Virginie Collombier
Scientific Coordinator
Prof. Virginie Collombier is Professor of Practice and Scientific Coordinator of the Mediterranean Platform at the School of Government, Luiss Guido Carli University, where she directs research and dialogue initiatives on socio-political transformations and geopolitical dynamics in the MENA region and the broader Mediterranean. She also co-designed the Master’s in Mediterranean Cooperation and Security, launched in Fall 2024.
Prof. Collombier’s research focuses on the social and political dynamics of Libya and the MENA region, particularly state–society relations, power structures, and the interaction between domestic transformations and regional geopolitics.
In addition to her research, she oversees the Libya Platform, a multi-track initiative combining field-based research, capacity-building, and dialogue support in collaboration with Peace Makers Libya. Her work aims to produce research that informs political dialogue and to mentor young Libyan researchers and dialogue practitioners, with particular attention to Libya’s drivers of change.
Between 2015 and 2022, she co-founded and coordinated the Middle East Directions Programme at the European University Institute (EUI). She holds an MA from Sciences Po Paris and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Grenoble.
Email: vcollombier@luiss.it
Working languages: French, English, Arabic and Italian.
Among her most recent publications:
Edited volumes
Violence and Social Transformation in Libya (ed. with W. Lacher), London: Hurst, forthcoming, 2023.
Tribes and Global Jihadism (ed. with O. Roy), London: Hurst, 2017.
Ebooks
Inside Wars: Local Dynamics of Conflicts in Syria and Libya (ed. with L: Narbone and A. Favier), MEDirections ebook, European University Institute, 2016.
Articles
“Libyan Salafis and the Struggle for the State”, in Third World Thematics: A TWQ Journal, 2022.
“Les salafistes libyens après la révolution”, with T. Blanc, in Confluences Méditerranée 2021/3, N° 118, pp. 119-132.
“Salafi Politics: ’Political’ and ‘Quietist’ Salafis in the Struggle for the Libyan State”, Research Project Report, MEDirections European University Institute & Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, December 2020 (link).
“To engage or not to engage? Libyan Salafis and State Institutions”, with F. Barsoum, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, May 2019.