James Howarth is co-director of the middle east and north Africa division of the political risk consultancy Exclusive Analysis . He has worked as an advisor and as a translator, including of Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden (Verso, 2005). He appears frequently appear in the broadcast media as a regional analyst.

Recent articles

A transformation in energy policy will reshape the middle east's profile as a region defined by oil, says James Howarth.

A deliberate ambiguity between the spiritual and the political fuels the symbolic power of the elusive Islamist network, says James Howarth, the translator of Osama bin Laden's "messages to the world".

The Jordan hotel bombs are a warped success for jihadism. But the path from Sayyid Qutb via Osama bin Laden to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is one of irrevocable decline for the Islamist movement, argues James Howarth.

The Amman hotel bombs have ripped through peaceful Jordan. They represent a dangerous and potent fusion of domestic dissent, revulsion at American influence, Iraqi-influenced insurgent violence and global jihadism, writes James Howarth in Amman.