Peter Mandaville

About Peter Mandaville

Dr. Peter Mandaville is Professor of Government & Politics in the Schar School of Policy and Government and Director of the AbuSulayman Center for Global Islamic Studies at George Mason University. He is also a Senior Research Fellow with Georgetown University\'s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council. From 2024-25 he served in the Biden-Harris administration as Director of the Center for Faith-Based & 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 & Inclusive Societies at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP). During the Obama administration he worked twice at the U.S. Department of State, from 2011-12 as a member of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton\'s Policy Planning Staff and again from 2015-16 as a Senior Advisor in the Secretary\'s Office of Religion and Global Affairs. He was previously director and then co-director of the Center for Global Studies at George Mason University, and his visiting affiliations have included American University, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Brookings Institution, the RAND Corporation, and the Pew Research Center. He is the author of, among other titles, Islam and Politics (Routledge, 2007; 3rd edition, 2020), a broad global overview of Islamic social and political movements, and Transnational Muslim Politics: Reimagining the Umma (Routledge, 2001), a study of Muslim communities in the United Kingdom. He also is co-editor of several volumes of essays in the fields of international relations and Islamic Studies, including The Geopolitics of Religious Soft Power: How States Use Religion in Foreign Policy (Oxford University Press, 2023), Wahhabism and the World: Understanding Saudi Arabia’s Global Impact on Islam (Oxford University Press, 2022), and Politics from Afar: Transnational Diasporas & Networks (Columbia University Press, 2012). In addition to his numerous book chapters and journal articles, he has contributed to publications such as Foreign Policy online, Foreign Affairs online, The Atlantic, and The Guardian. He has also testified before the U.S. Congress on political Islam and human rights in Saudi Arabia. His work has been supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Henry Luce Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, the European Union, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Experience

1. Vice Chair, Board of Directors

   Joint Learning Initiative On Faith & Local Communities

   Dec 2025 — Present

Education

• University of Kent

  Doctor of Philosophy - PhD, International Relations

• The American University in Cairo

  Certificate, Arabic

• University of Kent

  Master's degree, International Conflict Analysis

• University of St Andrews

  Master of Arts - MA, International Relations & History of Art