Murad Ismayilov

Biography

Murad Ismayilov is a doctoral researcher at Politics, Psychology, Sociology and International Studies (PPSIS), the University of Cambridge. He holds an MSt in International Relations from the University of Cambridge (2009) and an MA in International Relations from Baku State University (2004). In 2005, he completed a four-month NATO Senior Executive Program at the NATO Studies Centre in Bucharest (Romania). His research interests include political and social theory (with a focus on critical approaches), sociology and political economy of culture, postcolonial theory, sociology and political economy of post-Soviet transformation (with a thematic focus on social stratification and class; nationalism, identity and state-society relations), social movements, sociology and political economy of power, sociology of class, sociology of intellectuals, sociology and security of the Middle East, sociology and political economy of religion, as well as Islamic political thought. He is co-editor of Identity and Politics in Central Asia and the Caucasus (London: Routledge, 2015). Among his other works are “Postcolonial Hybridity, Contingency, and the Mutual Embeddedness of Identity and Politics in Post-Soviet Azerbaijan: Some Initial Thoughts” (Caucasus Analytical Digest 77, 2015); “Power, knowledge, and pipelines: Understanding the politics of Azerbaijan’s foreign policy” (Caucasus Studies 2:1-2, Nov. 2014); “State, Identity, and the Politics of Music: Eurovision and Nation-Building in Azerbaijan” (Nationalities Papers 40:6, Nov. 2012); and “The Impact of Energy Resources on Nation- and State-Building: The Contrasting Cases of Azerbaijan and Georgia” (Brenda Shaffer & Taleh Ziyadov, eds. Beyond the Resource Curse, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012).

Education

MSt, International Relations, University of Cambridge (2009)

Areas of Research / Professional Expertise

Political and social theory (with a focus on critical approaches), sociology and political economy of culture, postcolonial theory, sociology and political economy of post-Soviet transformation (with a thematic focus on social stratification and class; nationalism, identity and state-society relations), social movements, sociology and political economy of power, sociology of class, sociology of intellectuals, sociology and security of the Middle East, sociology and political economy of religion, as well as Islamic political thought.

Personal Interests

Islam, medicine, poetry (writing), psychology, ping-pong

Books