Dastan Jasim

Dr. Dastan Jasim is a Research Fellow at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA) Institute for Middle East Studies and a doctoral candidate in the GIGA Doctoral Programme since 2020. He holds an MA in Political Science & Assyriology from the University of Heidelberg and a BA in Social Sciences from the University of Stuttgart. Previously, he worked as a Conflict Researcher at the Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research (2017–2021) and completed internships at institutions like the Center for Gender and Development Studies (CGDS) in Iraq and the GIGA Institute for Asian Studies.

His research focuses on Kurdish political movements, democratization, security policy in Kurdistan, and survey data harmonization. Recent publications analyze the impact of Kurdish political history on support for democracy, postcolonial dynamics in Western fieldwork on ISIS, and cross-border violence in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

His work has been featured in South Atlantic Quarterly, International Journal of Conflict and Violence, and public commentary for media outlets like Der Freitag and Frankfurter Rundschau. He has presented at conferences including the Amadeu Antonio Foundation and the Heidelberg University of Jewish Studies, addressing themes such as anti-Kurdish racism, Kurdish-Jewish historical intersections, and political challenges in post-earthquake Syria.