Virginie Collombier
Scientific Coordinator
Prof. Virginie Collombier is the scientific coordinator of the Mediterranean Platform, at the School of Government, Luiss Guido Carli as well as Professor of Practice at the Luiss Guido Carli University. For the School of Government, Luiss Guido Carli she coordinates policy-relevant research and dialogues on the security, political economy and socio-political transformations affecting the MENA region and the broader Mediterranean. She also directs several projects combining policy-oriented field research, research mentorship with support for homegrown mediation initiatives and policy dialogues in Libya.
Between 2015 and 2022, she was co-founder and scientific coordinator of the Middle East Directions Programme at the European University Institute (EUI), where she also launched and directed the Libya Initiative.
Prof. Collombier’s main research interests are in social and political dynamics in Libya and the broader MENA region, with a particular emphasis on former regime constituencies, security issues peacebuilding and processes of mediation and reconciliation.
She holds an MA in Political Science from Sciences Po Paris and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Grenoble, France.
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.