Today in our Profile Series, meet Harris Kuemmerle, one of King’s Water’s interdepartmental PhD researchers.
Originally from the United States, Harris holds a BSc in International Relations and Sociology (Plymouth University, UK) and an MSc in Asian Politics (SOAS, University of London). Harris has extensive professional experience in politics and journalism, having previously worked as a deputy director for a major political campaign during the 2012 US general election as well as having contributed to a wide range of newspapers, blogs, and journals. At King’s, Harris blends these interests as a Managing Editor of Strife, a dual format publication comprised of the Strife academic blog and the peer-reviewed academic Strife Journal.
Harris’ expertise includes fresh water and environmental politics, resource security, Asian regional security, International Relations theory, policy development, security studies, terrorism and environmental politics, and US and UK foreign policy and domestic politics.
In 2014, Harris began a joint MPhil/PhD programme at King’s College London with shared membership in the War Studies and Geography Departments. His doctoral research on “Provincial dynamics and interests in the national policy making of India and Pakistan along the Indus River” focuses focuses on the role of provincial politics and disputes in shaping national policies along the Indus River.
Harris’ project will explore the degrees to which provincial regions are engaged in the development and implementation of national level fresh water management and security policy with regards to the Indus River. In doing so it will hope to use water as a lens to grapple with fundamental questions of state decision making, sub-national sovereignty, and notions of asymmetric federalism in a case of inter state dispute. The project will also use the case of provincial engagement along the Colorado River as a comparative to both shed further light on the Indus, and to potentially suggest a policy framework for promoting further provincial engagement in the management of the Indus River Basin.
War Studies was born at King’s College London. The Department remains to this day the only academic department in the world to focus solely on the complexities of conflict and security. Harris chose to study at King’s for the reputation of that Department with the combined strength of King’s Geography. He is supervised by Dr Rudra Chaudhuri in War Studies and Dr Daanish Mustafa in Geography. His favourite part of King’s is our iconic view from the 7th Floor of the King’s Building.
Harris’ Water Words:
Power
Inequality
Survival
Connect with Harris on Twitter via @HarrisKuemmerle.
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