Ahsan Butt graduated (BA) from Ohio Wesleyan University in 2006 and earned his PhD in Political Science from the University of Chicago in 2012. He is currently working as Assistant Professor of Government and Politics in the School of Policy, Government, and International Affairs at George Mason University. Previously, Ahsan Butt was an International Security Programme research fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School.
A specialist in international relations, Ahsan Butt's research and teaching generally focus on ethnicity and nationalism, security, international relations theory, and South Asia. He has several research projects in progress, including a book project, based on his dissertation, which explains the variation in state violence against secessionists by pointing to the external security implications of secessionist movements.
Ahsan Butt is also working on a pair of research articles. The first is on the relationship between conventional military postures and nuclear acquisition in South Asia. The second investigates the deleterious effects of the spread of nationalism from the 19th century onwards on postcolonial states’ internal and external security. He also has a forthcoming article in International Organization on anarchy and hierarchy in IR theory.
Ahsan Butt’s research has received generous support from the Belfer Centre for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School, the United States Institute of Peace, and the Mellon Foundation. His research focuses on ethnicity and nationalism, international security, international relations theory, and South Asian politics and security. As a Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow, he is studying the effects of nuclear acquisition on states' conventional postures, especially in South Asia. He is also completing a book manuscript on separatist civil war.
