Lob’s Dissertation Wins Award

Aug. 27, 2014

Eric Lob (Ph.D. 2013) was awarded an Honorable Mention by the International Society for Iranian Studies in the Mehrdad Mashayekhi Dissertation Award competition. Lob’s doctoral dissertation, “An Institutional History of the Iranian Construction Jihad” (2013), was supervised by Mirjam Künkler and is based on an impressive diversity of original primary data that is very difficult to obtain. The first organizational history of the rural development organization Jehad-e Sazandegi, the dissertation situates this organizational history in the overall political development of the Islamic Republic of Iran and thereby helps explain the regime’s longevity more generally and public as well as foreign policy preferences regarding development more specifically. “The Mehrdad Mashayekhi Dissertation Award is presented biannually to the author of an exceptional Ph.D. dissertation dealing with the broad themes of politics and the public sphere in Iran, written in any language. This award is established by the Mehrdad Mashayekhi Foundation in memory of his dedication to the cause of democracy and social justice in Iran.” Lob is currently an assistant professor in Middle East comparative politics, Department of Politics and International Relations, Florida International University.