Nigel Ashton

Nigel Ashton

Research Interest

North America
Europe
Middle East and North Africa
Religion
Nationalisms and Identity
Post-1945
Cold War

Biography

Professor Nigel J. Ashton is Professor of International History at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He received his undergraduate degree and PhD from Christ’s College, Cambridge. His main research interests lie in the fields of contemporary Anglo-American relations and the international history of the Middle East. His most recent book was King Hussein of Jordan: A Political Life (Yale University Press, 2008). He has also edited The Cold War in the Middle East: Regional Conflict and the Superpowers, 1967-73 (Routledge, 2007). His earlier works include Eisenhower, Macmillan and the Problem of Nasser: Anglo-American Relations and Arab Nationalism, 1955-59(Macmillan, 1996), and Kennedy, Macmillan and the Cold War: The Irony of Interdependence (Palgrave, 2002), which won the Cambridge Donner Foundation book prize in 2003.  He is currently working on a study of the transition from British to American hegemony in the Middle East.

Courses

Professor Ashton teaches the following courses in the Department:

At undergraduate level:

At masters level:

Publications

Books

Professor Ashton's main fields of interest are contemporary Anglo-American relations and the modern history of the Middle East. These interests came together in his first book, Eisenhower, Macmillan and the Problem of Nasser: Anglo-American Relations and Arab Nationalism, 1955-59 (Macmillan, 1996), which looked at the strategies adopted by Britain and the United States to deal with the Arab nationalist challenge during the 1950s. His second book, Kennedy, Macmillan and the Cold War: the Irony of Interdependence (Palgrave, 2002), broadened the frame of reference to look at Anglo-American relations over a whole range of international issues during the Kennedy Presidency. Kennedy, Macmillan and the Cold War was awarded the Cambridge Donner Book Prize for 2003. This prize rewards excellence in advancing scholarly understanding of transatlantic relations.

In September 2008, his book King Hussein of Jordan: A Political Life was published by Yale University Press. Based on unique and unprecedented access to the private papers of the late King this book provides a comprehensive analysis Hussein's statecraft, including his role in the Middle East peace process, the Arab-Israeli wars of 1967 and 1973, the Iran-Iraq war, the Gulf crisis and the campaign to unseat Saddam Hussein in the 1990s. It also illuminates the personality of one of the most colourful and charismatic Arab leaders of the twentieth century.

Listen to Professor Ashton discussing his book on King Hussein of Jordan.

Professor Ashton has also edited: The Iran-Iraq War: New International Perspectives (Routledge, 2013) and The Cold War in the Middle East: Regional Conflict and the Superpowers, 1967-73 (Routledge, 2007).

On 3 March 2022, Professor Ashton’s book: False Prophets: British Leaders’ Fateful Fascination with the Middle East from Suez to Syria was published by Atlantic books. False Prophets shows how a combination of fear and hubris led successive British leaders into a series of fateful interventions in the Middle East from the Suez Crisis of 1956, through the Iraqi and Afghan wars of the 1990s and 2000s, to the Libyan and Syrian civil wars of the 2010s. It was selected by The New Statesman as an essential read for 2022.

Articles

In addition to these three monographs, Professor Ashton has written a number of scholarly articles, including:

Conference papers

Recent conference papers given by Professor Ashton include: 

  • ‘Britain, the United States and the Arab-Israeli Peace Process after the Six-Day War’, University of Leiden, The Netherlands, 26 March 2018.
  • 'Searching for a Just and Lasting Peace? Anglo-American Relations and the Road to United Nations Security Council Resolution 242', at the British International History Group Conference, LSE, 4-6 September 2014.
  • 'The End of the "Golden Decade" and the Impact of the Oil Crisis', at 'Consigning the 1970s to History' conference, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands, 13 May 2014
  • ‘Missed Opportunities for Peace: The United States, Jordan and the 1967 Arab-Israeli War’, Washington History Seminar, Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington DC, October 2011
  • ‘The Two Husseins: Jordanian-Iraqi relations during the Iran-Iraq War’, Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington DC, conference on ‘The Iran-Iraq War: the View from Baghdad’, October 2011
  • ‘King Hussein of Jordan and the Liberation of Iraq, 1958-99’, Centre of International Studies, University of Cambridge, 14 February 2008, also delivered at the Institute of Historical Research, International History seminar, London, 13 May 2008
  • 'The Suez Crisis and British withdrawal from Jordan' at the Munk Centre, University of Toronto, September 2006
  • 'A difference over means or ends?  Anglo-American relations and the Suez Crisis' at Suez Crisis Conference, QMW, University of London, June 2006
  • 'Anglo-American Revival and Empire during the Macmillan Years, 1957-63', Wiles Trust Colloquium, Queen's University, Belfast, September 2003
  • 'The Anglo-American Role in the September 1970 Crisis in Jordan', at the British International Studies Association Conference, University of Birmingham, December 2003
  • 'Annihilation without Representation? Anglo-American Relations and the Cuban Missile Crisis', at the British International History Group Conference, University of Dundee, September 2002