Amjed Rasheed, King’s College

Amjed Rasheed is a researcher in international relations and political economy specialising in China’s expanding role in West Asia and North Africa (WANA), among other topics. His work examines how Chinese power is exercised, received, and contested in the region. His published research on Egypt analyses how the political elites represent the Chinese development model as an alternative to liberal-democratic governance. It also shows that the significance of China’s presence extends beyond trade and infrastructure. The research demonstrates that China can serve as a political reference point through which governments legitimise sovereignty-centred, state-led, and authoritarian forms of development. His current work investigates Chinese economic statecraft in the WANA region, focusing on the conduct of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SoE) in fragile contexts. Using Iraq as a case study, he examines how commercial activity by Chinese firms intersects with Beijing’s diplomatic interests, energy-security priorities, reconstruction agendas, local elite networks, and institutional weakness. Rather than treating state-owned enterprises as straightforward instruments of a coherent Chinese grand strategy, the research asks where commercial incentives, political objectives, and host-country agency converge.

Email: a.m.rasheed@protonmailc

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amjed-rasheed-b3a067110

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=lw_2uB0AAAAJ

Selected Publications

Rasheed, A. and Azzo, M. (Forthcoming). From Water to Dust: Climate Disruption and Identity in Southern Iraq. Cambridge University Press.

Rasheed, A. 2023. Power and Paranoia in Syrian–Iraqi Relations: The Impact of Hafez Assad and Saddam Hussein. Routledge.

Rasheed, A. 2024. “Iraq’s Struggle to Contend with the Sino-US Rivalry.” Middle East Policy 31(1): 102–119.

Rasheed, A. 2022. “Mediterranean Africa Pivots Towards China: The Case of Egypt and Algeria.” Afriche e Orienti 25(1): 16–40.

Rasheed, A. 2022. “The Narrative of the Rise of China and Authoritarianism in the Global South: The Case of Egypt.” International Spectator 57(2): 68–84.