Welcome! I am a Postdoctoral Research Associate with the Baker Institute’s Edward P. Djerejian Center for the Middle East at Rice University, and a Nonresident Fellow with the Centre for African Conflict and Development located in the United Kingdom. I was previously a Minerva Peace and Security Scholar Fellow (2023–2024) at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP); a Diversity Fellow (2022–2023) at the American Political Science Association (APSA); and a Resident Graduate Fellow at the Prince Mohammed Bin Fahd Program of Strategic Research and Studies and the India Center at the University of Central Florida. I received my Ph.D. in Security Studies from the School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs at the University of Central Florida.
My research focuses on the politics of military coups, regime transitions, and authoritarian rule. Central to my work is my solo book project, Beyond the Barracks, which rethinks the study of coups by highlighting the pivotal role of civilians. Whereas traditional scholarship often treats coups as contests confined to the military, my research shows that civilian actors—both elite insiders and mass-based outsiders—actively shape how coups unfold and the political orders that emerge. Drawing on a global dataset of civilian involvement in coups from 1945–2025, alongside rich qualitative evidence from postcolonial Sudan, the project demonstrates how civilian coalitions influence the personalization of power, policy orientation, and the durability of post-coup regimes.
My other book project Nasser’s Shadow, co-authored with Jonathan Powell, examines the dynamics of coup contagion in the Middle East and beyond. Using the 1952 Egyptian Free Officers coup as a focal point, the project traces how coups generate evolving signals that can inspire imitation—or provoke preemptive defenses—across neighboring states. By combining historical reconstruction with comparative analysis, it illuminates how emulation, aborted conspiracies, and regime mitigation strategies shape the spread of coups, offering lessons for scholars, policymakers, and analysts interested in political diffusion and authoritarian resilience. Although my research is grounded primarily in the Middle East and Africa, it engages with—and generates insights relevant to—other regions, including Southeast Asia and Latin America
My work has been published in peer-reviewed journals including Armed Forces & Society, Africa Spectrum, International Studies Review, and Journal of Global Security Studies. I have also written for public-facing outlets such as Foreign Policy, The Washington Post, The Conversation, Just Security, the Modern War Institute, Small Wars Journal, The Loop, Political Violence at a Glance, The Cairo Review, and Tawazun: Index of Arab Civil-Military Relations, and my research has been cited in major outletsT worldwide, including Newsweek, The Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, NRK, Der Spiegel, Deutsche Welle, La Nacion, The Week, Daily Nation, Daily Monitor, Africa Defense Forum, Dabanga Sudan, and the United States Congressional Research Service. My work has been supported by the APSA, USIP, and the Department of Defense.
Service is central to my identity as a scholar. From 2022–2024, I served as Co-Chair of the APSA’s Committee on Graduate Student Status in the Discipline. I am also co-founder of Jam3a: a Virtual MENA Workspace for Grad Students & Early Career Scholars, and founder/coordinator of Memoirs of the Middle East & North Africa.
Salah Ben Hammou, Ph.D. 