Decolonizing Security Studies - a North African perspective

This seminar was delivered at the Middle East Centre on Thursday 12 March 2026 by Professor Nizar Messari (Al Akhawayn University) and was chaired by Professor Michael Willis (St Antony’s College). Nizar Messari is Professor at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane. His areas of expertise are International Relations Theory, Critical Security Studies, North African Politics and Latin American Politics. He has published in Arabic, English, Portuguese and French in journals such as Security Dialogue, International Studies Perspectives, Review of International Affairs, Journal of North African Studies, Contexto Internacional (in Portugueses) and Cultures & Conflits(in French) as well as numerous chapters in edited volumes in Portuguese and English. He was a visiting professor at Yale University, Universidade Estadual do Rio de Janeiro, the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and the Military Academy of Agulhas Negras (Brazil). He is currently finalizing a manuscript on Decolonizing Security Studies. He is the co-author with João Pontes Nogueira of Teoria das Relações Internacionais: Correntes e Debates. (Rio de Janeiro: Elsevier/Campus, 2005).