Home>Robert Kluijver
Robert Kluijver
Associate Research Fellow
Center for International Studies (CERI)
Duration: from 26 January 2023 to 25 January 2026
robertkluijver@gmail.comResearch Interest(s): Self-governance, State and society in non-Western settings, transnational governance, war on terror
Discipline(s): Political Science
Subdiscipline(s): International Relations
Research Group(s): Art, humanities, and international research; State, political regimes, mobilisations; Violence, war and peace
Geographical Area(s): East Africa and The Horn, Caucasus / Central Asia, Middle East
Country(ies): Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan
Language(s): English, French, Dutch, Spanish, Russian, Persian, Arabic
Biography
Born in Nicosia, Cyprus in 1968. Master degrees in International Relations at the University of Amsterdam (1995, on civil society in Mexico) and Sciences Po Paris (1999, on the historiography of Tajikistan) and a PhD degree at Sciences Po (2023, on statebuilding in Somalia). Fieldwork in conflict areas since 1997: Central Asia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Yemen, Somalia and Sudan with a focus on statebuilding. Secondary focus on contemporary art produced in or about these countries, with curatorial work in Saudi Arabia, the Emirates and Western Europe. Lectures at Sciences Po since 2010.
Current Research
- State development in Africa (focus on Horn)
- Somali studies
- International intervention within IR theory
- Counter-hegemonic social movements (including jihadi)
Thesis topic
The State in Somalia : between self-governance and international order, supervised by Luis Martinez
Teaching
- "Lessons (Not) Learnt in Afghanistan", Paris School of International Affairs, Master
- "Contemporary Art in the Arab World", Paris School of International Affairs, Master
- "Introduction to Political Science", Sciences Po Campus Le Havre, Bachelors
- "Somalia in the Horn of Africa", Sciences Po Campus Le Havre, Bachelors
publications
Main publications
La reconnaissance du Somaliland par Israël : un cadeau empoisonné ?, The Conversation (French edition), 30 December 2025.
Al Shabaab Governance: Illiberal Modernization?, Canadian Journal of African Studies, 59(3), 2025.
Enquêter dans une zone de conflits violents. Les cas de la Somalie, de l’Irak et du Mozambique. Book chapter co-authored with Emmanuel Al Miah and Dércio Tsandzana, In Enquêter en terrain sensible, (eds: Christelle Calmels, Léonard Colomba-Petteng, Emmanuel Dreyfus et Adrien Estève), Presses universitaires du Septentrion, 2024.
La Somalie: État défaillant ou État aubaine ?, In Un Monde en Crises (eds : Kienle, Klöck, Estève & Dieckhoff), Presses de Sciences Po, September 2023.
Is it time to recognize the Taliban government in Afghanistan?, The Conversation in English and French, 28 December 2024.
Interview of R. Kluijver about crumbling states in the Horn of Africa (in Dutch) by Koert Lindijer in NRC Handelsblad, 29 May 2023.
Why did Somaliland just suspend cooperation with the UN?, African Arguments, 9 November 2020.
Afghan Perceptions on Democracy and Elections, Free and Fair Elections Forum of Afghanistan, Kabul, 2014, 142 p.
Contemporary Art in the Gulf: Contexts and Perspectives, The Farook Printing Press, Dubai, 2013, 146 p.
I am Anything, I am Everything: Ayman Yossri Daydban and the Jeddah Art Scene, Athr Gallery/Al Mohtaraf publishing, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 2012, 63 p.
Borders: Contemporary Middle Eastern Art and Discourse, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, 2010, 140 p.
See all publications on Sciences Po Institutional Repository