Dr. Tobias Zumbrägel

Dr. Tobias Zumbraegel is a postdoc at Heidelberg’s Geography Institute since January 2023. Prior to this he worked as a researcher at the center for excellence Climate, Climatic Change and Society (CLICCS) at the University of Hamburg and the Germany-based think tank CARPO in Bonn. He studied History, Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies in Cologne, Tuebingen and Cairo and holds a Ph.D. (summa cum laude) from the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, which was awarded with the dissertation prize of the German Middle East Association.

Specialties

Energy transition, environmentalism, political ecology, geopolitics, authoritarianism, political legitimacy, international relations and security studies, Middle Eastern studies

Publications

Books

• Zumbraegel, T. (2022): Political Power and Environmental Sustainability in Gulf Monarchies, London: Palgrave

Journal articles, book chapters, commentaries, and other publications

• Gurol, J.; Demmelhuber, T. and Zumbraegel, T. (2022): Elite Networks and the Transregional Dimension of Authoritarianism: Sino-Emirati Relations in Times of a Global Pandemic, in: Journal of Contemporary China 32:119, pp. 138-151
• Zumbraegel, T. (2022): “In search of legitimation: Environmental policy making in Saudi Arabia”, in: M. Thompson & N. Quillian (Eds.): Governance and domestic policymaking in Saudi Arabia. Transforming society, economics, politics and culture, London: I.B. Tauris.
• Demmelhuber, T.; Gurol, J. and Zumbraegel, T. (2022): The COVID-19 temptation? Sino–Gulf relations and autocratic linkages in times of a global pandemic, in: J. Völkel, L. Möller & Z. Hobaika (Hrsg.): COVID-19 & MENA Region, London: Routledge.
• Zabara, B. and Zumbraegel, T. (2022): The Role of the Environment in Peacebuilding in Yemen, CARPO Report 09, Sustainability Series 04.
• Zumbraegel, T. (2022): Between suffering and surfing: Sustainability management on the Arabian Peninsula. POMEPS Blog Post.
• Zumbraegel, T. (2022): Die (stille) Umweltkatastrophe im Jemen, Jemen-Report.
• Zumbraegel, T. (2022): Klimakonferenzen sind keine WM, Zenith 1, pp. 84-85.
• Gurol, J.; Schmidt, M. and Zumbraegel, T. (2021): Reconfigurations in West Asia and North Africa, Conference Report: CARPO Research Forum, CARPO Study 10
• Zumbraegel, T. (2021): Klima und Konflikt. Chancen für ein „Environmental Peacebuilding“, Die Politische Meinung 66 (569), pp. 16-21.
• Zumbraegel, T. (2021): Sustaining Power after Oil: Environmental Politics and Legitimacy in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, OPUS FAU.
• Al-Akwa, K. and Zumbraegel, T. (2021): Impact and Local Responses to Torrential Rain and Flash Floods in Yemen 2020, CARPO Brief 21, Sustainability Series 03.
• Zumbraegel, T. (2021): Environmental cooperation in the Gulf region: Why it matters and why it is failing, in: L. Narbone & Divsallar, A. (Eds.): Stepping away from the abyss. A gradual approach towards a new security system in the Persian Gulf, MEDirections, Florence, pp. 175-188.
• Zumbraegel, T. (2021): Climate and Conflict- Opportunities For Environmental Peacebuilding, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, Climate Report 2021, pp. 37-41.
• Zumbraegel, T. (2020): Kingdom of gravity: Autocratic promotion and diffusion in Saudi Arabia, in M. Kneuer & T. Demmelhuber (eds.): Authoritarian Gravity Centres: A cross-regional study of authoritarian promotion and diffusion, London: Routledge, pp. 55-88.
• Zumbraegel, T. and Demmelhuber, T. (2020): Temptations of Autocracy: How Saudi Arabia Influences and Attracts its Neighbourhood, in: Journal of Arabian Studies 10:1 (2020), pp. 51-71.
• Zumbraegel, T. (2020): Beyond greenwashing: Sustaining power through sustainability in the Arab Gulf monarchies, in: Orient 61:1 (2020), pp. 28-35.
• Zumbraegel, T. (2020): The looming climate peril. Sustainable strategies and environmental activism in the Middle East and North Africa, CARPO Study, Sustainability Series 01.
• Demmelhuber, T. and Zumbraegel, T. (April 2020): COVID-19 im Nahen Osten. Eine Chance für die Autokraten der Region?, in: Qantara.
• Kneuer, M; Demmelhuber, T.; Peressson, R. and Zumbraegel, T. (2019): Playing the regional card: why and how authoritarian gravity centres exploit regional organizations, in: Third World Quarterly 40:3, pp. 451-470.
• Zumbraegel, T. (2019): Being green or being seen green? Strategies of eco regime resilience in Qatar, in: H. Pouran & H. Hakimian (eds.): Environmental Challenges in the MENA Region. The Long Road from Conflict to Cooperation, Chicago: The Gingko Library, pp. 49-71.
• Vollmann, E. and Zumbraegel, T. (2018): Die Erfindung des Wir: Ideelles Identitätsmanagement als Legitimationsstrategie Saudi-Arabien, in: Zeitschrift für Politik 65:3, pp. 265-282.
• Demmelhuber, T. and Zumbraegel, T. (2018): Machtpoker am Golf – ein Kronprinz strauchelt, in: Der Standard.
• Zumbraegel, T. (2018): Wo Interesse und Ideologie kollidieren: Die neue saudisch-israelische Allianz, in: AlSharq Analyse.
• Bohn, M.; Vollmann, E. and Zumbraegel, T. (2018): Abenteuer am Golf: Saudi-Arabiens Wandel unter den Salmans, in: Gesellschaft. Wirtschaft. Politik. 67:2, pp. 167-173.
• Zumbraegel, T. (2017): The Quest for Green Legitimation: Reconsidering the ‘environmental enthusiasm’ of the Arab Gulf monarchies, in: Orient Vol. 1:58, pp. 54-59.
• Demmelhuber, T. and Zumbraegel, T. (2017): Legitimität und politische Herrschaft: ein historischer Längsschnitt im Lichte der arabischen Umbrüche seit 2011, in: T. Demmelhuber; A. Paul; & M. Reinkowski (Eds.): Arabellion: vom Aufbruch zum Zerfall einer Region? Leviathan (Sonderheft), Nomos: Baden-Baden, pp. 47-65.
• Zumbraegel, T. (Dec. 2017): Anti-corruption campaign in Saudi Arabia: The harder they fall?, in: Qantara.
• Dinkelaker, C. and Zumbraegel, T. (2017): Die Kampfhandlungen: Wie Israel 1967 seine Nachbarn überrumpelte, in: AlSharq Analyse.
• Dinkelaker, C. and Zumbraegel, T. (2017): Wie es 1967 zum Krieg zwischen Israel und seinen Nachbarn kam, in: AlSharq Analyse.
• Zumbraegel, T. (2016): Schein oder nicht Schein – Vom Umweltsünder zum Klimavorreiter: Meinen es die Golfmonarchien mit ihrer Nachhaltigkeits-Agenda ernst?, in: EMA-Magazin: Mediterranes 1, pp. 20-23
• Zumbraegel, T. (2016): Is Qatar really going green?, in: Newsletter of the European Centre for Energy and Resource Security (EUCERS) – King’s College London, Issue 55.
• Zumbraegel, T. (2015): Ein Herz für Ägypten?! – Die Auswirkungen von Finanzhilfe aus dem Golf, in: AlSharq Analyse.
• Zumbraegel, T. (2013): Der Statthalter in Luxor muss gehen – ein (kleiner) Erfolg der Zivilgesellschaft in Ägypten, in: AlSharq Analyse.
• Zumbraegel, T. (2013): In Ägypten ist Kunst keine Tochter der Freiheit, in: AlSharq Analyse.