I completed my PhD in International Relations at the University of St Andrews in 2017. Building on this research, I published my first monograph in 2019, State and Tribes in Syria: Informal Alliances and Conflict Patterns. The book offers a multidisciplinary historical–sociological analysis of state–tribe relations from the end of the Ottoman era to the Syrian civil war, challenging classical IR theories that privilege formal institutions over informal authority. By examining the interaction between authoritarianism, Islamism, tribalism, and the cross-border ties that link Syrian tribes to Iraq, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, the study provides new insights into the formation of legitimacy, mobilisation, and conflict in the Middle East. Previously, I taught politics and international relations at the universities of St Andrews, Leicester, and Edinburgh, and held research positions at the Central European University in Austria and Roskilde University in Denmark. 

I teach across political theory and International Relations, covering core concepts in global politics, debates about power and order, and the study of major global threats and security challenges. My teaching introduces students to foundational theories of IR, contemporary discussions of diplomacy, peacekeeping and conflict management, and the role of international organisations, states and non‑state actors in responding to crises. I also teach on activism and politics beyond formal state institutions, examining how social movements, networks and everyday practices shape global governance, and I supervise undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations in these areas.

Haian Dukhan is a political scientist of the contemporary Middle East whose research bridges International Relations, nationalism and identity studies, and interpretive approaches to conflict. His work centres on how war, authoritarian rule, and external intervention remake patterns of belonging, authority, and violence in Syria, Iraq, and the wider region. He is especially interested in how tribal, sectarian, and minority communities negotiate state power, armed actors, and shifting regional orders.

Across his books and articles, Dukhan traces how kinship, tribal affiliations, and communal identities are reconfigured in the crucible of civil war. He examines how tribal and local networks are drawn into military mobilisation, how they forge alliances with regimes and militias, and how these relationships reshape state institutions and political economy. His research shows that tribes and communal actors are neither simple clients of the state nor timeless relics, but dynamic political actors whose strategies are conditioned by material incentives, historical memories, and regional rivalries.

A growing strand of his work explores how sectarianism and fear are produced, manipulated, and resisted in the Syrian conflict. He analyses how regimes and external powers mobilise sectarian narratives, and how communities—such as Christians in al-Hasakah and tribal populations in Deir Ezzor—respond to these pressures through strategies of accommodation, distancing, or contestation. Drawing on historical sociology and instrumentalist approaches, he situates contemporary sectarian dynamics within longer trajectories of state-building, marginalisation, and conflict in the Levant.

Dukhan’s recent and ongoing projects focus on protest, memory, and mobilisation under authoritarianism. His work on the Druze community and the 2023 protest movement in Sweida examines how ethno-symbolic repertoires, martyrdom, and local grievances can generate collective action even in highly repressive environments. He connects these struggles to broader debates about the demise of authoritarian survival strategies in Syria, the fragmentation of state authority, and the emergence of new forms of dissent at the intersection of local, national, and regional politics.

More broadly, his scholarship seeks to provincialise conventional IR perspectives on the Middle East by foregrounding sub-state actors, everyday identities, and the social foundations of power. By following the trajectories of tribes, minorities, and protest movements, he illuminates how domestic conflicts and local bargains are entangled with foreign policy, intervention doctrines such as the Responsibility to Protect, and the reordering of regional security. His work thus offers a grounded account of how identities and informal structures shape, and are reshaped by, the making and unmaking of states in the Middle East.

Identity and Dissent: Exploring the Factors Behind the Druze Community’s Political Shift in Syria', funded by a grant from The British Academy/Leverhulme, investigates the significant political shift within the Druze community of Sweida, Syria leading to their 2023 uprising before the fall of the Syrian regime. The research examines the internal and external factors driving this change, focusing on identity, governance, and security dynamics. The project aims to provide insights into minority group responses during conflicts, contributing to a deeper understanding of socio-political shifts in the Middle East.

Striking from the Margins: From Disintegration to Reconstitution of State and Religion in the Middle East (Central European University): The Carnegie-funded research project seeks to consider conditions arising in the unsteady and seemingly deadlocked condition of military and political stalemate that has emerged in the Arab East, specifically Syria and Iraq. As part of this project, I am working on my individual research project titled “State Devolution in Syria and Iraq: Tribal Auxiliaries in the Margins”. I am also co-editing a book titled “Reconstitution of Power and Authority in the Arab Mashriq:  Questioning Post-Conflict Scenarios” with Professor Aziz al-Azmeh and Dr Harout Akdedian.

I am open to supervising PhD students, particularly those interested in Middle East Politics and Conflict Studies.