Azim Wazeer – Julia Montgomery Memorial Scholarship
Email: azim.wazeer@sant.ox.ac.uk
Programme: DPhil, Politics, University of Oxford
Biography (IN ENGLISH): Azim Wazeer’s journey to becoming a DPhil candidate in Politics at the University of Oxford embodies the Canadian immigrant success story while addressing one of the most pressing challenges of our time. Born in Sri Lanka and raised in Saudi Arabia, Azim’s path led him to Vancouver as an undergraduate, where he became deeply embedded in the local community, serving on the City’s Intercultural Advisory Committee and volunteering with a local boxing gym supporting underprivileged youth among other diverse experiences.
More than a decade after leaving Saudi Arabia for Canada, the October 2018 Saudi-Canada diplomatic breakdown marked a turning point for Azim. Despite a varied career in real estate development and the post-secondary sector in Vancouver and Toronto, the October 2018 events elevated his interests in Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes. Subsequent incidents, like China’s detention of ‘the two Michaels’ and the assassination of a Sikh activist in Vancouver, revealed a broader trend: Canada becoming an attackable proxy for rising powers. As populism and democratic backsliding reshape the international order, the need for Canada to update its approach to foreign policy and better reflect shifting realities has grown, making Azim’s research increasingly relevant to Canada’s national interest.
Azim’s research examines how states and societies in non-democratic contexts navigate transformative change requiring fundamental recalibrations of state legitimacy strategies. Using Saudi Arabia as his primary case study during its “Vision 2030” transformation, his findings offer insights into broader patterns of massive state-led transformations that update our understanding of revolutions from above. This work looks beyond traditional institutional mechanisms to examine how state and society negotiate rising nationalism with deep integration into global markets in increasingly opaque information environments. His research has also contributed innovative social media-based recruitment methodologies for accessing hard-to-reach populations.
Azim’s academic credentials include a BCom from the University of British Columbia and an MA in Arab Studies (Distinction) from Georgetown University, complemented by his experience as a political risk consultant for Eurasia Group. He was co-convener of the Middle East Politics Seminar at St. Antony’s College and has served for the past year as Stipendiary Lecturer in Politics at Trinity College, Oxford. His research has been presented at prestigious conferences including the American Political Science Association, the British Society of Middle East Studies, and the Gulf Research Meetings.
Currently in the final year of his doctorate, Azim’s work is supported by St. Antony’s College, a SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship, and the CCSF (as both a 2024 and 2025 scholar). He aspires to a career as a political science professor, where he can continue developing our understanding of politics in non-democratic contexts and contribute to Canada’s ability to craft effective foreign policy in an increasingly complex global environment.
