Sadi Shanaah
PhD in Political Science (Aarhus University, 2019); MPhil in Contemporary European Studies (University of Cambridge, Pembroke College, 2008); BA in International and European Economic Studies (SUNY, New Paltz, 2006)
Profile
My general research focus is on conflict, security, and political violence. I am interested in what leads to conflict and how conflict can be mitigated and transformed into cooperation and peace. Most recently, I have been looking into conflict and cooperation in the area of Global Catastrophic and Existential Risks, such as climate change, AI, and nuclear war. As part of this research agenda, I have conducted studies on what I call Global Collapse Anticipation (the belief that our global civilisation might collapse in the near future) and its socio-political impacts.
Currently, I am a Research Fellow on the ERC/UKRI-funded project PEACERETURN, which focuses on the study of peaceful voluntary return and durable solutions to displacement (PI: Professor Neophytos LoizidesLink opens in a new window). I have developed a universal survey instrument about displacement and return intentions, which could be deployed across different conflict-induced displacement contexts.
From 2020-2024, I was a Research Fellow on the project "Neoliberal Terror: The Radicalisation of Social Policy in EuropeLink opens in a new window" (ERC Starting Grant, PI: Professor Charlotte Heath-KellyLink opens in a new window). In the framework of the project, I examined structural drivers of P/CVE policies (preventing and countering violent extremism) with the help of a P/CVE index that I developed for 38 countries. I also investigated the historical evolution of P/CVE policies and their diffusion. I proposed a theoretical framework for understanding their variation and contestation between and within countries. In 2025, I published a co-authored book with Charlotte Heath-Kelly The Politics of Preventing Violent ExtremismLink opens in a new window with Oxford University Press (freely accessible).
I am a member of the Warwick Apocalypse Working Group - an interdisciplinary research group at the University of Warwick that explores apocalyptic themes across different fields.
In my doctoral research, I examined factors that facilitate or hinder the engagement of British Muslims in countering Islamist extremism.
Before joining academia, I have held a number of positions in the public and NGO sectors in the Czech Republic. I was foreign affairs adviser to two cabinet ministers, head of the foreign affairs working group of the Czech Green Party, project coordinator and analyst in the think tank Glopolis, and regional project coordinator at the Heinrich Böll Foundation. I also founded and managed Insaan, an NGO focused on Czech-Arab cultural dialogue. In the UK, I was a member of the Academic-Practitioner Counter Extremism Network (APCEN) established by the Commission for Countering Extremism (UK) from 2020-2023.
Publications (Peer-Reviewed)
Shanaah, S. (forthcoming 2026). Soft Law: P/CVE programmes - the UK's Prevent programme, In S. MacDonald, J. Blackbourn and K. Vaughan (Eds.), Elgar Concise Encyclopedia of Terrorism Law. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Shanaah, S. (2025). Manufacturing informants: The emotion work of the Prevent Duty training. In A. Aliverti, H. Carvalho, and A. Chamberlen (Eds.), The embodied state: Emotions, state power and social marginalisation. Routledge.
Heath-Kelly, C. & Shanaah, S. (2025). The Politics of Preventing Violent Extremism: Liberal Democracy, Civil Society, Radicalisation and Vulnerability. Oxford University Press.
Shanaah, S., Fritsche, I. & Osmundsen, M. (2024). The Effect of Climate Change Threat on Public Attitudes towards Ethnic and Religious Minorities and Climate Refugees. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 1-30.
Shanaah, S. (2023). Explaining the variation and contestation of P/CVE policies around the world: A public policy approach. Critical Studies on Terrorism, 1-26.
Shanaah, S., Fritsche, I. & Osmundsen, M. (2023). Support for Pro-Climate and Ecofascist Extremism: Correlates and Intersections. Democracy and Security, 1-23.
Shanaah, S. (2023). When democracy is deemed vulnerable: Preventing far-right extremism by curbing Roma “criminality and social pathologies” in the Czech Republic. In C. Heath-Kelly and B. Gruber (Eds.), Vulnerability: Governing the social through security politics. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Shanaah, S. & Heath-Kelly, C. (2022). What drives counter-extremism? The extent of P/CVE policies in the West and their structural correlates. Terrorism and Political Violence.
Heath-Kelly, C. & Shanaah, S. (2022). Rehabilitation within pre-crime interventions: The hybrid criminology of social crime prevention and countering violent extremism. Theoretical Criminology, 1-21.
Heath-Kelly, C. & Shanaah, S. (2022). The long history of prevention: Social defence, security, and anticipating future crimes in the era of ‘penal welfarism'. Theoretical Criminology, 1-20.
Satherly, N., Yogeeswaran, K., Osborne, D., Shanaah, S. & Sibley, C.G. (2021). Investigating the effects of right-wing terrorism on government satisfaction: A time course analysis of the 2019 Christchurch terror attack. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 1-14.
Shanaah, S., Yogeeswaran, K., Greaves, L., Bulbulia, J., Osborne, D., Afzali, U. & Sibley, C.G. (2021). Hate begets warmth? The impact of an anti-Muslim terrorist attack on public attitudes toward Muslims. Terrorism and Political Violence, 1-19.
Shanaah, S. (2021). Anti-Muslim discrimination and support for violent extremism: Evidence from five large-N surveys. Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression, 1-21.
Shanaah, S. (2020). Demobilizing or activating? The effect of anti-Muslim discrimination on Muslims’ counter-extremism engagement. Social Problems, 1-19.
Shanaah, S. (2019). Alienation or cooperation? British Muslims’ attitudes to and engagement in counter-terrorism and counter-extremism. Terrorism and Political Violence, 1-22.
Shanaah, S. (2019). What motivates Muslims to engage in counterextremism? The role of identity, efficacy, emotions, and morality. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 1-21.
Shanaah, S. & Lindekilde, L. (2019). Standing up and speaking out? British Muslims’ collective action against Islamist extremism. Democracy and Security, 1-22.