AGS Ph.D. Candidate Invited by Georgetown University to Give Guest Lecture on Jihadism in France

AGS Ph.D. Candidate Khalid Al Jufairi was invited by his alma mater Georgetown University to give two guest lectures on jihadism in France, a topic on which he has been conducting research as part of his dissertation project about the rise of fear-related xenophobia in France.

The two lectures, entitled “The Rise of Radical Islamism: France in its Fight Against Homegrown Jihadism”, were part of a course called “Terrorism and Man-Made Disasters”, organized by Georgetown’s Emergency and Disaster Management (EDM) program. The first lecture took place on January 24th in Washington, DC, at Georgetown’s School of Continuing Studies, while the second one, on February 27^th, was held in Paris, during a class travel experience.

The presentations, followed by Q and A sessions, were addressed to an audience of middle to senior career professionals in the fields of safety, security, emergency and disaster management, and risk management, coming from diverse backgrounds, including medicine, human and social services, and humanitarian aid, in non profit, the military, and all levels of government. As professionals, the students in this course examine real-life events to understand the historical and current concepts of terrorism and apprehend the appropriate response measures.

“My lectures provided an intellectual prism to understanding the grand jihadist strategy, and the genesis of French homegrown jihadism, 'le djihadisme à la française'," says Khalid Al-Jufairi. "I talked about how terrorism is no longer an existential threat as we are facing a new paradigm of insurgency, and highlighted the two key dates of the January 7, 2015 Charlie Hebdo attacks, and the November 13, 2015 massacre. The students were particularly interested in the three-layered, concentric strategy of Al-Suri’s jihadism, and were also very much intrigued by France’s ideological spectrum.”

Additionally, Al Jufairi’s presentations offered a lens into his larger doctoral research, which his doctoral research investigates and explores why the rise of fear-related xenophobia is endangering liberal democracy and its institutions, examining the peculiar relationship between liberal democracy and the increasing complexity in dealing with fear and ‘otherness’ in the case of France.

Khalid Al Jufairi graduated in 2009 from Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service with an Bachelor’s degree in International Politics along with a Certificate in Regional and Arabic studies. After earning his M.A. in Cross-Cultural & Sustainability Management from the American University of Paris in 2016, he joined the American Graduate School in Paris to conduct his Ph.D. in International Relations and Diplomacy.

Khalid Al Jufairi (right) with Mansoor Al-Khater, Chief Strategy Officer, Ooredoo Group, one of the students in the Emergency and Disaster Management program and the spokesman for the class