PROFILE

PhD, Political Science, City University of New York

Mohamed Mahmoud Mohamedou was Deputy Director of the Graduate Institute, Professor of International History and Politics, Director of Executive Education and Head of the Conflict, Peace and Security specialisation of the Interdisciplinary Programme. He has been Visiting Professor at Sciences Po Paris and at the University of Saint-Gallen. He is the author, notably, of a trilogy on the post-11 September era; Contre-Croisade – Le 11 Septembre et le Retournement du Monde (2004), Understanding Al Qaeda – Changing War and Global Politics (2011) and A Theory of ISIS – Political Violence and the Transformation of the Global Order (2018). Professor Mohamedou held a PhD in Political Science from the City University of New York. He was Scholar-in-Residence at the Harvard University Centre for Middle Eastern Studies in Cambridge, Massachusetts before becoming a Research Associate at the Ralph Bunche Institute on the United Nations in New York. He was Director of Research at the International Council on Human Rights Policy, prior to returning to Harvard University as Associate Director of the Programme on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research. He subsequently served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mauritania before returning to Geneva at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) where he was Deputy Director and Academic Dean. His research focuses on political violence and transnational terrorism, the transformation of warfare, state-building, transitions to democracy and the history of racism. Widely published, Professor Mohamedou is regularly quoted in the world’s media for his expertise and is fluent in English, French, Spanish and Arabic. He was the recipient of the 2020-2021 International Studies Association (ISA) Global South Distinguished Award and the recognition prize of the Collège de France in November 2017.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Books

• State-Building in the Middle East and North Africa - One Hundred Years of Nationalism, Politics, and Religion, London: IB Tauris/Bloomsbury, 2021
• A Theory of ISIS – Political Violence and the Transformation of the Global Order, London: Pluto Press, 2017, and Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2018.
• Democratization in the 21st Century – Reviving Transitology, ed., London and New York: Routledge, 2016.
• Understanding Al Qaeda — Changing War and Global Politics, London: Pluto Press and New York: MacMillan, 2011; revised and expanded edition of Understanding Al Qaeda – The Transformation of War, London: Pluto Press and Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 2007.
• Contre-Croisade — Le 11 Septembre et le Retournement du Monde, Paris: L’Harmattan, 2011; revised and expanded edition of Contre-Croisade — Origines et Conséquences du 11 Septembre, Paris: L’Harmattan, 2004.
• Iraq and the Second Gulf War – Regime Security and State-Building, San Francisco: Austin and Winfield, 1998, second edition 2002 

Book Chapters

• "Islamic State",  in David Snow, ed., The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social and Political Movement, 2022.
• "Al Qaida, l'Etat Islamique et la Transformation de la Violence Politique Postmoderne", dans François Burgat and Matthieu Rey, eds., Histoire des Mobilisations Islamistes, XIX-XXI Siècles, Paris: CNRS, 2022, pp. 377-390.
• "A Century of Elusive State-Building in the Middle East and North Africa", in Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou, ed., State-Building in the Middle East and North Africa - One Hundred Years of Nationalism, Religion and Politics, London: IB Tauris/Bloomsbury, 2021, pp. 3-24.
• "In Search of the Non-Western State: Historicising and De-Westphalianising Statehood", in Bertrand Badie, Dirk Berg-Schlosser and Leonardo Morlino, eds., The SAGE Handbook of Political Science – A Global Perspective, London: Sage, 2020, pp. 1335-1348.
• “The Rise and Fall of Pan-Arabism” in Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh and Patricia Daley, eds., The Handbook of South-South Relations, London: Routledge, 2018, pp. 168-176. Download the PDF
• “Look, it’s Trying to Think: Le Néo-Orientalisme et l’Archéologie de la Soumission”, in Makram Abbès and Laurent Dartigues, eds., Orientalismes/Occidentalismes – À propos de Oeuvre d’Edward Said, Paris: Éditions Hermann, 2018, pp. 255-273. Download the PDF
• “Religious Extremism, Insurgent Violence, and the Transformation of the New African Security Landscape”, in Pamela Aall and Chester Crocker, eds., Minding the Gap – African Conflict Management in a Time of Change, Waterloo, Canada: Center for International Governance Innovation, 2016, pp. 65-76. Download the PDF
• “Le Sahel”, in Bertrand Badie and Dominique Vidal, eds., L’État du Monde 2016, Paris: La Découverte, 2015, pp. 214-219.
• “Le Nouveau ‘Grand Jeu’ des Puissances Occidentales au Sahel”, in Michel Galy, ed., préface by Bertrand Badie, La Guerre au Mali – Comprendre la Crise au Sahel et au Sahara, Paris: La Découverte, 2013, pp. 58-75. Download the PDF
• “Al Qaeda and the Reinvention of Terrorism: Social Sciences and the Challenge of Post-Globalization Transnational Political Violence,” in Jussi Hanhimäki and Bernard Blumenau, eds., International History of Terrorism – Western and Non-Western Experiences, London: Routledge, 2012.
• “A Forgotten Debt: Humanism and Education, from the Orient to the West”, in Nayef Al-Rodhan, ed., The Role of the Arab-Islamic World in the Rise of the West, New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2012.
• “From the Near to the Far Enemy and Back: The Metamorphosis of Al Qaeda, 1988-2008”, in Klejda Mulaj, ed., Violent Non-State Actors in Contemporary World Politics, New York: Columbia University Press, 2009, pp. 207-237.
• “Arab State Foreign Policy: The Promise of a State-Centered Approach”, in Jacqueline Anne Braveboy-Wagner, Rethinking the Foreign Policies of the Global South – Seeking Conceptual Frameworks, Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Reinner, 2003, pp. 65-77.
• “The Rise and Fall of Democratization in the Maghreb”, in Paul J. Magnarella, ed., Human Rights, Governance, and Democratization in the Middle East, London: Avebury Press, 1998, pp. 209-240.

Peer-Reviewed Articles

• "What is Contemporary Violence?", Violence - An International Journal, 2, 1, 2021, pp. 154-168.
• "Al Qaida et l'Etat Islamique : Histoires Croisées", Annuaire du Collège de France 2017-2018, 118, 2020, pp. 713-715.
• "D'Al Qaida a l’État Islamique : Acteurs Non-Étatiques Mondialises et Évolution de la Violence Politique Post-Moderne", Relations Internationales, 172, 4, 2017, pp. 3-14
• "Arab agency and the UN project: the League of Arab States between universality and regionalism", Third World Quarterly, 37, 7, July 2016, pp. 1219-1233
• Neo-Orientalism and the e-Revolutionary: Self-Representation and the Post-Arab Spring, Middle East Law and Governance journal, Spring 2015
• "La Genèse du Conflit au Sahel," Esprit - Revue Internationale, 392, February 2013, pp. 115-116.
• “The Iraqization of Libya”, Europe’s World, spring 2012, pp. 124-128.
• “La Démocratie Arabe au Regard du Néo-Orientalisme”, La Revue Internationale et Stratégique, Special issue on the Arab Spring, 83, autumn 2011, pp. 85-91.
• “The Militarization of Islamism”, The Muslim World, Special Issue on the Arabian Peninsula, 101, 2, Spring 2011, pp. 307-323.
• “Old and New Lines of Separation”, Harvard Human Rights Journal, Twentieth Anniversary Special Issue, 20, spring 2007, pp. 13-14.
• “Unpopular Discourse: How Rising Criminality Challenges Human Rights Defense in Transitional Societies”, with James Cavallaro, Harvard Human Rights Journal, 18, Spring 2005, pp. 139-165.
• “Responsibility, Injustice, and the American Dilemma”, The Buffalo Human Rights Law Review, 11, spring 2005, pp. 3-20.
• “Political Transformation and Democratization: New Patterns of Interaction between Public Administration and Civil Society”, International Review of Administrative Sciences 64, 1 (March 1998), pp. 73-82

Reports

• Temps, Espaces et Histoires – Monuments et Héritage Raciste et Colonial dans l’Espace Public Genevois : État des Lieux Historique, with Davide Rodogno, 184 pages, City of Geneva, 2022.

Courses Taught
 

• “State and War”
• “State-Building and War-Making in the Developing World”
• “An International History of the Post-9/11 Era”
• “Understanding Terrorism: History, Contexts and New Challenges”
• “Comparative Perspectives on Political Liberalisation and Democratisation”
• “An International History of Racism”
• “From the Ottoman Empire to the Arab Spring: Change and Continuity in Regional Politics in the Middle East and North Africa”
• “Power, Conflict and Development: Applied Research Seminar”
• “Global Issues and Perspectives"

Doctoral Dissertations Supervised

1.    “Rejection and Mimesis: Unrecognised Statehood and International Society since Decolonisation”
Diego Humberto Soto Saldias
(Director)

2.    “Can A State Die?: Analysing the Interlinkage Between Territory, Climate Displacement and Sovereignty in the Context of Climate Change in the Indo-Pacific”
Ryan Milan Mitra
(Director)

3.    “Remembering a Fading Past: The Israeli Occupation of the Jordan Valley Re-examined through Oral History”
Atwa R.H. Jaber
(Director)

4.    “From Civil War to Uncertain Peace: Changing Violence and Political Order in Lebanon, 1975-2015”
Line Barabant
(Director)

5.    “ ‘You Match the Description’: A History of Systemic Racism in Policing and Immigration in England, 1948-2017”
Madhumita Varma
(Director)

6.    “The Politics of Aleppo’s Christians and the Formation of the Syrian Nation-State, 1920-1936”
Joel Alfred Veldkamp
(Director)

7.    “A Slow Reckoning: The USSR, the Afghan Communists and Islam”
Vassily Klimentov
(Director)

8.    “La France et les États-Unis face aux Crises Politiques et Sécuritaires en Afrique du Nord et au Moyen Orient au XXIème Siècle, 2009-2017 : Un Renversement Stratégique ?”
Salomé Tulane
(Director)

9.    “Commemoration and the Politics of History: Continuity and Change in the ‘National Days’ of Turkey” 
Egemen Bengisun
(Director)

10.    “La Génération de la Bulle : le Japon face à la Question Libérale”
Kai Habel
(Director)

11.    “A History of Modern Islamism: A Comparative Historical Study of the Evolution of the Projects of the Muslim Brotherhood and Ennahda Movement”
Youssef Ahmed
(Director)

12.    “Humanitarianisms in Asia: Philosophical Grounds and Applications”
Claire Gaëlle Barthélémy Diaz Badial
(Director)

13.    “The  Swan Song of Empire : Security Policy in France and Britain as a Manifestation of the Colonial Boomerang”
Abha Anuradha Rohanna Calindi
(Director)

14.    “The Normalisation of Military Violence in the Middle East: A Historical and Political Cross-Analysis”
Hafssa Kouskous
(Director)

15.    “The Politics of Armed Disorder: Armed Organisations, Conflict and State-Building in Mexico and Latin America, c. 1820-1900”
Estebán Ramirez-Gonzalez
(Co-director)

16.    “The State of the Islamic State: An Assessment of ISIS’ State-Building Project and Rebel Governance in its Iraqi and Syrian Territory”
Matthew Bamber
(Co-director)

17.    “Rebel Groups Consolidation Process in the Syrian Civil War, 2011-2021”
Abdulla Ibrahim
(Co-director)

18.    “An Age-Old Challenge or an Emerging Norm? The History of Humanitarian Negotiations Beyond the State”
Zubin Malhotra
(Co-director)

19.    “Shaping and Re-shaping of Sectarianism in a Settler-Colonial Context:
The Intersection of Identity and Space Producing in Shefa-A’mr (a Palestinian Town in Israel)”
Khaled Anabtawi
(Co-director)

20.    “The Oligopoly of Violence: The Cases of Syria and Libya”
Bilal Salayme
(Co-director)

21.    “Défendre le Droit d’Asile : Socio-histoire des Mobilisations à Genève et à Paris depuis les années 1980”
Apolline Wanda Christie Foedit
(Co-director)

22.    “Communities, Commemoration and Contestation: Memories of Violent Mass Death in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, 1982-2022”
Stella Peisch
(Co-director)

23.    “A Milk-washed History: The Invisibilisation of the Colonial History of Swiss Chocolate and its Impact on Racism in Contemporary Switzerland”
Letizia Gaja Pinoja
(Co-director)

24.    “The Historical Development of European Studies on North Africa”
Imad Eddine Soualhi (University of Basel)
(Co-director) 

25.    “Au-Delà du Paradigme de la Guerre Globale contre la Terreur : Le Cas Sahélien”
Jérome Pigné, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS Paris)
(Co-director)

26.    “The Importance of being Macedonian: Origins and Consequences of the ‘Name Issue’ between Greece and Macedonia”
Vera Lalchevska
(Second Reader)

27.    “The Origins of CENTCOM: American Hegemony, Car Culture and European Oil Dependence”
Manuel Dorion-Soulié
(Second Reader)

28.    “The Global North in the South of Lebanon: The Practices of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon”
Susann Kassem
(Second Reader)

29.    “International Security Partnerships in Global Politics: Explaining Outcomes of the African Union’s Partnerships with the European Union, the United Nations, NATO and the United States Africa Command”
Tshepo Gwatiwa
(Second Reader)

30.    “Living on the Edge: How Encounters with Global War Re-Made the Indo-Burma Frontiers into Bordered-Worlds”
Aditya Kiran Kakati
(Second Reader)

31.    “Laws of Change: Rights, Transitions and Violence in Post-colonial Ghana”
Frank Afari
(Second Reader)

32.    “Central Asia and the South Caucasus: Securitisation, State-Building and Nation-Building vs. Regional Security Cooperation”
Marc Quedenbaum
(Second Reader)

33.    “Yekkes and Arabs: Encounters Between German-speaking Jews and Arab Palestinians in British Mandate Palestine, 1920-1948”
Tatjana Eichert
(Second Reader)

34.    “The Idea of Europe on the Way to Maastricht, 1973-1993”
Achim Merlo
(Second Reader)

35.    “The Philanthropy Phenomenon: The Making of Twenty-first Century Institutional Private Philanthropy in the Emirate of Dubai”
Camilla Caroline Mebahel Della Giovampaola
(Second Reader)

36.    “La Diplomatie des Frères Musulmans d’Egypte : Socialisation, Politisation et Nationalisation”
Mahmoud El Ashmamy (Sciences Po Paris IEP)
(Second Reader)

37.    “La Politique Française d’Intervention Extérieure de 2007 à 2017 : Sociologie d’un overachievement”
Aurélie Vittot (Sciences Po Paris IEP)
(Second Reader)