Ahmed Elsayed

Ahmed Elsayed
UNICOM, Mary-Somerville-Stra?e 7 (Haus Wien)
Raum: 7.2150
Tel.: +49 421 218-67478
Ahmed Elsayed is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Intercultural and International Studies (InIIS) at the University of Bremen. He currently works within the Project Group "Social Policy and Rural Development in Africa" in the CRC 1342 "Global Dynamics of Social Policy". He assumed various research roles at different research institutions, think tanks, and human rights organisations in Cairo, Berlin, and Washington D.C. His research foci are legitimacy, power, armed groups, democratisation, human rights, extremism and conflict transformation in the Middle East.
ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT
10/2024 – 03/2025 Researcher
Collaborative Research Center 1342 “Global Dynamics of Social Policy,” InIIS, University of Bremen
02/2021 – 04/2024 Researcher
“The Legitimacy Politics of Armed Groups,” German Research Foundation (DFG)-funded project, InIIS, University of Bremen
EDUCATION & DEGREES
2024 Dr. rer. pol. Political Science (Very Good)
Thesis: “The Legitimacy Battlefield: How Armed Groups Leverage Violence
and Values in the Quest for International Recognition”
University of Bremen - Germany
2019 Master of Public Policy
Thesis: “Strategic Jihadism: What were the causal conditions for Ahrar
al-Sham’s politicisation and ideological reconsiderations?” (Distinction)
Hertie School - Germany
2015 Diploma in Project Management
Maastricht School of Management – The Netherlands
2014 Master of Arts in Politics(Distinction)
Thesis: “Egypt’s Praetorian Guards: To what extent did General Abdel Fattah
al-Sisi’s discourse undermine Egypt’s first democratically elected president”
University of East Anglia – The United Kingdom
Ahmed Elsayed war Mitglied des von der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) gef?rderten Forschungsprojekts "Legitimit?tspolitik bewaffneter Gruppen", das von Dr. Stephan Hensell und Prof. Klaus Schlichte geleitet wird. Zuvor nahm Ahmed Elsayed an dem von der Deutschen Stiftung Friedensforschung (DSF) gef?rderten Forschungsprojekt "Salafistische Dschihadistengruppen - (De)Eskalationspfade und Dialogoptionen" der Berghof Foundation teil.
PEER-REVIEWEDARTICLES
2023 From the Mountains to the ?lysée: The Precarious International Legitimacy of the Syrian Kurdish YPG and PYD, The Middle East Journal 77 (1), 53-77.
MANUSCRIPTS UNDERREVIEW
Terrorism Framing of Palestine: A Script of Dehumanization and Epistemic Deformation?, Critical Studies on Terrorism.
BOOK CHAPTERS IN PROGRESS
Recognition on their Own Terms? The Paradox of the Taliban’s Quest for International Legitimacy, in Stephan Hensell and Klaus Schlichte (eds.) Armed Groups and the Politics of International Legitimation, OUP.
WORKING PAPERS, REPORTS, AND ESSAYS (SELECTION)
2024 Beliefs and International Legitimacy: The Janus Face of the Taliban’s Political Worldview and Value Rationality. InIIS Working Paper Nr. 45/2024. Bremen: InIIS.
2019 Salafi jihadi armed groups and conflict (de-)escalation: The case of Ahrar al-Sham in Syria, Berghof Foundation (co-authored with Karin G?ldner-Ebenthal).
2019 Boboev v. Tajikistan. Headnote report, Oxford Public International Law.
2019 The battle over the memory of Egypt’s revolution, Open Democracy.
2019 Bernie Sanders w al-Qadeyya al-Filastiniyah (Bernie Sanders and the Palestinian Cause), Al Jumhuriya (Arabic).
2018 Egypt’s Social Welfare: A Lifeline for the People or the Ruling Regime?, E-International Relations.
2016 The Moment the Revolution Broke Down in Tears, Open Democracy.
2015 The Dilemma of Middle Eastern Democracy, E-International Relations.
2015 The Eclipse of Pan-Arab Nationalism, E-International Relations.
CONFERENCEPARTICIPATION
22-23 Jan 2025 Conflict and Humanitarian Studies, Doha, Qatar - Presenting Terrorism Framing of the War on Gaza
12-13 Dec 2024 Israel-Palestine, the Gaza War, and Germany, Bremen, Germany - Presenting Anti-Terrorism Discourse and the Gaz War
26-28 Sep 2024 Societies in Transition: Law, Culture and Politics in the Middle East, G?ttingen, Germany - Presenting The Janus Face of Taliban’s Worldview and Rationality
2-3 May 2024 Trusting Academic Concepts, Trusting the Academic Community: Challengesin the Context of Escalating Violence in Israel-Gaza, Frankfurt, Germany - Presenting The Terrorism Discourse in the Gaza War
5-9 Sep 2023 EISA Pan-European conference on International Relations, Potsdam, Germany - Presenting The Kurdish YPG/PYD and the Taliban: A Comparison
26-28 March 2024 Conference for Arab Graduate Students in Western Universities, Doha, Qatar - Presenting The International Legitimacy Politics of Armed Groups