Salah Ben Hammou

• Postdoctoral Research Associate, Rice University

Dr. Salah Ben Hammou is a Postdoctoral Associate at the Edward P. Djerejian Center for the Middle East at Rice University's Baker Institute of Public Policy, and a Nonresident Fellow at the Centre for African Conflict & Development. His research focuses on the politics of military coups, authoritarian regimes, and democratization with a regional focus on the Middle East and Africa.

Prior to joining the Baker Institute, Ben Hammou served as a 2023-2024 USIP-Minerva Peace Scholar at the United States Institute of Peace and a Diversity Fellow at the American Political Science Association. His research has appeared in peer-reviewed journals like Armed Forces & Society, Africa Spectrum, International Studies Review, and Journal of Global Security Studies. His public-facing work has appeared in popular outlets like Foreign Policy, The Washington Post, The Conversation, Just Security, Modern War Institute, Political Violence at a Glance, The Loop, and The Cairo Review of Global Affairs.

Ben Hammou received his Ph.D. in Security Studies at the University of Central Florida in 2024, where he taught courses and offered guest lectures on research methodology, authoritarian politics, and military coups. From 2022 through 2024, Ben Hammou served as co-chair of the Status Committee on Graduate Students for the American Political Science Association.

• –present Postdoctoral Research Associate, Rice University
• 2025–present Fellow, Centre for African Conflict & Development

• 2024 University of Central Florida, Ph.D., Security Studies

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