Welcome, 欢迎, أهلاً وسهلاً!
I’m Dana Abu-Haltam, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. My research explores international relations and comparative politics, with particular interests in power politics, great power competition, international security, and political economy.
My dissertation examines how Middle Eastern and North African countries navigate U.S.–China competition, focusing on alignment strategies shaped by foreign aid, trade dependence, military leverage, regime survival, and regional threats. I also analyze how these dynamics unfold across critical sectors such as the economy, technology, artificial intelligence (AI), energy, and arms sales. Case studies include Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, and Egypt, supported by qualitative methods and fieldwork interviews conducted in Jordan in 2024. My solo-authored research is published or forthcoming in Foreign Policy Analysis, Asian Perspective, and the Chinese Political Science Review.
In addition to my dissertation work, I study Chinese Strategic Partnerships (CSPs). I published a paper titled “Where to Throw the Hook? Chinese Strategic Partnership Selection and Its Effectiveness“, with the original dataset available on the Harvard Datavers. This research uses time-series quantitative data analysis (using Stata) to examine how China selects strategic partners and how effective those partnerships are in achieving influence.
Prior to joining UT Knoxville, I earned an M.A. in Diplomatic Studies and a B.A. in Chinese and English languages at the University of Jordan. I also worked for four years at the Chinese Embassy in Amman, an experience that sparked my interest in exploring China’s growing influence in the region and its interaction with the longstanding presence of the United States.
Feel free to reach me at: dabuhalt@vols.utk.edu
