School of Social and Political Science

Background

Prior to joining the University of Edinburgh, I was a Marie Sklodowska-Curie fellow at the Department of Conflict and Development Studies, Ghent University (2016-2018). I received my PhD from the New School for Social Research, and was a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University and a visiting fellow and research associate at The European University Institute. I taught at New York University, the University of Toronto and the New School for Continuing Education. I also worked as a consultant with a number of NGOs including the Committee to Protect Journalists and the International Center for Transitional Justice. I was the recipient of a number of honors and awards including fellowships from the United States Institute of Peace, The Mellon Research Fellowship in Security and Humanitarian Action and a number of New School awards and fellowships, including the Frieda Wunderlich Memorial Award for an outstanding dissertation.

Current Roles

Director of Postgraduate Taught Programmes at the School of Social and Political Science

Select Publications

• State Matters: Theorising State Fragmentation and Consolidation from Iraq (Cambridge University Press, 2026).
  • 20% discount code: ALAHMAD26.
• Deexceptionalizing not Reinventing: Genocide, Palestine, and Zionism. Journal of Genocide Research, published online: 23 July 2026.
• Matters of State, and Why does the State Matter? Fifteen Eighty Four, the blog of Cambridge University Press (31 Mar 2026).
• America Broke Up Iraq Into Sectarian Pieces. Review of Ghaith Abdul-Ahad's A Stranger in Your Own City. Catalyst Review (31Jul 2023). Also appeared in the JACOBIN (23 Dec 2023)
• State, Oil, and War in the Formation of Iraq. Book chapter in Joel Beinin, Bassam Haddad, and Sherene Seikaly [eds.] A Critical Political Economy of the Middle East and North Africa. Stanford University Press (2020)
• The Iraqi State: methodological and theoretical considerations. Middle East Centre Blog, LSE. 14 Nov (2019)
• Illuminating a State: Statebuilding and Electricity in Occupied Iraq. Humanity Journal 8 (2) (2017)
• A Perspective from the Middle East: Governance and the problem of knowledge. Book chapter in Anna Triandafyllidou [ed.] Global Governance from Regional Perspectives: A Critical View. Oxford University Press (2017).
• Rewiring a State: The techno-politics of CPA’s Iraq. Middle East Report 266, Spring (2013).
• A War of Multiple Fronts. Co-authored with Arang Keshavarzian. Middle East Report 257 (2010).
• The Politics of Oil and State Survival in Iraq (1991-2003). Constellations: An International Journal of Critical and Democratic Theory 14:4 (2007).

Recent Interviews and Conversations

• Book discussion with Adam Shatz. The Rebel's Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon. Listen here. (March 2024)
• Interview in Atalayar on the politics of oil [in Spanish]. (Nov 2021)
• My interviews on State, Oil, and War in the Formation of Iraq. Book chapter in Joel Beinin, Bassam Haddad, and Sherene Seikaly [eds.] A Critical Political Economy of the Middle East and North Africa. Stanford University Press (2020)
  • See my interview about this chapter in Jadaliyya.
  • نص المقابلة باللغة العربية عن هذا الفصل في موقع جدلية

PhD Supervision

Before sending a request for supervision, kindly read the application requirements for PhD at PIR (these are the requirements for applying to a Politics PhD). Your request should be specific on how you think my expertise is connected to your project (listing keywords from staff profile is not sufficient), a copy of research proposal that fits the specified criteria for PIR applications, a copy of your C.V., and a copy of your latest transcript. 

PhDs Supervised and Completed

• Jaida Keaveney, Intricate Affiliations: Iraq and its Militias. First supervisor. Viva passed in September 2025.
• Pietro Stefanini, Settler Colonial Humanitarianism: A Genealogy of Settler Subject in Palestine/ Israel. Second supervisor. Second supervisor. Viva passed in October 2024

Current PhD Students

• Jawaher Al-Shamari, Climate Adaptation in Qatar: Political Economy, Gender, and Justice in Inclusive Climate Policy. First supervisor.
• Grace King, Service Failures as State-Making in Contemporary Iraq. First supervisor.