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Associate Professor In Politics and Islam in the School of Government and International Affairs+44 (0) 191 33 45672
Member of the Institute for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies 

Biography

I am Associate Professor in Politics and Islam at the School of Government and International Affairs at Durham, where I research and teach the comparative politics of the Middle East. I work on democratization, especially political parties and civil society activism. I am writing a book on Islamist political parties in Tunisia, Morocco, and Jordan which explains party dynamics and competition under authoritarian regimes.

My work has been supported by several grants, including a Leverhulme Research Fellowship for 2024-25, a British Academy/Leverhulme Trust Small Research Grant, and a POMEPS Travel Research Engagement Grant. Recent work has appeared in Democratization, Social Movement Studies, Party Politics, Politics and Religion, the Middle East Journal, and the British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies.

I wrote Inside Tunisia's al-Nahda: Between Politics and Preaching (Cambridge University Press, 2018), which was chosen as a Foreign Affairs best book of the year, and Nobody Told Us We Are Defeated: Stories from the New Iraq (Chatto & Windus, 2006). I co-edited Civil Resistance in the Arab Spring: Triumphs and Disasters (Oxford University Press, 2016).

Before coming to Durham I was a Fellow by Examination in Oriental Studies at Magdalen College, Oxford. Previously, I spent a decade as a foreign correspondent with the Guardian, with postings in Islamabad, Baghdad, Beirut, and Jerusalem. I have a BA in History from Cambridge and an MPhil in Modern Middle Eastern Studies and a DPhil in Oriental Studies from Oxford. I am a Fellow of the HEA.

Research Grants:

2024-25: Leverhulme Research Fellowship, 'Examining the Islamist Legitimacy Crisis' (£64,876)

2022-24: BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grant, 'Islamist Dilemmas: Investigating Dynamics of Islamist Party Change in North Africa' (£9,850)

2021-22: POMEPS Travel, Research and Engagement Grant, 'Islamist Party Change: Strategies after Electoral Setbacks' ($3,000)

2020-24: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Savoir Grant, 'Loyalties of the Faithful: Attitudes and Values of Islamist Party Members' (PI Prof. Francesco Cavatorta, CA$163,741)

2017-18: APSA Small Research Grant, 'Tunisia and the Politics of Protest' ($1,250)

Research interests

  • Islamism
  • Comparative Politics of the Middle East
  • Contentious Politics

Publications

Authored book

Book review

Chapter in book

Edited book

Journal Article

Other (Print)

Supervision students