Skip to main content
Jeroen Gunning

Professor Jeroen Gunning

Professor of Middle Eastern Politics and Conflict Studies

Biography

Jeroen Gunning is Professor of Middle Eastern Politics and Conflict Studies in the Department of Political Economy and at the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies at King's College London. He is Visiting Professor at the Department of Political Science, Aarhus University, and at the Middle East Centre at the London School of Economics. He obtained his PhD from the Centre for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, Durham University, and was a British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford University. Before coming to King’s College London, he was Founding Director of the Durham Global Security Institute at Durham University. He is one of the founders of the field of critical terrorism studies and has taught and advised both policy-makers and civil society organisations.

Find out more about the Politics and Economics of the Middle East MA here.

Research

  • Political mobilisation and contestation in the Middle East (esp. using social movement theory)
  • Causes, patterns and effects of political violence (state and non-state)
  • Geographies of everyday peace and security practices
  • State effects and the everyday state in the Middle East
  • Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt

Professor Gunning's research is situated at the interface between Middle Eastern Studies and theories of political contestation and conflict, drawing on a wide variety of disciplines including sociology, anthropology, political science, international relations, and critical security studies. His research focuses on political mobilisation with a specific focus on the interplay between Islamist social movements, religion, political contestation, democratisation and violence (both state and non-state) in the Middle East. He has advanced a dynamic interpretation of social movement theory, weaving together structural and agential analysis to explain political contestation and violence under occupation (Hamas in Politics: Democracy, Religion, Violence) and mass mobilisation in the context of authoritarian repression (Why Occupy a Square? People, Protests and Movements in the Egyptian Revolution, with Ilan Zvi Baron).

With the ‘Bringing in the Other Islamists’ (TOI) project, based at Aarhus University, he is exploring whether, and if so, how and why, Shia Islamism(s) differ from Sunni Islamism(s) and what implications this may have for our understanding of the interaction between religion, understood as encompassing beliefs, community and socio-material relations, and socio-economic-political context. With Dima Smaira (American University Beirut, Lebanon), he is working on developing an agential, spatialised analysis of everyday peace and security practices in Beirut’ Southern Suburbs, building on (and decolonising) Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of practice, and, together with Morten Valbjørn (Aarhus University), they are piloting a project comparing Sunni and Shia Geographies of Everyday Islamistness in Greater Beirut.

Research projects

2019-2024: TOI: Bringing in the Other Islamists - Comparing Arab Shia and Sunni Islamism(s) in a sectarianized Middle East (funded by the Independent Research Fund Denmark (£630k) – co-leads: Morten Valbjørn, Aarhus University, and Jeroen Gunning).

2022-2023: Comparing Sunni and Shia Geographies of Everyday Islamistness (funded by the Danish Institute in Damascus and the Department of Political Science, Aarhus University; co-leads: Jeroen Gunning, Dima Smaira, American University in Beirut, and Morten Valbjørn, Aarhus University)

2022-2024: ‘Generational Afterlives of Martyrdom: Care, Inheritance and Turbulence between Religiosity and Militancy’ (funded by SISR-ISSR, Leibniz Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, and TOI; co-leads: Sana Chavoshian, Leibniz Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin, Younes Saramifar, Vrije Universiteit, and Jeroen Gunning)

Teaching (currently on research buyout)

PhD Supervision

Professor Gunning welcomes PhD applications concerned with political mobilisation and contestation, political violence (whether state or non-state, including domestic and international counter-terrorism regimes), the role of religion and secular ideologies in contestation and political violence, the everyday state and everyday peace and security practices in the Middle East, particularly with reference to Lebanon, Palestine and Egypt.

    Research

    talk-at-kings-thumbnail
    Comparative Politics Research Group

    The Comparative Politics research group hosts a research agenda based on political institutions, representation and regimes.

    dan-freeman-G4E6PcOt4Ps-unsplash
    Global South Research Group

    The Global South research group brings together scholars engaged in research on international political and economic trends, non-European perspectives, and south-south comparisons.

    security camera
    Political Economy of Peace and Conflict

    The Political Economy of Peace and Security research group analyses a wide range of conflicts, conflict resolution and institutional design for positive peace.

    News

    New collaboration launched with workshop at King's

    A workshop hosted at King’s College London, in collaboration with the Beirut Urban Lab at the American University of Beirut, marked the launch of a new...

    JGProject001

    Major research project aims to broaden debate

    A conference co-organised by a King’s College London academic together with a colleague from Aarhus University highlighted the findings and insights of a...

    TOIconference001

    King's expert shares insights with policy officials

    Expert insight from a King’s professor is helping to inform foreign and domestic policy officials in both the UK and the Netherlands.

    SPENewsStock

    Academic insights on Israel and Gaza

    Academics and researchers from King’s have shared their expertise around events in Israel and Gaza and the wider consequences of the ongoing conflict.

    Map showing Israel and Gaza

    King's academic shares insights on conflict with world media

    A King’s College London academic has been sharing his expertise on Hamas and Gaza with world media amid the outbreak of conflict in the region.

    Photo of a sign with the word NEWS on it

    Parliamentary committee seeks expert advice on 'terror' classification

    A report co-authored by a King’s academic helped inform the work of a parliamentary committee’s review into the listing of Hamas as a terrorist organisation.

    news

    Experts examine impact and lasting legacy of the Arab Spring

    A decade on from the start of the Arab Spring, a group of experts discussed its legacy and ongoing influence across the Middle East, at an event hosted by...

    ArabSpring

    Events

    06MarPicture: PEXELS/MURAT MARANGONZ

    Arab Islamist Responses to the War on Gaza

    Since 7 October 2023, the question of Palestine has re-emerged on top of the regional agenda in the Middle East.

    Please note: this event has passed.

    14AprThe Arab Spring had profound effects across the Middle East.

    The Arab Spring: 10 Years On

    Examining the legacy of one of the biggest social and political movements ever experienced in the Middle East.

    Please note: this event has passed.

      Research

      talk-at-kings-thumbnail
      Comparative Politics Research Group

      The Comparative Politics research group hosts a research agenda based on political institutions, representation and regimes.

      dan-freeman-G4E6PcOt4Ps-unsplash
      Global South Research Group

      The Global South research group brings together scholars engaged in research on international political and economic trends, non-European perspectives, and south-south comparisons.

      security camera
      Political Economy of Peace and Conflict

      The Political Economy of Peace and Security research group analyses a wide range of conflicts, conflict resolution and institutional design for positive peace.

      News

      New collaboration launched with workshop at King's

      A workshop hosted at King’s College London, in collaboration with the Beirut Urban Lab at the American University of Beirut, marked the launch of a new...

      JGProject001

      Major research project aims to broaden debate

      A conference co-organised by a King’s College London academic together with a colleague from Aarhus University highlighted the findings and insights of a...

      TOIconference001

      King's expert shares insights with policy officials

      Expert insight from a King’s professor is helping to inform foreign and domestic policy officials in both the UK and the Netherlands.

      SPENewsStock

      Academic insights on Israel and Gaza

      Academics and researchers from King’s have shared their expertise around events in Israel and Gaza and the wider consequences of the ongoing conflict.

      Map showing Israel and Gaza

      King's academic shares insights on conflict with world media

      A King’s College London academic has been sharing his expertise on Hamas and Gaza with world media amid the outbreak of conflict in the region.

      Photo of a sign with the word NEWS on it

      Parliamentary committee seeks expert advice on 'terror' classification

      A report co-authored by a King’s academic helped inform the work of a parliamentary committee’s review into the listing of Hamas as a terrorist organisation.

      news

      Experts examine impact and lasting legacy of the Arab Spring

      A decade on from the start of the Arab Spring, a group of experts discussed its legacy and ongoing influence across the Middle East, at an event hosted by...

      ArabSpring

      Events

      06MarPicture: PEXELS/MURAT MARANGONZ

      Arab Islamist Responses to the War on Gaza

      Since 7 October 2023, the question of Palestine has re-emerged on top of the regional agenda in the Middle East.

      Please note: this event has passed.

      14AprThe Arab Spring had profound effects across the Middle East.

      The Arab Spring: 10 Years On

      Examining the legacy of one of the biggest social and political movements ever experienced in the Middle East.

      Please note: this event has passed.