Dr Shiraz Maher is a Reader in Non-State Actors at the Centre for Statecraft and National Security (CSNS), based within the Department of War Studies at King’s College London. He previously taught at Johns Hopkins University and Washington College, and is a member of the Royal Historical Society.
Maher is a historian by training and is primarily interested in the development of Islamic political thought, particularly the use of theology by reactionary and militant movements. He also works on the Syrian Civil War, the internationalisation of the conflict, and post-revolutionary reconstruction. More recently, he has been looking at how non-state actors provide alternative administration in newly ungoverned spaces across the Middle East and North Africa, and is also interested in Saudi Arabia and its plans for reform under Vision 2030.
His book, Salafi-Jihadism: The History of an Idea (Oxford University Press; Hurst & Co; Penguin) has been widely acknowledged as a ground-breaking exploration of the political philosophy behind contemporary jihadist movements. It has been described as “a masterclass in how to do intellectual history” by Tom Holland, a “must-read work” by the Economist, and was picked as a book of the year by Foreign Affairs magazine for 2017. The Guardian also listed it among its “best books to understand modern terrorism,” in 2019.
The Rule is for None but Allah
A wide-ranging examination of Islamist rule across the world, from constitutional movements like Tunisia’s Ennahda to the violent rejectionism of…
Conflict Trauma and Violence: How Can We Promote Peace?
By Ted Barker, Shiraz Maher & Craig Larkin The past two decades have seen a slew of programmatic efforts aimed…
Salafi–Jihadism: The History of an Idea
No topic has captured the public imagination of late quite so dramatically as the spectre of global jihadism. While much…