Peter Mandaville

Dr. Peter Mandaville is Professor of International Affairs in the Schar School of Policy and Government and Director of the AbuSulayman Center for Global Islamic Studies (ACGIS) in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS) at George Mason University. From 2024-25 he served as the Director of the Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships and Senior Advisor for Faith Engagement at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). From 2022-24 he was Senior Advisor for Religion and Inclusive Societies at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP). His prior government experience includes serving as a member of the U.S. State Department's Policy and Planning Staff (2010-12) and as a Senior Advisor in the Secretary of State's Office of Religion and Global Affairs (2015-16). He has also been a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Pew Research Center, and has held affiliations with the RAND Corporation and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He is the author or editor of the books The Geopolitics of Religious Soft Power (2023), Wahhabism and the World (2022), Islam & Politics (Third Edition, 2020) and Transnational Muslim Politics: Reimagining the Umma (2001) as well as many journal articles, book chapters, and op-ed/commentary pieces in outlets such as the International Herald Tribune, The Guardian, The Atlantic and Foreign Policy. He has testified multiple times before the U.S. Congress on topics including political Islam and human rights in the Middle East. His research has been supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Henry Luce Foundation.

View Peter Mandaville's CV

Areas of Research:

• Islam and Politics
• Religion and International Relations
• Middle East
• Information Technology and Social Change
• Emerging Powers and World Order