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Mona Kanwal Sheikh
Primary research areas
Mona Kanwal Sheikh's main expertise is militant Islamist movements, especially those linked to the Pakistani Taliban. Her research focuses on religious legitimizations of, and mobilization for, violence. Sheikh also deals more broadly with the dynamics of transnational jihad, including Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.
Theoretically, Sheikh has helped develop a sociotheological approach to the study of religious violence, and contributed to the securitization theory's conceptualization of religion.
Current research
Mona Kanwal Sheikh is an expert on the Pakistani Taliban movement. Her current research focuses on the dynamics behind the transnationalization of jihad, and containment mechanisms, including the question of negotiating with jihadist actors. Empirically her focus is on the Pakistani Taliban, jihadi militancy in Afghanistan, and Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in South Asia.
Theoretical contribution
Through her scholarship Sheikh has contributed to the theoretical debate on religious violence and the concepts of religion and secularism in IR, pushing for a more inclusive analytical apparatus embracing non-western perspectives. Part of her work speaks to the broadening of securitization theory to the non-west, including its application to the study of islamist movements. Recently, she has also developed the framework of sociotheology and worldview analysis in order to bridge theological and sociological perspectives on religio-political activism, and to enhance methodological sensitivity in the study of religious extremism and the “radical other.”
Visiting scholarship
Sheikh has been appointed a visiting research scholar at the Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies at the University of California Santa Barbara (2008-9, 2013-14), the Center for South Asia Studies at UC Berkeley (2014) and has during her research period also been hosted by the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies (2008), University of Notre Dame. Additionally, she has been affiliated to the project “Resolving Jihadist Conflicts? Religion, Civil War, and Prospects for Peace” hosted by the Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University (2018-).
Awards
Sheikh has been awarded two prestigious elite research prizes (2007, 2012) for her work on the Pakistani Taliban by the Danish Ministry of Science. Her book “Guardians of God – Inside the Religious Mind of the Pakistani Taliban” (Oxford University Press, 2016) received the honorary award by the Book Award Committee of the International Studies Association's Religion and International Studies Section in 2018. Subheading In 2017 she was also nominated for the Elite research prize of the Danish Ministry of Science and Research, and in 2012, she was nominated for the Royal Danish Academy’s silver medal for young researchers.
In 2018 she was awarded an ERC starting grant to head a multi-disciplinary team of researchers examining the dynamics behind the transnationalization of jihad and developing novel ways of thinking about the containment of transnationalized conflicts.
Research and activites
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Book Chapter2023Mona Kanwal Sheikh, Morten Valbjørn & Dino Krause
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Journal Article2022Mona Kanwal Sheikh
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Journal Article2022Mona Kanwal Sheikh & Isak Svensson
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Chapter2022Mona Kanwal Sheikh & Saer El-Jaichi
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Journal Article2022Mona Kanwal Sheikh
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DIIS Working Paper2022Mona Kanwal Sheikh
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Book2022Special issue: containing transnational jihadDino Krause & Mona Kanwal Sheikh
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Journal Article2022A conflict to be resolved, a movement to implode or an ideology to be countered?Mona Kanwal Sheikh & Dino Krause
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Book Chapter2021Islamist Narratives on a Doctrinal ThreatMona Kanwal Sheikh
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DIIS Book2021A Festschrift Celebrating Mark JuergensmeyerMona Kanwal Sheikh & Isak Svensson
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Review2020Saer El-Jaichi & Mona Kanwal Sheikh
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Journal Article2020Mona Kanwal Sheikh
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Journal Article2020Religion and the Case of the Pakistani TalibanMona Kanwal Sheikh
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Book Chapter2019Mona Kanwal Sheikh
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Photo/illustration by Pexels. Jens Mahnke. copyright licenseDIIS Book2019Mona Kanwal Sheikh
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DIIS Book2019Examining the Expansion of the Islamic State and al-QaedaMona Kanwal Sheikh
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Book Chapter2019The Significance of Worldview Analysis for Social SciencesMona Kanwal Sheikh
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Book2019The Social Study of WorldviewsMona Kanwal Sheikh & Mark Juergensmeyer
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DIIS Report2019Exit, peace and governance from the Taliban PerspectiveMona Kanwal Sheikh & Amina Khan
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Book Chapter2019The Challenge of Entering Religious MindsMona Kanwal Sheikh & Mark Juergensmeyer
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Book Chapter2018Securitization theory faces Islamist violence and foreign religionsMona Kanwal Sheikh
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DIIS Comment2022Mona Kanwal Sheikh
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Photo/illustration by Zabi Karimi/AP/Ritzau ScanpixInterview2021What they sayMona Kanwal Sheikh & Amina Khan
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Photo/illustration by Ritzau Scanpix/AFP / AFP / Hoshang HashimiDIIS Comment2021Dino Krause & Mona Kanwal Sheikh
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Photo/illustration by Pexels. Jens Mahnke. copyright licenseDIIS Comment2019The network and doctrine of Millatu IbrahimDino Krause, Saer El-Jaichi, Telli Betül Karacan & Mona Kanwal Sheikh
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Photo/illustration by Pexels. Jens Mahnke. copyright licenseDIIS Comment2018How the civil government and military will handle the emerging tensions will determine the success of Pakistan’s counterterrorism policies in the Northwestern tribal areasMona Kanwal Sheikh
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Photo/illustration by Pexels. Jens Mahnke. copyright licenseDIIS Comment2017Three challenges that the research community needs to addressMona Kanwal Sheikh
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Photo/illustration by Pexels. Jens Mahnke. copyright licenseDIIS Comment2017Recent developments herald a troubled year for the AfghansMona Kanwal Sheikh
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