Ali Isse (Mehdi)  is a PhD candidate in Security Studies at Princeton University's School of Public and International Affairs. His research examines nuclear strategy, coercive diplomacy, and grand strategy, focusing on how the United States and its allies respond to nuclear proliferation crises.

His dissertation, The Politics of Nuclear Prevention: Strategic Choices in Proliferation Crises, develops a framework explaining variation in U.S. and allied responses to emerging nuclear programs, through case studies of Iran, North Korea, Iraq, and Libya. The project combines original archival research — conducted at the UK National Archives (Kew), the LSE Library, and the Churchill Archives Centre — with statistical analysis to trace how threat perception, alliance commitments, and domestic politics shape strategic choice.

His research has been presented at the Alva Myrdal Centre at Uppsala University, the Midwest Political Science Association, Princeton's Center for International Security Studies, Yale's MacMillan Center, and the University of Chicago. He is a Fellow at Princeton's Center for International Security Studies and has received research support from PIIRS, SPIA, and the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination. During 2025–2026, he was a Nuclear Security Program Resident Fellow at Yale University's MacMillan Center.

He will be on the academic job market in Fall 2026.