Dr Samir Puri on Fighting and Negotiating with Armed Groups
Channel: War Studies KCL
Date: 08/06/2018

I am a Lecturer in the Department of War Studies. I hold a BA in History and Politics from Warwick University, an MA (distinction) in War Studies from King’s College London, and a PhD from Cambridge University. My doctoral dissertation examined different strategies for dealing with armed groups in Pakistan and Turkey.

My book, Fighting and Negotiating with Armed Groups, has been published by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) as part of its Adelphi series. My first book, Pakistan’s War on Terrorism, was published by Routledge. Publications from my tenure as a Defence Analyst at RAND (2006-09) are available online here.

Following RAND, I spent six years working for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (2009-15). My assignments included counter-terrorism strategy and policy support to several peace processes. In 2014-15 I was seconded to the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in eastern Ukraine, where I reported on ceasefire violations and weapons withdrawals in line with the Minsk process. In 2016 I authored a report on Ukraine’s human security challenges.

At King’s, in the 2016-17 academic year, I have been responsible for teaching the MA module in ‘Terrorism and Counter-terrorism’.

In 2017 I also served as an academic advisor to the Commonwealth Secretariat, helping author its strategy for countering violent extremism.

And, since joining King’s, I have provided analysis for the media on counter-terrorism and foreign policy matters for Sky News, BBC, Al Jazeera, The Telegraph and The Guardian.