Crispin Hawes
Director
Crispin Hawes is the head of Eurasia Group's Middle East and North Africa practice. His central focus is the politics of the Persian Gulf, particularly Iraq and Saudi Arabia, as well as hydrocarbons and Islamist politics across the region. In over 20 years of providing political analysis on the Middle East and North Africa, Crispin has worked with clients across sectors on a wide range of topics. In addition to Gulf politics, he has conducted in-country research on issues ranging from post-civil war Shia politics in southern Lebanon to pipeline risks in eastern Iran, the growth of support for Hamas in the West Bank, gas policy in Libya and energy investment in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq.
In addition to a previous three-year stint as the leader of Eurasia Group's Middle East and Africa practice group, Crispin worked as a Middle East analyst at Control Risks Group and was a senior economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). Most recently, he was a partner and head of Middle East and North Africa research at Horizon, a boutique consultancy specializing in advisory services to the oil and gas industry. Crispin also worked as an economist and equities analyst at Credit Lyonnais Securities Asia covering the EMEA region from London and Istanbul. A double graduate of the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, Crispin has a bachelor's degree in Arabic and Swahili and a master's degree in Middle East studies, focusing on Islamist politics, Islamic law and Middle Eastern economic development.