Danyel Reiche
Dr. Danyel Reiche is a Visiting Research Fellow at the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) and a Visiting Associate Professor at Georgetown University Qatar.
He is among the top 2% of most-cited researchers in the world, according to the 2023 Stanford University study. At CIRS, Dr. Reiche leads the research project America’s Game in the Middle East: the 2027 Qatar World Cup. He also lead a research initiative on the FIFA World Cup 2022. With Paul Brannagan, he published the book Qatar and the 2022 FIFA World Cup: Politics, Controversy, Change (Palgrave Macmillan 2022) and edited the volume Handbook of Sport in the Middle East (Routledge 2022).
Dr. Danyel Reiche graduated with distinction from Leibniz University in Hannover, Germany. He first joined the Georgetown community in 2006 as a Visiting Assistant Professor in Washington D.C. until 2007. He later joined Georgetown University Qatar in 2020. Dr. Reiche was a tenured Associate Professor for Comparative Politics at the American University of Beirut (AUB) in Lebanon from 2008 to 2020.
Dr. Reiche's research primarily focuses on two areas: energy and sports - with the latter his recent priority. He is interested in how resource-rich countries allocate their hydrocarbon revenues and the intersection of sport with politics, society, and international relations. He has written extensively on topics such as policies for the promotion of renewable energies and the more efficient use of fossil fuels, sports governance, the politics of hosting international sporting events, and issues around nationality and sport, particularly in the Middle East, amongst other related topics.
In 2016, Professor Reiche published Success and Failure of Countries at the Olympic Games with Routledge, wherein his proposed model for explaining sporting success garnered positive reviews in academic journals and extensive media coverage. For instance, CNN host Fareed Zakaria referenced the book in his weekly Washington Post column. You can listen to an interview with Professor Reiche about his book on the New Books Network. Additionally, he co-edited a volume with Tamir Sorek (University of Florida) titled Sport, Politics and Society in the Middle East, which was published in 2019 with Hurst/Oxford University Press. You can also find an interview with the authors about their book on the New Books Network.
His peer-reviewed articles have been published both in area study journals such as the International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics and the Journal of Energy Policy, as well as broader-oriented publications such as Identities, Third World Quarterly, and The Middle East Journal. Furthermore, Dr. Reiche has played a pivotal role as the co-founder of the Sports Scholars in Lebanon Network (LESSN) and as the chair of the British Political Studies Association’s Sport and Politics Study Group.
Dr. Reiche has been invited to give lectures at universities worldwide including Harvard University, Princeton University, and the University of Cambridge. To become more familiar with his work, you may watch the Sky News documentary “Power Game: The Story of Qatar 2022” as well as his interviews on various platforms, including the afikra podcast, the TRT World research center, Ekotürk TV, and the CIRS podcast. Dr. Reiche has also been frequently quoted by major media outlets including ESPN, Financial Times, The Economist, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Additionally, he has been interviewed on numerous podcasts and radio stations and made appearances on TV programs like Al Jazeera's Inside Story, CNN, and Sky. Dr. Reiche has also written op-eds for newspapers including The Washington Post.