Joost Hiltermann

Program Director, Middle East and North Africa

Please submit all media inquiries to jhiltermann@crisisgroup.org and media@crisisgroup.org or call +32 (0) 2 536 00 71

Crisis Group Role

As MENA Program Director, Joost leads the organisation’s research, analysis, policy prescription and advocacy in and about the region. Previously, he was Crisis Group’s Chief Operating Officer (2013-2014), in which capacity he was responsible for the oversight and management of the organisation’s programs and operations around the world. Prior to that, he was Crisis Group’s Deputy Program Director for the Middle East and North Africa (2007-2012) and Project Director for the Middle East (2002-2007), helping to manage a team of analysts deployed throughout the region.

Areas of Expertise

Iraq: political transition, constitutional process, the situation of the Kurds, Kirkuk and other disputed territories, oil, relations with neighbouring states
Bahrain
Yemen
Jordan
Israel-Palestine
Middle East region: security threats, authoritarianism and democratisation, political Islam, sectarianism

Professional Background

Chief Operating Officer, International Crisis Group (2013-2014)
Deputy Program Director, Middle East and North Africa, International Crisis Group (2007-2012)
Project Director, Middle East, International Crisis Group (2002-2007)
Executive Director, Arms Division of Human Rights Watch (1994-2002)
Director of Iraq Documents Project, HRW (1992-1994)
Research Coordinator, Al-Haq (Ramallah) (1988-1990)
Database Coordinator, Al-Haq (Ramallah) (1985-1988)
PhD, Sociology, University of California, Santa Cruz (1988); MA, International Relations, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (1980)
He has written for The New York Review of Books, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The Financial Times, The National Interest, Middle East Report, and other publications

Affiliations

Former Board Member, Center for Civilians in Conflict (previously known as CIVIC)
Former Advisory Board Member, Arab Regional Office of Open Society Foundations
Research Affiliate, MIT Center for International Studies
Consultant/Advisor, Dialogue Advisory Group

Frequent interviews with major media outlets, including BBC, CNN, The New York Times, Financial Times

Two books: A Poisonous Affair: America, Iraq, and the Gassing of Halabja (Cambridge, 2007), and Behind the Intifada: Labor and Women’s Movements in the Occupied Territories (Princeton, 1991)

Languages

English
Dutch
Arabic
French

In The News

5 Jul 2022

Given the Red Sea's strategic nature as a vital transport route; this [oil spill] can only further internationalise the Yemen war, which already became more complex due t... Middle East Eye)

Joost Hiltermann

Program Director, Middle East and North Africa

14 Jun 2021

Netanyahu was very eloquent. He didn’t actively seek war, he was cautious. As for Bennett, we don’t yet know. Could he drag Israel into new wars? Foreign Policy

Joost Hiltermann

Program Director, Middle East and North Africa

28 Apr 2020

What appears to be an unprecedented government-sanctioned Russian media campaign against Bashar al-Assad may reflect frustration in Moscow over Assad's obstinacy at a tim... The Hour

Joost Hiltermann

Program Director, Middle East and North Africa

21 Feb 2020

[Turkey has been using Russia] to push back against policies that it doesn’t like from its Western partners. BloombergQuint

Joost Hiltermann

Program Director, Middle East and North Africa

10 Jan 2020

The Iraqis don’t want either the United States or Iran, but if they have to have one, they would rather have both because they balance each other out. New York Times

Joost Hiltermann

Program Director, Middle East and North Africa

9 Apr 2019

Haftar is deeply unpopular in many places and given the fragmented state of Libya and the proliferation of armed groups it’s going to be very hard to impose his rule thro... TIME