Prior to joining King’s College Dr Kupatadze taught at the School of International Relations, St Andrews University. He held the postdoctoral positions at George Washington University (2010-11), Oxford University (2012-13) and Princeton University (2013-14). His research specialization is transnational crime, corruption, public sector reform, informal politics and crime-terror nexus. His regional expertise is post-Soviet Eurasia. His work has appeared in Journal of Democracy, Theoretical Criminology, Nonproliferation Review, Central Asia Survey and other leading journals.His research has been funded by Russell Trust (St Andrews University), British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies (BASEES) and Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation.

Research

Alexander's current research focuses on a) the variations in crime-terror nexus in Europe as well as internationally; b) illicit trade in consumer products and the involvement of non-state and state-affiliated actors in it; c) non-conventional security threats (crime, corruption, violence, etc) in post-Soviet Eurasia (especially in Caucasus, Central Asia and Ukraine) and their study in comparative perspective.

Teaching

Dr Kupatadze teaches the following modules at the King`s Russia Institute: 

• New and Emerging Security Threats in the Post-Soviet Space (undergraduate and postgraduate level)

• Clandestine side of globalisation: organised crime, terrorism and corruption (undergraduate and postgraduate levels)