations in the Department of International Studies, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. Prior to joining XJTLU, Mohsen was teaching International Relations courses at the University of Queensland and the Australian Catholic University. Mohsen’s main program of research includes foreign policy analysis and diplomacy. In his work he focuses on US and China’s presence in the Middle East and examines complex security issues such as states’ interactions with non-state actors. Mohsen regularly appears in the media to comment on these topics. His research has been published in leading journals such as Global Policy Journal (GPJ), Journal of the Indian Ocean Region (JIOR), and Journal of Asian and African Studies (JAAS).

Stephen Norris is a Partner based in Hong Kong and leads the Global Risk Analysis practice for Northeast Asia, including Greater China and Japan. He is also a regular media commentator on political, economic, and security developments across the region.

Recent tasks that Stephen has worked on include:

• Conducted security, political and regulatory threat assessments for multinational resources companies active across Indonesia, including several undergoing complex contractual negotiations with the central government, and others facing serious security issues in Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Papua and Aceh.
• Assessed the security and operational risks facing companies with long-term resources and agriculture interests in the Southern Philippines, including analysis of local political dynamics and capricious regulatory turns, communist-, separatist- and Islamist extremist-related security threats, or community opposition to large-scale investments.
• Provided short- and long-term political forecasting assisting companies based in Thailand to foresee and plan for various possible political crises related to future changes in the country, which carry high risks of violence and business disruption.
• Analysed factional infighting at the top of the Vietnamese political system, and of the associated risks that acrimonious leadership change, and judicial and regulatory politicisation, could entail for companies in heavily politically connected sectors such as banking or telecommunications.

Prior to joining Control Risks, Stephen was based in Taiwan as a political and business reporter for The China Post and as a freelance writer for the Taipei Times (national daily newspapers). Stephen also previously worked for Jane’s Information Group, a consultancy focused on defence, terrorism and intelligence issues.

Stephen holds an undergraduate degree in sociology with politics from the University of Leicester and a master’s of science in Chinese business and politics from Sheffield University. He speaks conversational Mandarin.