Dr. Mahvish Shami

Biography

Mahvish Shami is an Assistant Professor in the Department of International Development at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). She serves as the Programme Co-Director for Development Management and a visiting research fellow at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, as well as at the Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford University. Shami is currently completing her PhD at LSE and has undertaken a post-doctoral fellowship at the Institute of Food and Resource Economics, Copenhagen University. Her research interests centre on the impacts of unequal power relations, particularly clientelism, and welfare for the poor. She explores the intricacies of patron-client interactions and examines collective action within hierarchical relationships. Her current work focuses on the barriers faced by poor citizens in accessing justice and the influence of clientelist networks on this access. She aims to highlight the nuances of urban clientelist networks by utilizing unique household-level datasets from urban slums in Lahore, Pakistan, addressing a significant research gap. Shami's selected publications discuss various aspects of clientelism, justice accessibility, and the intersections of economic development and social barriers.

Research Interests

Experience

Awards