Annelle Sheline is an expert on religious and political authority in the Middle East and North Africa. She is completing a book manuscript on the strategic use of religious authority in the Arab monarchies since 9/11, focusing on the cases of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Morocco, and Oman. Annelle has received fellowships from the US government including a Boren Fellowship and a Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowship, as well as fellowships from the Project on Middle East Political Science, the Loeb Institute for Religious Freedom, and the Boniuk Institute for Religious Tolerance. She is a non-resident fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

Prior to beginning her PhD, Sheline worked as a journalist in Egypt and Yemen. In addition to academic writing, she has written for Foreign Affairs, The Washington Post, The Nation, Foreign Policy, The New Republic, Politico, and The Hill, and appeared on the BBC, Al Jazeera, and DW News. Her analysis has been published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, The Brookings Institution, The Arab Gulf States Institute of Washington, Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, and Rice University’s Baker Institute. Annelle received her doctorate from George Washington University’s department of political science and her bachelor’s degree from NYU’s Gallatin School. She has done field research in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Qatar, the U.A.E., Jordan, Morocco, and Egypt, and has advanced proficiency in Arabic, French, and Spanish.