Hanau Santini Ruth Maria

I am Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations at University of Naples L’Orientale.

Between 2020-2023 I worked as consultant for the World Food Programme on conflicts and food security. Previously I served at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2012-2013), and worked for several European think tanks (ISPI, CEPS, SWP) as well as American ones (The Brookings institution, Transatlantic Academy).

My research areas include the nature of the State, conceptions of democracy and citizenship, changing notions of democracy with a particular focus on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), relations between state and security; regional security and geopolitics of the MENA region and lastly Italian and European foreign and security policy.

Recent books include: Hybrid Governance in the Middle East and Africa, with Abel Polese (eds.), Routledge 2019; Rethinking statehood in the Middle East and North Africa. Security, sovereignty and political orders, with Abel Polese (eds.), Routledge 2018; Limited statehood in post-revolutionary Tunisia. Citizenship, economy, security, Palgrave 2018; while peer-reviewed journals on which she published include Third World Quarterly, Small Wars and Insurgencies; The International Spectator; The Italian Review of Political Science; Middle Eastern Studies.

• EDUCATION
October 2003-November 2008 PhD in Political Science, Department of Political Science, Federico II University in Naples. Thesis: European policymakers’ threat perceptions with regard to the MENA region since 9/11. Supervisors: Mauro Calise, Filippo Andreatta
September 2001-September 2002 Master of Arts in Near and Middle Eastern Politics, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London, September 2001 – September 2002
Thesis: The logic behind WMD proliferation in the Middle East. Supervisor: Charles Tripp
September 1996-September 2001 Bachelor of International Relations, Università di Bologna (in Forlì) . 110 Summa cum laude

• CURRENT POSITION
Since September 2019 Associate Professor of Political Science

• PREVIOUS POSITIONS
September 2016-September 2019 Senior Assistant Professor of Political Science
January 2012-September 2016 Assistant Professor of Political Science

• FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS
January 2011-January 2012 The Brookings Institution, Washington D.C. (US) Center on the US and Europe (CUSE), Visiting Fellow
January-June 2010 University of Warwick (UK), Department of Politics and International Relations, Garnet Research Fellow,
January-July 2007 Center for European Policy Studies (CEPS), Brussels. Visiting doctoral fellow
January-December 2006 Stiftung fur Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP), Berlin. Visiting doctoral fellow

COORDINATION OF RESEARCH PROJECTS
August 2025-August 2026: ITALINT: Principal Investigator of the Research project on the International politics of food security funded by the Unity of Analysis and Policy Planning (UAP) of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAECI): 16,000 euros. Partners: _University of Pavia, University of Parma, John Cabot University.

September 2023-June 2026 RAP-RISK: Project on political risk analysis, funded through Progetto di Ricerca di Ateneo (PRA) of Università di Napoli L’Orientale: 37,000 euros

2016-2019: STREETPOL- SIR project (Scientific Independence of Young Researchers), "Participatory challenges from Tunisia to Oman", funded by the Italian Ministry of Higher Education. Overall funding: 347,000 euros.

2013-2016: EUSPRING: “The Middle East and North Africa since the Arab Awakening: challenges to US and EU foreign policies”, Funded by Compagnia di San Paolo, Volkswagen Stiftung and Riskbanken Jubileumsfond, within the Program ‘Europe and Global Challenges’. International consortium. Overall Funding: 500,000 euros.

Member of Scientific Committee of Istituto Cattaneo and of "Politica in Italia" member of Società Italiana di SCIENZA POLITICA (SISP) and SGRI (Standing Group of International Relations).

Reviewer for journals including Government and Opposition; International Studies Review; Mediterranean Politics; British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies; European Security;

PUBLICATIONS

BOOKS

2020
Limited Statehood and Informal Governance in the Middle East and Africa, with Abel Polese and Robert Kevlihan (eds.), Routledge. (October 2020). https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780429504570

2019
With Abel Polese (Eds.), Rethinking statehood in the Middle East and North Africa. Security, sovereignty and new political orders. Routledge, pp. 234.

2018
Limited statehood in post-revolutionary Tunisia. Citizenship, economy, security, Palgrave.


JOURNAL ARTICLES

Hanau Santini, R., & Prontera, A. (2025). Italy’s foreign energy policy and the Mattei Plan: more than meets the eye? Contemporary Italian Politics, 1–22.
Hanau Santini, R. (2025). Securitisation and De-securitisation in the Middle East and North Africa: Relational Spatialisiation within and beyond the Gulf. The International Spectator, pp. 1-16.

Hanau Santini, R., & Baldaro, E. (2025). Navigating the three circles: the politics of Italy’s foreign policy under the Meloni government. Contemporary Italian Politics, pp. 1–15.

2024
“The Evolution of the Gulf: History and theories of a complex subregional system”, with Wulzer, P. Middle East Policy, March

2022
With Irene Costantini, “Power mediators and the ‘illiberal peace’ momentum: ending wars in Syria and Libya”, Third World Quarterly, vol. 43, n.1

2021
With Irene Costantini, “Waiting for IR Godot? In search of transformative encounters between Middle Eastern Studies and International Relations”, Italian Political Science Review/Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica, 2021

With Giulia Cimini, “Applying Principal-Agent Theory to Security Force Assistance: the atypical case of post-2015 Tunisia”, Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, 2021, vol. 15, n.5

2020
“Italian post-2011 foreign policy in the Mediterranean caught between status and fear: the case of Libya”, Italian Political Science, 2020, n. 15, vol. 1.

2019

“The State of Dis-Union: the EU and the MENA region since 2011”, ORIENT, German Journal for Politics, Economics and Culture of the Middle East, October 2019.

“The politics of security reform in post-2011 Tunisia: assessing the role of exogenous shocks, domestic policy entrepreneurs and external actors”, with Giulia Cimini, Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 55, n.1, 2019, pp. 225-241. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00263206.2018.1538971

“Intended and unintended consequences of security assistance in post-2011 Tunisia”, with Giulia Cimini, Contemporary Arab Affairs, vol. 12, n.1, 2019, pp. 91-106. DOI: 10.1525/caa.2019.121006


2018
“Security Assistance in a Post-Interventionist Era: the impact on hybrid political orders in Tunisia and Lebanon”, with Simone Tholens, Small Wars and Insurgencies, May 2018. DOI: 10.1080/09592318.2018.1456815

“Limited statehood and its security implications on the fragmentation of political orders in the Middle East and North Africa”, with Abel Polese, Small Wars and Insurgencies, May 2018. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09592318.2018.1456815

2017
“A New Regional Cold War in the Middle East and North Africa: Regional Security Complex Theory Revisited”, The International Spectator, November 2017. DOI: 10.1080/03932729.2017.1371487

“Between hierarchy and heterarchy: Post Arab uprisings’ civil-military relations and the Arab state” with Francesco N. Moro, Mediterranean Politics, October 2017.