Dr. Sarajuddin Isar, Affiliate Researcher, is a political economy scholar specialising in conflict and development studies, with particular expertise in state and rebel taxation, foreign aid, and state-building. He is also an experienced economist with expertise in fiscal and monetary policy and
financial system management, drawing on several years of professional and policy
experience. Dr. Isar was a Radboud Excellence Fellow at the Centre for International Conflict Analysis and Management (CICAM) at Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands and holds a PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. Prior to joining academia, he worked with several international organisations in both the United Kingdom and Afghanistan and served as Chief of Staff at the Central Bank of Afghanistan.
His research has been published in peer-reviewed journals including Development and Change, Journal of International Development, Civil Wars, and Journal of Sustainable Development. Beyond academia, he has contributed to media outlets including Foreign Policy, The Diplomat, the BBC, and Tribune, as well as to policy and research organisations including the International Centre for Taxation and Development (ICTD), Oxford Policy Management (OPM), the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), the Armed Group Centre, the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU), and the Andiana Foundation, among others.