John Heathershaw is Professor of International Relations at the University of Exeter. His research addresses conflict, security, and development in global politics, especially in Central Asia. He is author of Post-Conflict Tajikistan (Routledge, 2009), Dictators Without Borders (Yale, 2017), The UK’s Kleptocracy Problem (Chatham House, 2021) and over 30 peer-reviewed journal articles including in International Studies Review, the European Journal of International Relations, the Journal of International Relations and Development, the Review of International Studies, and the Journal of Democracy. John is currently the principal investigator of a research project which seeks to identify the characteristics of kleptocratic enabling networks via an analysis of the data of the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. In 2021/22, he was a senior fellow of British Academy studying relations between postcommunist elites and British professional service providers.
Heathershaw has previously been on the faculty of the American University in Central Asia, the London School of Economics, Kings College London, and the University of Notre Dame. Prior to entering academia, Heathershaw was a research analyst at the Ministry of Defence and an aid worker in West Africa and Central Asia. He has been and continues to be educated in history, international relations, and theology, including at Aberystwyth, London School of Economics, the University of Notre Dame, and Bristol Baptist College.
Coercive population control, Deportees/criminal deportees, Ethnic discrimination or persecution, Ex-combatant reintegration, Forced conscription, Gang-related violence/non-state actors, Journalist persecution, Land tenure disputes, Military/police service, Political persecution, Religious discrimination or persecution, Government/state actor persecution, Risk of retaliation, Trafficking, Alleged religious extremism and terrorism
8-10 expert witness reports in UK, US, Canada and Germany over the last 15 years. Also, considerable pro bono advice to lawyers and huan rights groups as part of the Central Asian Political Exiles project (2015-20).
John Heathershaw, Tena Prelec & Tom Mayne, Indulging Kleptocracy: British service providers, postcommunist elites and the enabling of corruption, Oxford University Press, forthcoming, 2024
John Heathershaw, Security After Christendom: global politics and political theology for apocalyptic times, Wipf & Stock (Theopolitical Visions), forthcoming, 2023
Alexander Cooley & John Heathershaw, Dictators Without Borders: power and money in Central Asia, Yale University Press, 2017
Alisher Khamidov, Nick Megoran and John Heathershaw, "Bottom-up peacekeeping in Southern Kyrgyzstan: How local actors managed to prevent the spread of violence from Osh/Jalal-Abad to Aravan, June 2010", Nationalities Papers, published online November 2016
John Heathershaw & David Montgomery, ‘Islam, Secularism and Danger: a reconsideration of the link between religiosity, radicalism, and rebellion in Central Asia’, Religion, State and Society, October 2016
John Heathershaw & Edmund Herzig (eds.), The Transformation of Tajikistan: the sources of statehood, London: Routledge, 2012.
John Heathershaw, Post-Conflict Tajikistan: the politics of peacebuilding and the emergence of legitimate order, Routledge, 2009.