Ghoncheh Tazmini recently completed her term as Visiting Fellow at the Middle East Centre at the LSE. She is the author of Khatami’s Iran: The Islamic Republic and the Turbulent Path to Reform (I. B. Tauris, 2007, 2009), and Revolution and Reform in Russia and Iran: Politics and Modernization in Revolutionary States (I.B. Tauris, 2012). Formerly, an Iran Heritage Foundation Fellow at SOAS, and a British Academy grantee, Dr. Tazmini’s research is situated at the nexus of modern Iranian history, comparative politics and global history. In her previous work, she has focused on the processes of modernization and reform in Iran, as well as Iran’s domestic politics and state-society relations. Finally, her research investigates the tension between Iran and the west further back in history by adopting an integrative approach that highlights the deep linkages and exposures of the country to global historical networks. Currently, she is working on a book on Russian-Iranian bilateral relations.