Zoha Waseem
Associate Professor of Sociology
Email: Zoha dot Waseem at warwick dot ac dot uk
Twitter: @ZohaWaseem
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Background
I joined Warwick as Assistant Professor in September 2021. Previously, I was a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Global City Policing, University College London. I have taught criminology modules at UCL and Warwick, and international security at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). I obtained my LLB (Hons) from SOAS, my master鈥檚 in Terrorism, Security, and Society from King鈥檚 College London, and my PhD in Security Studies from King鈥檚 College London. I have lived and studied in Pakistan, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
Research Interests
My research interests are interdisciplinary, and I draw from sociology, criminology, socio-legal studies, and politics. My research projects have focused on policing, repression, urban violence, urban insecurity, informality, migration, social movements and dissent. I am especially interested in violence, digitalisation, and policing in Pakistan and South Asia, but I am also interested in studying these phenomena across Asia and the UK.
Select Publications
Books
Waseem, Z. 2022. Insecure Guardians: Enforcement, Encounters and Everyday Policing in Postcolonial Karachi. Hurst & Co/Oxford University Press. .
Cavalcanti, R., Waseem. Z., and Squires, P. 2023. Southern and Postcolonial Perspectives on Policing, Security and Social Order. Bristol University Press. .
Mitton, K., Varsori, A. and Waseem, Z. Under Contract. The Oxford Handbook on Urban Violence. Oxford University Press.
Selected Peer-Reviewed Articles
Waseem, Z. 2024. (In)Security in Subordination: Public Security Provision in Postcolonial Pakistan. Security Dialogue. .
Siddiqui, N., Stommes, D., Waseem, Z. 2024. Illicit Gains and State Capture: Political Party Extortion in India and Pakistan. World Development, 183 (2024) 106735. .
Waseem, Z. 2024. 鈥業t鈥檚 like crossing a border every day鈥�: Police-migrant encounters in a postcolonial city. Journal of Urban Affairs, 46(8), 1547-1569. .
Kureshi, Y. and Waseem, Z. 2024. The Politics of Police Reform and Federalism in Pakistan. Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, 62(3), 315-338. .
Waseem, Z. 2023. Stateless and Vulnerable: Race, Policing, and Citizenship in Urban Pakistan. 鈥淒irections Essay鈥�, Political and Legal Anthropology Review, 46(1), 128-134. .
Waseem, Z. 2021. Policing COVID-19 through procedural informality in Pakistan. Policing and Society, 31(5), 583-600.
Waseem, Z. 2019. 鈥楤rothers in arms鈥�? A police-paramilitary partnership in Karachi. Policing and Society, 31(2), 131-147.
Laufs, J. and Waseem, Z. 2020. Policing in pandemics: A systematic review and best practices for police response to COVID-19. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. 51.
Selected Book Chapters
Waseem, Z. 2024. Policing 鈥渃rises鈥�: Postcolonial lawfare and the criminalization of dissent in Pakistan. In, Anna di Ronco and Selmin (eds.) Criminalisation of Dissent in Times of Crisis. Springer.
Waseem, Z. 2023. A post-colonial condition of policing? A comparative study of Pakistan and Nigeria, In Aliverti, A., et al.. (eds.) Decolonising the Criminal Question. Oxford University Press.
Jan, A. and Waseem, Z. 2023. Crossing Red Lines: Exploring the Criminalisation and Policing of Sedition and Dissent in Pakistan. In Squires, P., Cavalcanti, R., and Waseem, Z. Southern and Postcolonial Perspectives on Policing, Security and Justice. London: Policy Press.
Waseem, Z. 2023. Exploring Emotionality in Ethnographic Fieldwork. In, Fleming, J. and Charman, S. (eds.) The Handbook of Police Ethnography. Routledge.
Waseem, Z. 2023. Buildings, Barriers, and Blue Walls: VIP Culture and Police Infrastructure in a Postcolonial City. in Watson, D. et al. Policing the Global South. Routledge.
Waseem, Z. 2021. Safeguards or Infringements? Counterterrorism Policies, the State and Civil Society in Pakistan. In, Romaniuk et al (eds.), Counterterrorism and Civil Society: Post 9/11 Progress and Challenges. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Selected Media and Commentary
鈥樷��. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 20 June 2024.
鈥樷��. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 03 May 2022.
鈥�. DAWN. 12 February 2023.
. Border Criminologies. 08 December 2022.
DAWN. 11 October 2022.
鈥楾he problems with policing Pakistan鈥�. Dawn (09 May 2021).
鈥榃hen the police want more guns: Militarized policing has become a trend in South Asia, but is that making the region more secure?鈥�. Inkstick (04 March 2021).
Delbridge, V. and Waseem, Z. 2020. 鈥楥rime and COVID-19: Lessons from Cape Town and Karachi鈥�. International Growth Centre (09 July 2020).
Waseem, Z. and Rafiq, A. 2020. 鈥楥oronavirus pandemic puts police in the spotlight in Pakistan鈥�. United States Institute of Peace (16 June 2020).
鈥楶olicing and public health in Pakistan鈥�. Asia Law Centre (03 June 2020).
鈥楥OVID-19 in South Asia: 鈥淗ard policing鈥� approach has left police ill-prepared to respond to a pandemic鈥�. Policing Insight (14 April 2020).
鈥楨ncounters as a method of policing Karachi鈥�. Strategic Hub on Organised Crime (26 February 2019).
鈥榃hat the Sahiwal shooting tells us about police culture鈥�. Dawn (22 January 2019).
鈥楨ncounter killings in India鈥�. BBC Radio 4鈥檚 The World Tonight (09 December 2019).
鈥楶olice reforms in Pakistan鈥�. BBC Urdu鈥檚 Sairbeen (30 September 2019).
Teaching
– Second Year Module.
– Second Year Module.