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About Carsten Wieland

Carsten Wieland is a political consultant and journalist, specialising in the middle east. He studied history, political science, international relations and philosophy at Humboldt University (Berlin), Jawaharlal Nehru University (New Delhi) and Duke University (North Carolina), before working as a research fellow at Georgetown University (Washington). He is the author of Syria - Ballots or Bullets? Democracy, Islamism and Secularism in the Levant (CUNE Press, 2006) and Syria at Bay: Secularism, Islamism and ‘Pax Americana' (C Hurst, 2005). His website is here

Articles by Carsten Wieland

Tuesday 4th October

Syria: a tale of missed opportunity

Carsten Wieland, 4 October 2011

The intellectual ground for an Arab democratic revolution was prepared in Syria a decade ago. But Syria’s leadership wasted the chances for a soft transition, says Carsten Wieland.

Tuesday 6th October

Turkey's political-emotional transition

Carsten Wieland, 6 October 2009

Ankara is renegotiating its pro-west commitments and its Islamic family-ties

Thursday 5th February

The Gaza war and the Syria-Israel front

Carsten Wieland, 5 February 2009

The strategic fallout from the war Gaza leaves the future of a major regional peace initiative open

Thursday 29th May

The Syria-Israel talks: old themes, new setting

Carsten Wieland, 29 May 2008

The Damascus-Jerusalem parley will need luck and skill to avoid becoming a lost opportunity

Sunday 15th April

The Syrian conundrum

Carsten Wieland, 15 April 2007

Robert G Rabil's book reveals a Syria-United States relationship more changeable and nuanced than post-9/11 rhetoric indicates, says Carsten Wieland.

Thursday 9th November

Syria's quagmire, al-Assad's tunnel

Carsten Wieland, 9 November 2006

The Damascus regime has survived the fallout of war in Iraq and turmoil in Lebanon, but a closer look suggests that Bashar al-Assad's time is running out, argues Carsten Wieland.