Alasdair Drysdale (born 1950) is professor emeritus of

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...

and formerly associate

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

of the College of Liberal Arts at the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College, mo ...

Education

Drysdale was educated at

Strathallan School Strathallan School is an independent boarding and day school in Scotland for boys and girls aged 7–18. The school has a campus at Forgandenny, a few miles south of Perth. School roll The school has 73 full-time staff, and 18 part-time staff ...

near

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, Scotland. He studied at

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

gaining a BA (Hons) in modern middle eastern studies (geography and Arabic) in 1971 and an MA in geography in 1972. In 1977 he was awarded a PhD in geography from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

Research

Drysdale's expertise encompasses

human geography Human geography or anthropogeography is the branch of geography that studies spatial relationships between human communities, cultures, economies, and their interactions with the environment. It analyzes spatial interdependencies between social i ...

political geography Political geography is concerned with the study of both the spatially uneven outcomes of political processes and the ways in which political processes are themselves affected by spatial structures. Conventionally, for the purposes of analysis, po ...

, and population and development in the

non-western The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.

world, specifically,

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

and the Middle East. His early research focused on Syria and its internal complexities as well as its external relationships with its neighbours in the Middle East and countries further afield. More recently, his research has centred on the rapid ageing of the population in the Middle East, and responses to that growth in

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

and

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

. In 1990 he gave a prepared statement on Syria to the United States House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe and the Middle East regarding ''The Middle East in the 1990s''. Drysdale serves on the editorial board of ''The Northeastern Geographer'' (2007–) and the ''Arab World Geographer'' (1998–), for whom he was also the North American book review editor (1998–2007). He also served on the international advisory board of the journal ''Geopolitics'' (1996–2007).

Publications

Drysdale has authored books, book chapters and articles. He has provided country profiles for inclusion in various encyclopaedias, yearbooks and atlases. Entries include: Syria and Libya in the '' Colliers Yearbook'' from 1980 to 1997, ''

Compton's Encyclopedia ''Compton's Encyclopedia and Fact-Index'' is a home and school encyclopedia first published in 1922 as ''Compton's Pictured Encyclopedia''. The word "Pictured" was removed from the title with the 1968 edition.Encyclopædia Britannica, 1988. The en ...

'', ''Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Middle East'', '' Oxford Companion to Politics of the World'', ''

Funk & Wagnalls Funk & Wagnalls was an American publisher known for its reference works, including ''A Standard Dictionary of the English Language'' (1st ed. 1893–5), and the ''Funk & Wagnalls Standard Encyclopedia'' (25 volumes, 1st ed. 1912).Funk & Wagnalls N ...

New Encyclopedia'' and ''Earth: The Comprehensive Atlas''.

Books

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Book chapters

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References

External links

Alasdair Drysdale - Statement to United States House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee 17 July 1990
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drysdale, Alasdair 1950 births Living people People educated at Strathallan School Alumni of St Cuthbert's Society, Durham Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies alumni University of New Hampshire faculty Scottish geographers Scottish expatriates in the United States