Dr. Salah Ben Hammou
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Dr. Salah Ben Hammou
Dr. Salah Ben Hammou

Fellow

Dr. Salah Ben Hammou is a political scientist specializing in military coups, civil–military relations, and authoritarian politics. He is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, serving at the Edward P. Djerejian Center for the Middle East. He previously held fellowships with the United States Institute of Peace as a Minerva Peace and Security Scholar (2023–2024) and with the American Political Science Association as a Diversity Fellow (2022–2023). He received his Ph.D. in Security Studies from the University of Central Florida.

Dr. Ben Hammou’s research examines how coups unfold, why they occur, and how political orders evolve in their aftermath. His book project, Beyond the Barracks, highlights the central but often overlooked role of civilians in shaping coup dynamics. Drawing on an original global dataset of civilian involvement in coups from 1945–2025 and qualitative research in Sudan, the project analyzes how civilian actors influence power consolidation, policy direction, and regime durability. Other related work examines the politics of coup contagion and the construction of historically-oriented, large-N datasets. While grounded in Africa and the Middle East, his work contributes to broader comparative debates and offers insights relevant to other regions.

His research has been published in Armed Forces & Society, Africa Spectrum, International Studies Review, and the Journal of Global Security Studies. He also writes for public and policy audiences in outlets such as Foreign Policy, The Washington Post, The Conversation, Just Security, and the Modern War Institute. His work has been cited in international media and policy reports, and his research has received support from USIP, APSA, and the U.S. Department of Defense.

 

Publications

Published Research

  • Ben Hammou, Salah, and Jonathan Powell. Forthcoming. Following the Free Officers: Explaining the Politics of Coup Contagion & Containment. International Studies Review.
  • Ben Hammou, Salah. Forthcoming. Militarization & the Collapse of Counterrevolution in Sudan. in Democracy and Militarization in Contemporary Africa. edited by Michael Nwanpka. Indiana University Press. Bloomington, Indiana.
  • Ben Hammou, Salah, Christopher M. Faulkner, and Jonathan Powell. Forthcoming. Coup Contagion. in Encyclopedia of Authoritarianism. edited by Thomas Ambrosio and Stephen Hall. Edward Elgar Publishing. United Kingdom.
  • Ben Hammou, Salah, Jonathan Powell, and Bailey Sellers. 2023. Sourcing and Bias in the Study of Coups: Lessons from the Middle East. International Studies Review, 25(3): 1-21.
  • Ben Hammou, Salah. 2023. The Varieties of Civilian Praetorianism: Evidence from Sudan’s Coup Politics. Armed Forces & Society. 1-22.
  • Ali, Hager, Salah Ben Hammou, and Jonathan Powell. 2022. Between Coups and Election: Constitutional Engineering and Military Entrenchment in Sudan. Africa Spectrum, 57(3): 327-339.
  • Ben Hammou, Salah, and Elizabeth Meehan. 2022. To Twitter or Not to Twitter? in Strategies for Navigating Graduate School and Beyond. edited by Kevin G. Lorentz II, Daniel J. Mallinson, Julia Marin Hellwege, David Phoenix, and J. Cherie Strachan. Washington, DC: American Political Science Association.
  • Powell, Jonathan, Salah Ben Hammou, Amy Erica Smith, Lucas Borba, Drew Holland Kinney, Mwita Chacha, and Erica De Bruin. 2022. A Coup at the Capitol?: Conceptualizing Coups and Other Antidemocratic Actions. International Studies Review, 24(1): 1-28.
  • Powell, Jonathan, Rebecca Schiel, and Salah Ben Hammou. 2021. Oil Wealth, Risk Acceptance, and the Seizure of Power. Journal of Global Security Studies, 6(4): 1-8.

 

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