2024MA DISSERTATION
Deconstructing the Role of Afghanistan in Regional Security Complex Theory
Challenges Afghanistan’s classification as an insulator and examines it as a driver of regional security dynamics.
Rethinking Afghanistan’s regional role.
I study how Afghanistan shapes the security of the regions around it: not only as a buffer, but as a driver.
A question that connects my work.
Regional Security Complex Theory offers a way to understand the security relationships that connect neighbouring states. In it, Afghanistan is classed as an insulator: a state on the edge of several complexes that keeps their dynamics apart.
My research asks what changes when Afghanistan is understood instead as an active force in those relationships. From Russia–Afghanistan relations to the wider regional effects of the Global War on Terror, I am building an agenda around the connections between South Asia, Central Asia and their neighbours.
Fig. 2 · Two readings of the same board
Reading A · Insulator
Reading B · Instigator
J1 · Outputs
Three projects on one trace.
2020CONFERENCE PAPER
Afghanistan, Turkey & the Global War on Terror
Research on the Global War on Terror and the roles of Afghanistan and Turkey in regional security.
PRESENTEDRead overview →
2018MPHIL THESIS
Russia–Afghanistan relations and regional stability
Examines Russia–Afghanistan relations and their implications for regional stability: the foundation of my continuing work.
Future directions · doctoral research
Where the questions lead next.
- From insulator to instigator
- Asking whether Afghanistan has moved from an insulator to an “instigator”: a state whose security governance failure generates, amplifies and exports non-traditional security threats, such as terrorism, narcotics and refugee movements, into the neighbouring regional security complexes.
- A nascent security complex?
- Asking whether shared threats from Afghanistan are drawing Pakistan, Iran, China, Russia and the Central Asian republics into a nascent regional security complex, whether it could mature into a full one, and what might stand in the way.
- Great powers and inter-regional cooperation
- Examining whether China and Russia act as socialising agents, and whether cooperation through the SCO’s Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure, the Moscow Format, the QCCM and the CSTO indicates a new security complex.
- Beyond Afghanistan
- Testing whether the same criteria distinguish Afghanistan from other insulator states, such as Turkey and Myanmar, and under what circumstances an insulator crosses that threshold.
Regional Security Complex TheorySecuritization theoryAfghanistan and its neighbourhoodNon-traditional security threatsTransnational terrorism, narcotics and refugee movementsSecurity governance and state fragilityRegional security cooperation (SCO, Moscow Format, CSTO)China and Russia in Central and South Asia
J2 · Emerging interests
Research-informed, inclusive education.
I am also interested in the relationship between research and practice in specialist social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) education, building on my experience in the classroom.
Explore my teaching practiceJ3 · Talks
Istanbul International Social Science ConferencePaper presentation · Afghanistan, Turkey and regional security
“Her written work demonstrated excellent analytical and critical thinking skills, and she showed a clear ability to engage deeply with academic literature to formulate sophisticated, evidence-based arguments.”
Working on regional security?
I welcome conversations about doctoral research, collaboration and speaking.