Dr Samah Rafiq joined the Department of War Studies as a Lecturer in International Relations in 2023. She also serves as the Co-Lead of the Borders and Migration Research Group in the Department.

Previously, she was a Senior Teaching Fellow at SOAS University of London, and a Fox International Fellow at Yale University. She received her PhD in International Politics from Jawaharlal Nehru University in 2023.

Research interests

Samah’s research explores how international security is shaped by global capital, emerging technologies, and international hierarchies. Taking a critical security studies approach, her current project, supported by the British Academy and the British International Studies Association, explores how state-private nexus operates in the context of border security and international migration.

Her previous work, supported by the Fox International Fellowship at Yale University, explored how postcolonial legacies shape bordering practices and identity construction, and in turn perpetuate regional conflict, in South Asia. She is currently working on a monograph that studies the epistemic power of private capital in shaping border security narratives and practices. She is keen to collaborate on research with colleagues working on similar themes.

Teaching

Samah is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She is experienced in teaching International Relations and International Security modules at PGT and UG levels. At King’s, since her appointment, she has contributed to the teaching of the following modules:

• 7SSWN079 Theories, Concepts and Methods in International Relations (PGT, core IR)
• 7SSWN086 Dirty Wars: Covert Wars, Political Warfare, and National Security (PGT, elective)
• 7SSWN080 The Global Governance of Conflict and Security (PGT, elective)
• 7SSWN221 International Relations and Contemporary Warfare 1: Theories and Concepts (PGT, online)
• 7SSWN225 Conflicts, Rights and Justice (PGT, online)
• 6SSW0007 Critical Security Studies (UG, elective)
• 6SSW2041 Conflict and Security in the Middle East and North Africa (UG, elective)
• 5SSW2060 Global Politics (UG, core IR)
• 4SSW1006 International Relations Theory (UG, core IR)
• 4SSW1004 Contemporary Security Issues (UG, core IR)

Publications

• Rafiq, Samah. 2022. Linear Borders, Partition, and Identity in Postcolonial South Asia. Geopolitics. 27 (2): 478-500.
• Rafiq, Samah. Studying state-private hybrid regimes of security governance through a focus on border security. British International Studies Association. Published online, 8 August 2025.
• Rafiq, Samah. The colonial roots of linear borders in South Asia. Security in Context. Published online, 6 August 2023.
• Rafiq, Samah. South Asia needs a climate migration policy framework. The Wire. Published online, 10 August 2023.
• Rafiq, Samah. 2020. Open borders: scapegoat in COVID-19 response. Yale Global. Published online, 9 April 2020.
• Rafiq, Samah. 2018. Crossing international borders: how mobile is the South Asian individual? NewsClick, published online, 23 March 2018.
• Rafiq, Samah. 2016. Networks of rebellion: explaining insurgent cohesion and collapse. Civil Wars. 18(4):538-541.