Career
Shlaim taught International Relations at Reading University, specializing in European issues. His academic interest in the history of Israel began in 1982, when Israeli government archives about the 1948 Arab-Israeli War were opened, an interest that deepened when he became a fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford in 1987. He was the Alastair Buchan Reader in International Relations at Oxford from 1987 to 1996, and the Director of Graduate Studies in that subject in 1993-1995 and 1998-2001. In 1995-97, he held a British Academy Research Readership in 1995-97, a Research Professorship in 2003-6. In 2006, he was elected Fellow of the British Academy.
Shlaim served as an outside examiner on the doctoral thesis of Ilan Pappe, another notable New Historian. Shlaim's approach to the study of history is informed by his belief that, "he job of the historian is to judge."
He is a regular contributor to The Guardian newspaper, and signed an open letter to that paper in January 2009 condemning Israel's military intervention in Gaza.
Read more about this topic: Avi Shlaim
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