Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou

Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou

Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou in 2010
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation
In office
31 August 2008 – 5 August 2009
President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz
Prime Minister Moulaye Ould Mohamed Laghdaf
Preceded by Abdallahi Hassen Ben Hmeida
Succeeded by Naha Mint Mouknass
Personal details
Born 1968 (age 47–48)
Atar, Mauritania
Alma mater City University of New York
Profession Academic

Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou sometimes spelled Mohammad-Mahmoud Mohamedou (born 1968) is a Harvard University scholar who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Mauritania from 2008 until 2009.[1] He is currently an Adjunct Professor at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva,[2][3] where he is also Deputy Director and Academic Dean of the Geneva Center for Security Policy and a member of the Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding, and is regarded as a leading international specialist on the new forms of transnational terrorism.[4] He is also a Lecturer at Sciences Po Paris in the Doctoral School.

Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou in 1997

Academic and diplomatic career

Mohamedou was born in Atar, Mauritania and studied in Spain, France, and the United States where he earned a PhD in Political Science at the City University of New York. In 1996, he was Visiting Scholar at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies of Harvard University and in 1997 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, located in Geneva, from 1998 to 2004, where he conducted research on national human rights institutions,[5] journalism coverage of rights issues,[6] and co-authored a report on the persistence and mutation of racism[7] and economic exclusion.[8]

From 2004 to 2008, Mohamedou was Associate Director of the Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research at Harvard University[9] where he founded the Transnational and Non-State Armed Groups Project.[10]

He was appointed as Ambassador and Director of Multilateral Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation in Mauritania in 2008, and subsequently Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. He went back to academia in 2009.

He teaches in the International History Department at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva since 2010,[11] and is Deputy Director and Academic Dean of the Geneva Center for Security Policy. He is also a Lecturer at the Doctoral School in Sciences Po Paris.

As an author

Mohamedou wrote an influential book on Al Qaeda entitled Understanding Al Qaeda: The Transformation of War which was published in 2006 (in the United Kingdom) by Pluto Press, and 2007 (in the United States) by the University of Pennsylvania Press. An expanded and revised version retitled Understanding Al Qaeda: Changing War and Global Politics was released in 2011.

Reviews of the book highlighted its innovative nature,[12] "refreshing and rational" approach, and sharp language reminiscent of critical theorist Slavoj Žižek.[13] Columbia University's Mahmood Mamdani has noted that "Mohamedou provides a much-needed secular understanding of Al Qaeda. Unlike most writers, he insists on understanding the changing significance of Al Qaeda's discourse against a historical backdrop",[14] while Emory University's Abdullahi An-Naim pointed out Mohamedou's "sober analysis" as "essential reading".[15] One reviewer noted that: "[Mohamedou] has presented an entirely new perspective on the subject. This makes the book a must read, for scholars as well as students of international politics."[16] Indeed, Mohamedou's insistence on treating Al Qaeda as a political rather than religious group has led to his characterization as "perhaps the first liberal to attempt a fully secular understanding of Al Qaeda".[17]

Mohamedou is also the author of Iraq and the Second Gulf War: State-Building and Regime Security. Originally published in 1998 by Austin & Winfeld in San Francisco and reprinted in 2002, that book has been considered "a model for further studies on the Gulf War".[18]

In French, Mohamedou wrote Contre-Croisade: Origines et Conséquences du 11 Septembre, an in-depth investigation of the events leading up to and after the September 11 attacks, which was published by l'Harmattan in Paris in 2004 and reissued in 2011 under the title Contre-Croisade: Le 11 Septembre et le Retournement du Monde. An Arabic version was published in 2010.[19][20]

He has contributed chapters to other books, notably Violent Non-State Actors in Contemporary World Politics (Columbia University Press, 2010),[21] Rethinking the Foreign Policies of the Global South – Seeking Conceptual Frameworks (Lynne Reinner, 2003), and Governance, and Democratization in the Middle East (Avebury Press, 1998).

Among his most influential works is a study on the mutation of the modern forms of war and the rise of transnational terrorism published by Harvard University in 2005 entitled "Non-Linearity of Engagement", from which an op-ed was derived and published in The New York Times[22] and The Boston Globe.[23]

Updating Martin Van Creveld's 1991 "The Transformation of War" and Herfried Munkler's 2005 "The New Wars", Mohamedou's work has been hailed as one of the latter-day most insightful and detached scientific analysis of Al Qaeda, examining in particular the mechanics of its regionalization,[24] franchising,[25] away of what he termed a 'mother Al Qaeda' (Al Qaeda al Oum), and assessing the long-term impact of the new forms of terrorism and 'the militarization of Islamism'.[26]

Mohamedou has also written on democratization issues in other media including Le Monde[27][28] Le Monde Diplomatique;[29] and Libération[30] appeared on BBC World News, BBC2,[31] Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera English, Voice of America, Radio France Internationale, France 2,[32] France3,[33][34][35] France 24[36] Deutsche Welle, VPRO,[37] Swiss television,[38][39][40][41][42][43] Swiss Radio,[44][45] NECN[46] and ABC News,[47] and has been a guest-blogger on "The Washington Note"[48] writing on post-9/11 US policy[49] and American society,[50] and the Arab Spring.[51] A regular public speaker,[52][53] Mohamedou served on the advisory council of the Dart Center for Journalism[54] and Adviser to the Small Arms Survey.[55]

Notable works

http://www.plutobooks.com/display.asp?K=9780745331676& Review: http://www.terrorisme.net/p/article_228.shtml

http://www.editions-harmattan.fr/index.asp?navig=catalogue&obj=livre&no=34482&razSqlClone=1 Review: http://oumma.com/Contre-croisade-le-11-Septembre-et

http://www.gcsp.ch/Resources-Publications/Publications/GCSP-Publications/Geneva-Papers/Research-Series/The-Rise-and-Fall-of-Al-Qaeda-Lessons-in-Post-September-11-Transnational-Terrorism

http://www.amazon.com/Iraq-Second-Gulf-Mohammad-Mahmoud-Mohamedou/dp/1572920963 Review: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a789931517&db=all

http://www.hpcrresearch.org/sites/default/files/publications/Non-Linearity_of_Engagement.pdf Reprinted and translated in A Contrario: http://www.hpcr.org/pdfs/guerre_non_lineaire.pdf

http://www.tagsproject.org/_data/global/images/Report_Empowered_Groups_Nov2007.pdf

Other articles

http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/hrj/iss20/mohamedou.pdf

http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/hrj/iss18/cavallaro.pdf

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2007/08/looking-at-war-through-a-legal-lens/

http://graduateinstitute.ch/Jahia/site/iheid/cache/bypass/lang/en/institute/news;jsessionid=3E4CC91CA68E2976D421231EAC918938?newsId=113492

http://www.lemonde.fr/imprimer/article/2011/03/07/1489526.html

http://www.liberation.fr/monde/01012308572-les-visages-changeants-du-nouveau-terrorisme

http://www.terrorisme.net/p/article_231.shtml

References

  1. ↑ CV at AMI website (French).
  2. ↑ "The Graduate Institute, Geneva – Calendar of events". Graduateinstitute.ch. November 18, 2010. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  3. ↑ "IA006 : Understanding Terrorism: History, Perspectives and New Challenges". Graduateinstitute.ch. August 30, 2010. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  4. ↑ "découverte – dossiers – 2011 – terrorisme". tsr.ch. August 30, 2011. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  5. ↑ "National human rights institutions: effectiveness and legitimacy". Ichrp.org. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  6. ↑ "Media: reporting human rights issues". Ichrp.org. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  7. ↑ http://www.ichrp.org/files/reports/23/113_report_en.pdf
  8. ↑ http://www.ichrp.org/files/reports/26/112_report_en.pdf
  9. ↑ "Staff". Tagsproject.org. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  10. ↑ "Transnational and Non-State Armed Groups Project". Tagsproject.org. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  11. ↑ "DE017 : The Middle East and North Africa : Change and Continuity in Regional Politics". Graduateinstitute.ch. August 26, 2010. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  12. ↑ ">> Al Qaïda: une analyse qui renouvelle nos perspectives – Au sujet du livre de Mohammed-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou". Terrorisme. June 5, 2007. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  13. ↑ Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou (June 3, 2008). "zack (San Jose, CA)'s review of Understanding Al Qaeda: The Transformation of War". Goodreads.com. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  14. ↑ Abbott, Carl. "Understanding Al Qaeda: The Transformation of War by Moha Ould Mohamedou – Powell's Books". Powells.com. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  15. ↑ "Pluto Press – Understanding Al Qaeda". Plutobooks.com. October 20, 2006. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  16. ↑ Nazre Imam (September 11, 2001). "Review: Understanding Al-Qaeda". Futureislam.com. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  17. ↑ "LENIN'S TOMB: Al Qaeda is Misunderstood". Leninology.blogspot.com. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  18. ↑ http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a789931517&db=all
  19. ↑ "المعرفة – كتب – عروض كتب – الهجمة المضادة للحملة الصليبية". Aljazeera.net. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  20. ↑ "جريدة الراي – ثقافة – "الهجمة المضادة للحملة الصليبية" – - 19/10/2010". Alraimedia.com. October 19, 2010. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  21. ↑ Violent Non-State Actors in World ... – Kledja Mulaj – Google Books. Google Books. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  22. ↑ Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou (September 16, 2005). "Time to talk to Al Qaeda? – The New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  23. ↑ "Time to talk to Al Qaeda? – The Boston Globe". Boston Globe. September 14, 2005. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  24. ↑ "The dividends of asymmetry: al-Qaida's evolving strategy". openDemocracy. December 18, 2006. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  25. ↑ "Towards the real al-Qaida". openDemocracy. September 10, 2007. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  26. ↑ "The Militarization of Islamism: Al-Qā'ida and Its Transnational Challenge – Mohamedou – 2011 – The Muslim World – Wiley Online Library". Onlinelibrary.wiley.com. April 27, 2011. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  27. ↑ "Imprimer". Le Monde.fr. January 31, 2011. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  28. ↑ "Démocratisation de façade au Maghreb". Le Monde. France. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  29. ↑ "Variation sur l’usage du coup d’Etat en Mauritanie – version développée, par Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou (Le Monde diplomatique)". Monde-diplomatique.fr. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  30. ↑ "Les visages changeants du nouveau terrorisme – Libération". Libération. France. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  31. ↑ "MM Mohamedou on 9/11 fifth anniversary – a Nieuws & Politiek video". Dailymotion. January 26, 2008. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  32. ↑ "Mots CroisĂŠs – Accueil – France2". Mots-croises.france2.fr. December 23, 2010. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  33. ↑ "Mohamedou chez Taddei "L'Empire a une Adresse" Enorme...". YouTube. April 14, 2011. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  34. ↑ "L’émission du lundi 21 avril – Ce soir ou jamais – France 3". Ce-soir-ou-jamais.france3.fr. March 26, 2009. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  35. ↑ "CSOJ – Terrorisme l'Europe menacée par l'AQMI – 04.10.10 – 1/5". YouTube. February 26, 2006. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  36. ↑ "Rebels continue push toward capital Tripoli – LIBYA". FRANCE 24. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  37. ↑ / (February 17, 2010). "Onderhandelen met Al Qaeda". Tegenlicht. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  38. ↑ "Chaos en Libye: entretien avec Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou, expert Centre politiques de sécurité, Genève – tsr.ch – vidéo – info – 12:45 le journal". tsr.ch. February 22, 2011. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  39. ↑ "Ben Laden mort: et maintenant? – tsr.ch – Infrarouge – Forums". Infrarouge. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  40. ↑ "Mort d'Oussama Ben Laden: l'analyse de Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou, enseignant IHEID et chercheur au Centre de politique et de sécurité – tsr.ch – vidéo – info – 12:45 le journal". tsr.ch. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  41. ↑ http://infrarouge.tsr.ch/#id=2976076
  42. ↑ "vidéo – info". tsr.ch. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  43. ↑ "Faut pas croire – tsr.ch – émissions – religion – faut pas croire". tsr.ch. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  44. ↑ http://www.rsr.ch/#/la-1ere/programmes/forum/
  45. ↑ "WRS | Geneva-based prof says Al Quaeda cells more menacing after Bin Laden's death". Worldradio.ch. May 16, 2011. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  46. ↑ rustyjames777. "MM Mohamedou on Islamic Cartoons Affair". YouTube. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  47. ↑ Opinion By Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou (November 22, 2006). "Election of Hamas Presents New Opportunity – ABC News". Abcnews.go.com. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  48. ↑ "Mohammad Mohamedou: The Meaning of al Zarqawi's Death". The Washington Note. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  49. ↑ "Mohammad Mohamedou: "Ethical Training" – What about Moral Leadership?". The Washington Note. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  50. ↑ "Mohammad Mohamedou:: The 1970s Redux – In Politics and at the Movies". The Washington Note. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  51. ↑ "Which Summer for the Arab Spring?". The Washington Note. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  52. ↑ "Casa Árabe". Casaarabe-ieam.es. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  53. ↑ http://www.culture-rencontre.ch/conferences/actu0411.pdf
  54. ↑ "Advisory Council | Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma". Dartcenter.org. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  55. ↑ "Staff". Small Arms Survey. October 4, 2011. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
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