I work in the Politics section of the Department of History, Politics and Philosophy and have worked at MMU since 1993. My research specialism is the foreign policy of the United States since 1945 and I teach undergraduate units on both US foreign policy and domestic politics. Outside of work my main interests are wine (a good hobby for academics since there's lots of research to do), gardening and cycling.
I do what I do because I enjoy it. I became an academic because I enjoyed studying and it seemed rather attractive to get paid to do what you liked doing anyway. When I started I didn't enjoy teaching that much - not being very good at it probably had something to do with that. Over the years my teaching methods have improved with experience (I hope), and now I enjoy it as much or more than my research. The students are very rewarding to work with and it is enormously satisfying to see them progress and fulfil their potential and ambitions.
Ignore all the rubbish about `but is it vocational?'. No- one in the cabinet has a degree in Business Studies but plenty of them studied politics. The skills you will learn on our Politics degrees - thinking critically, working with others, presenting your ideas clearly - are the skills employers want. Above all, remember that it is not what subject you do but how well you do it that matters, so choose something you are interested in and not something you think you ‘ought’ to do.
My teaching is a product of twenty years of trial and error. I have worked out what works for me (largely by trying lots of things that didn't). My teaching style is fairly traditional: i.e I still give lectures (though I do have Powerpoints!), but I try to mix it up and keep it interesting - debates, mock trials and simulated negotiations are all techniques I use.
My key maxims would be; have high expectations of the students (don't spoon-feed, don't dumb it down); treat it seriously but try and keep it entertaining (it's called a lecture theatre for a reason) and in seminars let the students do the talking.
After an undergraduate degree in History and a Masters in International Relations at the University of Birmingham I wrote my PhD on Jimmy Carter's efforts to normalise diplomatic relations with Vietnam at the University of Lancaster.
I have been at MMU since 1993, where my teaching has focused primarily on American government and politics and American foreign policy (post-1945).
I am Section Head of Politics and Programme Leader for the MA in International Relations and Global Communications.
French (moderately competent); Italian (moderately competent); German (beginners!)
Year 3: The United States and the Middle East (unit leader)
I teach a unit on US foreign policy in the digital age on the MA in International Relations and Global Communications.
I am interested in supervising research students with interests in any area of US foreign and domestic policy.
Completed:
Clair Wilkins: US Supreme Court (PhD) 2011.
Current:
Dan Bennett: US-Russian relations since the end of the Cold War
Mohamed Hagi-Mohamoud: Turkey's relations with Sub-Saharan-Africa
Mahmoud Suleiman: The Kurdish referrendum decisions of 2014 and 2017
Adnan al-Abdullah: Turkey's intervention in the Syrian Civil War
Youngdon Young: US-South Korean alliance relations
PhD thesis, Jumah Dakheel, School of Arts and Humanities, Nottingham Trent University, 2014.
PhD thesis, Sharifullah Dorani, Department of Government, University of Durham, 2015
PhD thesis, Sneha Chembayil-Rajan, Department of Government, University of Durham, 2016
I have always worked in the field of US Foreign Policy but in the last decade I have focused specifically on US policy toward the Middle East. Currently I am also working on a project on defining and explaining foreign policy change, with specific reference tto the Trump administration.
My research is often driven by contemporary issues (the US invasion of Iraq or the crisis over the Iranian nuclear programme) but with the objective of placing recent events in a proper historical and theoretical context. By tracing the origins of current crises and applying relevant theories it becomes possible to develop a deeper understanding of events.
In the last few years I have been working with Professor Edward Ashbee of Copenhagen Business School on an ongoing project related to change and US foreign policy which has resulted in a series of journal articles. We are currently working on a monograph on the impact of the Trump administration on US foreign policy.
S. Hurst (2018). The United States and the Iranian Nuclear Programme A Critical History. Edinburgh University Press.
S. Hurst (2009). The United States and Iraq since 1979: Hegemony, oil and war.
SA. Hurst (2005). Cold War US Foreign Policy: Key Perspectives. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
S. Hurst (1999). The Foreign Policy of the Bush Administration. Pinter Pub Limited.
S. Hurst (1996). The Carter Administration and Vietnam. Macmillan.
M. Hill, S. Hurst (2020). The Trump presidency: continuity and change in US foreign policy. Global Affairs. 6(1),
S. Hurst (2012). Obama and Iran. International Politics. 49(5), pp.545-567.
S. Hurst (2009). Is the Bush Revolution over?. International Politics. 46(2-3), pp.157-176.
SA. Hurst (2007). `Who Started It?': Cold War Historiography. New England Journal of History. 64(1), pp.12-30.
S. Hurst (2005). Myths of neoconservatism: George W. Bush's 'Neo-conservative' foreign policy revisited. International Politics. 42(1), pp.75-96.
S. Hurst (2004). The rhetorical strategy of George H. W. Bush during the Persian Gulf crisis 1990-91: How to help lose a war you won. Political Studies. 52(2), pp.376-392.
M. Cox, S. Hurst (2002). 'His Finest Hour?' George Bush and the Diplomacy of German Unification. Diplomacy & Statecraft. 13(4), pp.123-150.
SA. Hurst (1999). Bush, Clinton and Western Europe: Cutting the Costs of Leadership. National Security Studies Quarterly. 5(2), pp.29-53.
SA. Hurst (1999). Impeaching the President. Talking Politics. 11(3), pp.188-192.
S. Hurst (1997). Regionalism or globalism? the Carter administration and Vietnam. Journal of Contemporary History. 32(1), pp.81-95.
S. Hurst (2014). Parties, polarization, and US foreign policy. I. Parmar, LB. Miller, M. Ledwidge. In: Obama and the World New Directions in US Foreign Policy. London: Routledge, pp.95-106.
S. Hurst (2009). Reforming the national security apparatus. In: Assessing the George W. Bush Presidency: A Tale of Two Terms. Edinburgh University Press, pp.100-114.
S. Hurst (2009). New Directions in US Foreign Policy. I. Parmar, LB. Miller, M. Ledwidge. In: New Directions in US Foreign Policy. Routledge, pp.79-91.
SA. Hurst (2009). Reconstructing the National Security Bureacracy. J. Herbert, A. Wroe. In: Assessing the George W. Bush Presidency: A Tale of Two Terms. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp.100-114.
SA. Hurst (2006). Conservatism Resurgent? The Foreign Policy of the Bush Administration. I. Morgan, P. Davies. In: Right On? Political Change and Continuity in George Bush’s America. London: Institute for the Study of the Americas, pp.41-58.
SA. Hurst, M. Cox (2001). `Present at Disintegration': The United States and German Unification. In: Germany Since Unification: The Development of the Berlin Republic. London: Macmillan, pp.231-251.
S. Hurst (2012). Assessing George W. Bush's Legacy: The Right Man?. JOURNAL OF AMERICAN STUDIES. 46,
S. Hurst (2011). An Outsider in the White House: Jimmy Carter, His Advisors, and the Making of American Foreign Policy. AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW. 116, 1535-1536.
S. Hurst (2010). Ambition and Division: Legacies of the George W. Bush Presidency. JOURNAL OF AMERICAN STUDIES. 44, 472-472.
S. Hurst (2004). The United States and Europe in the twentieth century. EUROPEAN HISTORY QUARTERLY. 34, 568-570.
S. Hurst (2002). Ronald Reagan and the politics of freedom. POLITICAL STUDIES. 50, 609-610.
'Trump and the Iranian nuclear deal', American Politics Group Conference. St Anne’s College, University of Oxford, 4-6 January 2018.
Invited contribution on US-Iranian relations, 'Iran and the world after the nuclear deal', Workshop, Royal United Services Institute, 30 October 2017.
'Explaining foreign policy change: Obama and Iran' BISA US Foreign Policy Working Group Conference, 21-22 September 2017
'US-Iranian nuclear negotiations, 1974-1978' American Politics Group Conference 5th-7th January 2017, University of Leicester.
'Obama and Iran: A Tale of Two Terms' American Politics Group Conference, 7-9th January 2016, University of Reading
'US-Iranian Nuclear Negotiations as a Two-Level Game: The Importance of Domestic Politics' BISA US Foreign Policy Working Group Conference, City University, London, 14-15 September 2015.
'Dead Centre or Holding Centre? Partisan Polarization and US Foreign Policy' BISA US Foreign Policy Working Group Conference, London School of Economics, 17-19 September 2014.
`The United States, Iran and the Bomb: The 1970s Version', St Anne’s College, University of Oxford, 5-7 January 2014.
`Partisan polarization and US foreign policy' American Politics Group, University of Leicester, 3-5 January 2013.
`Obama and Iran: The attractions of sanctions’ American Politics Group, St Anne’s College, University of Oxford, 6-8 January 2010.
`Is the Bush Revolution over?’ ECPR, Pisa, 6-8 September 2007
`Explaining the Iraq War: A `World Systems’ approach’, PSA, University of Reading, 4-6 April 2006.
`Imaginary Threats: Threat perception in US foreign policy since 1945’ ECPR, Budapest, 8-10 September 2005.
`George W. Bush’s Conservative Foreign Policy’ , Conference to launch the Centre for Diplomatic and International Studies, University of Leicester, 23-4 March 2005
`External Pressures and Internal Imperatives: Explaining `Crisis’ in US foreign Policy Since 1945,’ American Politics Group, Canterbury Christ Church University College, 6-8 January 2005.
`George W. Bush’s Conservative Foreign Policy,’ British Association for American Studies, Manchester, 15-18 April 2004.
`William Appleman Williams and the Myth of Economic Determinism,’ American Politics Group, University of Reading, 3-5 January 2003.
`The Rhetorical Strategy of George H.W. Bush in the Persian Gulf War: How to Help Lose a War You Won,' American Politics Group, University of Essex, 3-5 January 2002.
`"Will the Real Thomas Jefferson Please Stand Up?" The Impact of Cold War Historiography on the Idea of a "Jeffersonian" Foreign Policy,' European Association for American Studies, University of Graz, 13-17 April, 2000.
`The Foreign Policy of the Bush Administration: In Search of a New World Order,' British International Studies Association, UMIST, 20-22 December 1999.
`Between Leadership and Partnership? The Bush Administration and Western Europe,' American Politics Group, University of Keele, 3-5 January 1997.
Symposium, 'Iran and the West: Where do we go from here?' Manchester Metropolitan University, November 2015. Speakers included Professor Scott Lucas, University of Birmingham, Professor Anoush Eteshami, University of Durham, Dr Christian Emery, University of Plymouth, Dr Aniseh Bassiri Tabrizi, Royal United Services Insititute
I have acted as a reviewer for the following academic journals: Security Dialogue, The Journal of American Studies, Review of International Political Economy, The Review of International Studies, International Politics, International Relations, The European Journal of International Relations and the American Historical Review.
I have also reviewed book proposals for Oxford University Press, Palgrave Macmillan and Routledge and I have acted as an independent Assessor for the AHRC/ESRC Kluge scholarship programme,
British Academy, Small Research Grant, Elie Kedourie Memorial Fund 2007-8, £3142.
British Academy, Small Research Grant, Elie Kedourie Memorial Fund 2013-14 £5300
I was involved in the `Experts seminars’ convened by the Iraq Enquiry led by Sir John Chilcott, 5 and 10 November 2009.
'Existing narratives of the effect of partisan polarization on US foreign policy are too simplistic' Blogpost, LSE USApp, December 2014 http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2014/12/03/existing-narratives-of-the-effects-of-partisan-polarization-in-congress-on-foreign-policy-issues-are-too-simplistic/
'The Iran deal: Driven by international factors for the US and domestic ones for Iran' Blogpost LSE USApp December 2015 http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2015/12/01/the-iran-nuclear-deal-driven-by-international-factors-for-the-us-and-domestic-ones-for-iran/
Interview, BBC Radio Manchester 8 November 2016 on US elections.
Interview, Talk Radio, 10 November 2016 on US elections.
Interview, BBC Radio Manchester, 20 January 2017, President Trump's Inauguration and implications.
Interview, BBC Breakfast, 21 January 2017, President Trump's Inauguration and implications.
Interview, Talk Radio 7 February 2017, Trump-Bercow incident.
Interview Sky Sunrise 26 May 2017 - Manchester bomb UK-US intelligence sharing dispute.
Interviewed and quoted in 'Iran nuclear deal: Donald Trump 'decertifies' 2015 pact' Al-Jazeera.com 13 October 2017, http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/10/iran-nuclear-deal-donald-trump-decertifies-2015-pact-171012101055479.html
'Priti Patel's resignation: Will Israel-UK relations ever be the same again? Op-Ed, International Business Times, 11 November 2017 http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/priti-patels-resignation-will-israel-uk-relations-ever-be-same-again-1646808
'If Donald Trump's "Great Satan" interferes in Iran, it will play right into the regime's hands', Newsweek UK, 4 January 2018 https://www.newsweek.co.uk/if-donald-trumps-great-satan-interferes-iran-it-will-play-right-into-regimes-hands-535005
Interview, BBC Radio Manchester, 14 March 2018, Sergei Skripal poisoning and possible British response.
Interview, BBC Radio Stoke, 16 March 2018, Sergei Skripal poisioning and the British response.
Independent Assessor, AHRC/ESRC Kluge scholarship programme, 2005-6.
I am a member of the American Politics Group of the Political Studies Association (of which I am the former chair) (http://theapg.co.uk/) and of the US Foreign Policy Working Group of the British Internatiional Studies Association.