Dr Amir Magdy Kamel joined the Defence Studies Department (DSD) in September 2013, he has also been a Fellow in the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies since September 2015, also at King's College London.

Amir’s research is focused on two areas. The first is concerned with political and economic issues across the Middle East and North Africa (and a focus on EU and US foreign policies towards the region). The second explores how various applications of emerging technologies impact states and policymaking.

Amir has held a number of visiting research, teaching, and administrative positions at Stanford University (2022-2025), the University of California, Berkeley (2025), University of San Francisco (2022-2024), the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (2021-22) and at Georgetown University (2017). Dr Kamel holds a PhD in Middle East and Mediterranean Studies (with a focus on IPE and Conflict Studies) from King's College London (2013), an MSc in International Relations (2009), and a BSc in Economics with Management Systems (2008).

Dr Kamel also has over fifteen years of experience providing advice to various international government agencies, working as an analyst for an international economic consultancy organisation and as a member of the steering committee for a nuclear policy focused NGO.

Research Interests

• Politics and Economics

• Foreign Policy

• Emerging Technology and International Affairs

Publications

Select Books:

• Amir M. Kamel, 2023, Floundering Stability: US Foreign Policy in Egypt (University of Michigan Press).

• Amir M. Kamel, 2015, The Political Economy of EU Ties with Iraq and Iran: An Assessment of the Trade-Peace Relationship (Palgrave Macmillan).

Select Book Chapters:

• Amir M. Kamel, ‘The Gaddafi Regime in Libya’, in Baturo, Anceschi, and Cavatorta (eds), Personalism and Personalist Regimes (Oxford University Press).

• Amir M. Kamel, 2020, ‘Libya: The Altered Resource Competition’, in El-Issawi and Cavatorta (eds), The Unfinished Arab Spring: Micro-Dynamics of Revolts between Change and Continuity (Chicago University Press).

• Amir M. Kamel, 2018, ‘Post-Qadhafi Libya: rejecting a political party system’, in Cavatorta and Storm (eds), Political Parties in the Arab World Continuity and Change (Edinburgh University Press).

Select Research Articles:

• Amir M. Kamel, 2022, ‘Libya and the Prisoner’s Dilemma’, Contemporary Arab Affairs 15:2, pp.25–51,

• Amir M. Kamel, 2016, ‘Trade and peace: the EU and Gaddafi's final decade’, International Affairs 92:3, pp.683–702.

Teaching

Teach courses on: International Political Economy, International Security, International Relations, American Foreign Policy, Defence Studies, Strategy, Research Methods, Governance, Command, Leadership & Management, Middle East and North Africa.

Doctoral supervision areas:

• Contemporary politics and economics of the Middle East and North Africa (chiefly: Iran, Iraq, Egypt, and Libya)

• US and EU foreign policy

• Theories of IPE, IR, and conflict studies

• Emerging technology and international affairs

 

Dr Amir Kamel PURE Profile