Mehdi Mozaffari ( dr.scient.pol. ) has been appointed professor at the Department of Political Science, the University of Aarhus, with a special focus on Islamic Studies.

Professor Mozaffari’s particular area of research is Islamism. According to Professor Mozaffari, the terrorist attack on 11 September 2001 clearly demonstrated the inadequacy of the way the West interprets Islamism. This is because for decades, the West has underestimated the ideological danger of Islamism, and has therefore given low priority to the study of Islam at an academic level. In Professor Mozaffari’s opinion, Islamism is a totalitarian ideology on a par with Nazism, Fascism and Bolshevism, and it should be studied and opposed in the same way as these ideologies. He therefore feels that academic investigations of Islamism as a phenomenon are an important and necessary step in combating global terror.

The 63-year-old professor was born in Iran, and he studied politology and law at the University of Tehran. In 1963, he continued his studies in politology and international politics at the Sciences Po and l’École Nationale des Langues et Civilisations Orientales in Paris, and in 1971, he defended his doctoral dissertation in Political Science at l’Université de Paris I ( Sorbonne-Panthéon ). In 1973, he was appointed to a position at the University of Tehran.

During the violent unrest that took place in connection with the Islamic Revolution in autumn 1978, Professor Mozaffari was advised by the Danish Embassy to leave Iran, accompanied by his Danish wife and their two children. When Ayatollah Khomeini took over power in February 1979, it became clear for Professor Mozaffari – an opponent of Khomeini – that it would be too dangerous to return to Tehran. He and a considerable number of other Iranian professors were officially fired when Khomeini subsequently closed all the universities in Iran. In 1979, Professor Mozaffari was appointed to a position at the Sorbonne University, but he moved to Denmark shortly afterwards because of family ties. The Department of Political Science at the University of Aarhus appointed him as a part-time lecturer, and in 1982, he was made an associate professor and subsequently senior associate professor.

Professor Mozaffari has written, edited and co-authored a number of academic books and articles in different languages. His favourite subjects are Islam and power, and different aspects of political regimes in the Muslim world. He has also worked with international politics, terrorism and civilisations.

Professor Mozaffari has been a visiting professor in Geneva, Grenoble and Moscow, as well as a senior fellow at Harvard University. He is frequently called upon as a commentator by the Danish and international media.

Attached: photo of Mehdi Mozaffari

More information

More information is available from Professor Mozaffari, tel. +45 8942 1341 or e-mail: mehdi@ps.au.dk

13 August 2003

Annette Larsen
Communications Office
ala@adm.au.dk