Education
- Ph.D. in Political Studies, School of Advanced Studies in Social Science (EHESS), Paris, France (2017–2021)
- M.Phil. in Development Studies, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), Islamabad (2012–2015)
- B.Sc. (Hons) in Agriculture and Resource Economics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad (2007–2011)
Research Interests
- Populism; social change and electoral studies; local government devolution in Pakistan; urban policy and politics in South Asia; governance dynamics of Karachi.
Biography
Dr. Asad ur Rehman has been Assistant Professor of Social Development and Policy at Habib University since August 2023, where he led the comprehensive restructuring of the SDP undergraduate program and directed the review of the Social Theory course sequence, designing new curriculum for the social sciences. He teaches courses spanning Populism, Social Theory, Politics in Pakistan, Ancient and Modern Political Theory, and Urban Policy and Politics in South Asia at the undergraduate level, and Strategico-Political Dynamics of South Asia, Comparative Political Theory, and Political and Economic Development in Pakistan at the graduate level.
Before Habib, he was Assistant Professor of Political Science at Forman Christian College University, Lahore (October 2022–July 2023), Assistant Professor and Program Advisor for the BS in International Relations/Political Science at the University of Management & Technology, Lahore (October 2021–October 2022), and Visiting Faculty at Catholique Lille University, France (August 2021–January 2022) and, earlier, at the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (2016). He completed his Ph.D. in Political Studies at EHESS, Paris (2017–2021), researching politics, development, and social change in contemporary South Asia.
Dr. Rehman was Principal Investigator on a GIZ-funded study analyzing gaps in local-government policy formulation in Punjab and KPK (USD 10,000), and received a Habib University Summer Tehqiq Research Program grant in 2025 for a project mapping citizen-state networks in New Karachi. He chaired a panel on populism at the Annual Asia Network Conference at LUMS (September 2026) and has presented at international venues including the International Conference of Public Policy, Barcelona; ICAS 2019, Leiden; and ECSAS 2018, Paris.
Selected Publications
- Rehman, A., and Pervez, M.S. (Eds.). South Asia from the Margins: Transformations in the Political Space. Routledge/Taylor & Francis, 2025.
- Rehman, A.U. Politics of Socio-Spatial Transformation in Pakistan: Leaders and Constituents in Punjab. Routledge, 2024.
- Rehman, A.U. (in preparation). Governance, Elections and Protest in Rurban Pakistan.
- Kakar, J., and Rehman, A.U. “China’s Engagement with Taliban After American Withdrawal: Implications for Pakistan.” Pakistan Journal of Social Research, 4(2), 2022.
- Book Review: Maria Rashid’s Dying to Serve: Militarism, Affect, and the Politics of Sacrifice in the Pakistan Army. South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal, 2022.
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