Dr Samir Puri

Dr Samir Puri is a writer, academic and former UK civil servant. He previously worked for the Foreign Office (2009-15) including a year seconded to a ceasefire monitoring mission in Ukraine. 

He was subsequently a lecturer in War Studies at King’s College London (2015-18), during which time he also served as an advisor to the Commonwealth Secretariat and to the Ministry of Defence’s think-tank DCDC. He was a Senior Fellow at IISS-Asia based in Singapore (2020-22). 

Samir has authored numerous articles and five books covering different facets of history, geopolitics and international security. His most recent books are: The Great Imperial Hangover: How Empires Have Shaped the World (Atlantic Books, Paperback 2021); Russia’s Road to War With Ukraine (Biteback, 2022); and Westlessness: The Great Global Rebalancing (Hodder & Stoughton, 2024).

Samir is from London and holds a BA in History and Politics from Warwick University; an MA in War Studies from King’s College London; and a PhD in International Relations from Cambridge.