Shahla Al-Kli

Shahla Al-Kli is a non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute and Counterpart International's chief of party for the USAID-funded Iraq Civil Society Activity, a program that focuses on strengthening citizen engagement and participation in the public sphere, especially among women and youth. She previously served as research analysis and knowledge mobilization director at Proximity International, the Middle East deputy regional director at Mercy Corps, a principal development specialist at DAI Global, a senior advisor to the speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, an advisor to the speaker of the Kurdistan Parliament, a former country director for Counterpart International's Iraq programs, and an auditor at the Central Bank of Iraq. She is a long-term practitioner in the Middle East on issues of politics, governance, security, statebuilding, and fragile states. She finished her Ph.D. at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy/Tufts University; her dissertation about governance and decentralization in Iraq was awarded Fletcher’s Peter Ackerman Award for an outstanding scholarly work.

Education
Bachelor’s and Master’s in Linguistics, Baghdad University; Master’s and Ph.D., Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy-Tufts University.

Languages
Kurdish, Arabic, English

Countries of Expertise
Iraq, Iran, Syria, Turkey

Issues of Expertise
Political economy analysis, governance, state-building, conflict sensitivity analysis, international development, complexity aware monitoring, fragile states, security studies, Iranian foreign policy in the Arab world (especially in Iraq), IRGC and Quds Force doctrine in Iraq, and the political transformation of Iraqi militias.  

Select articles

• Shahla Al Kli, Jared Miller, and Alex de Waal, "The coming twilight of a petro-state? Traumatic decarbonization as a driver of political transformation in Iraq," Environment and Security, March 18, 2024, https://doi.org/10.1177/27538796241237859.