- Home
- Teaching
- Faculties
- School of Humanities, Social Sciences and Health Staff Profiles
- Dr William Guéraiche
Before coming to the UAE in 2004, Dr William Guéraiche taught History (History of Colonisation) for three years at the Sorbonne-Paris I and Geopolitics at the University of Marne la Vallée. At the American University in Dubai and the American University in the Emirates, his teaching extended over many areas in International Relations, such as Global Governance, Nation-branding, Conflicts, Conflict resolution, International politics and Diplomacy in the Middle East and Asia.
At UOWD, his focus is the UAE Foreign Policy and International Cooperation as well as the non-traditional Security topics (Migrations, Demographics, Covid 19 crisis, etc.).
- Habilitation in Geopolitics, Sorbonne University-Paris IV.
- PhD in History, University of Toulouse;
- Master in Sociology and the Anthropology of Politics, University of Paris;
- Master in History, University of Toulouse
Last five years
Journal Articles
- ‘Between Foreign Policy and Development Assistance: The UAE International Cooperation in Africa’ Forum for Development Studies, 49:2, 2022, pp. 211-232.
- (Diplomacy of Influence and Culture in the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs) « Diplomatie d’influence et culture au Quai d’Orsay », Les Enjeux de l’Information et de la Communication, n°22/3A, 2021, p.41 à 51.
- ‘Emirati Diplomacy: A Non-Western Perspective’, Political Sciences / Politické Vedy. 2019/22(2), pp. 98-114.
- ‘Is cultural diplomacy an exercise in rhetoric? The example of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, a universal museum’, Hermes. La Revue. 2018(2), pp. 183-191.
- ‘Industrial Development Strategies in the United Arab Emirates’, Entreprises et histoire 2018/1 (n° 90), p. 106-113.
- ‘The UAE-Tunisia diplomatic relations: a subtle balance between economy and security?’ International Journal of Diplomacy and Economics, 2018, Vol. 3-4, pp 316-329.
Book (ed)
- Different Facets of Security in the UAE, Routledge, 2022.
Book chapters
- "The UAE’s Innovative Diplomacy: How the Abraham Accords Changed (or Did Not Change) Emirati Foreign Policy" in The Palgrave Handbook of Diplomatic Reform and Innovation. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2023, pp. 543-557.
- "Digital Best-Bid: Internet Voting for the French Abroad?" Participatory and Digital Democracy at the Local Level: European Discourses and Practices. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2023, pp. 227-238.
- ‘The UAE, At the Crossroads of Traditional and Non-traditional Security’ in Different Facets of Security in the UAE, Routledge, 2022, pp. 1-8;
- ‘Cyberspace, Threat Agents and Power’, idem pp. 76-87;
- ‘Demographics and Community Security’, idem pp. 248-248;
- ‘The securitization of the Covid 19 crisis in the UAE’ idem pp. 271-285;
- ‘Security, Peace and Tolerance in a post-modern yet traditional state’ idem pp. 286-294-
- ‘International Cooperation, the UAE Soft Power?’ in Gura Radovan, Rouet Gilles (eds.) Pratiques Du Soft Power, L’Harmattan, 2019, pp. 87-107.
- ‘The UAE and the Arab Spring. Changing Foreign Policy?’ in Cenap Çakmak and Ali Onur Özçelik (eds.) Foreign Policy Analysis of the Arab Spring: How the International Community Responded to the Popular Uprisings in the Middle East? Palgrave-McMillan, 2018, pp. 395-416.
Other articles
- The ‘day after’, an Opportunity or the Prospect of a Failed Opportunity?’, (in Arabic), Trends of Events, Summer-Fall 2020, pp. 35-36.
Online articles
- French Restrainism in the Middle East, November 21, FARAS Website.
Future Center - French Restrainism in the Middle East (futureuae.com) - ‘Anti-terror Law in France: What is at Stake’, January 2018, FARAS website.
https://futureuae.com/en-US/Mainpage/Item/3593 - ‘New Order in the Philippines, no Recourse, Elimination’, French Network for Asian Studies, January 2018.
http://www.gis-reseau-asie.org/monthly-articles/new-order-in-the-philippines-no-recourse-but-elimination-gueraiche-william - ‘New Actors, old Tricks. Implications of the French Presidential Elections’, May 2017, FARAS website.
https://futureuae.com/en-US/Mainpage/Item/2764/new-actors-old-tricks-implications-of-the-french-presidential-elections
Conference papers
- “Virus & Borders”, Memory(ies) of Virus (Mémoire(s) des virus), Université Paris Cité (France) Nov. 16-17, 2022.
- “Rethinking the assessment of the French Policy of Influence”, From International Outreach to Influence, History of French Cultural diplomacy 19th-20th centuries, Paris-Sorbonne (France) May 4-6, 2022.
- “Internet voting for the French Abroad”, Participatory Democracy and Digital at Local Level: European Discourses and Practices, Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelynes (France), Jan. 27-28, 2022
- ‘The UAE International Cooperation in Africa’, Asia and Africa in Transition, Copenhagen (Denmark), June 28-30, 2021.
- ‘The UAE, the Good Practice policy’, The Government of Experts during the Covid 19 crisis, (Belgium-France-Sweden), November 16, 2020.
- ‘Challenging the Western Hegemony: Changing the Paradigm of Diplomacy in the Gulf States’, The End of Western Hegemony?, Jyväskylä (Finland), June 5-7, 2019.
- ‘Traditional Patronages and Proxy Wars in the Middle East’, Strategic Dimensions of Peace & Conflicts in South Asia and the Middle East, Islamabad (Pakistan), February 5, 2019.
- ‘Meddling and Influence in the Middle East Peace Processes’, Soft Power, Ethics and Interests, Banska Bystrica (Slovakia), November 8-9, 2018.
Dr William Guéraiche research examines the UAE's foreign policy, diplomacy and international cooperation with a focus on geopolitics, environmental politics and cultural diplomacy. His book, The UAE. Geopolitics, Tradition and Modernity, is a comprehensive examination of the relations that the UAE maintains with the world. In his last edited volume, Different Facets of Security in the United Arab Emirates, Routledge, 2022, he wrote on non-traditional security issues (Demographics, securitization, cybersecurity, etc.). With the COP28 coming to Dubai, he is currently working on Global environmental Politics (GEP) and Global Environmental Governance (DEG) in the UAE.
Master of International Relations (MIR)
Core classes
MIR 903, International Security
This class on International Security examines the national and transnational issues that disrupt, or can disrupt, stability in particular geographic areas. Skills: Public speaking, Writing a brief.
MIR 906, Development Studies
This course introduces students to problems of inequality in wealth (production and share) from a global, comparative perspective.
Skills: Writing on the social media, project management.
Elective classes
MIR 908, International Environmental Politics
International Environmental Politics is an invitation to examine environmental issues, such as climate change, sustainable development, the geopolitics of raw materials, and the international trade of waste, from a global perspective.
Skills: Project management, Networking
MIR 913, Peace, Conflict, Conflict Resolution
This class aims to equip participants with the key concepts and theories in Conflict and Conflict resolution.
Skills: Emotional intelligence, body language, crisis communication.
MIR 914, Current Dilemmas in International Relations: Geopolitics of the Extended Middle East
The Summer class focused on the Geopolitics of the Covid 19 crisis (+ Refugees and Labour Migrations).
Skills: Writing on the social media, writing a brief
MIR 965, Geopolitics of the Gulf region
This class is a geopolitical analysis of the Gulf region, spanning the area from North Africa to the Indian Ocean and encompassing the Northern neighbouring states of the Gulf and with the UAE at its centre.
Skills: Geopolitics methodology (maps, demographics, etc.)

Open Day
Remember to attend our next Open Day on Saturday, 9 December 2023.
Join our experts to learn more about our degrees and how you can enrol in our
Winter intake which starts on 2 January 2024.