Jerome Drevon
Senior Analyst, Jihad and Modern Conflict, International Crisis Group (ICG)
Research Associate, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID)
I am senior analyst on Jihad and Modern Conflict at the International Crisis Group (ICG) and research associate at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) (Centre on Conflict, Development & Peacebuilding (CCDP). I was previously advisor for Non-State Armed Groups at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
I bridge the worlds of academia and practitioners, studying the evolution of non-state armed groups with a special emphasis on Jihadis, especially how they can become more pragmatic overtime. For the past few years, I have also focused more thoroughly on how other actors - including states and humanitarians - can engage some of these groups, who now rule millions of civilians worldwide.
I have conducted extensive field research in conflict zones, including Syria, where I have interviewed hundreds of Jihadi militants and foreign fighters from their military, political, and religious leaders to their foot soldiers – to gain a deeper understanding of their changing political views in armed conflicts.
I hold a PhD from Durham University. I formerly held research fellowships at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID)(Centre on Conflict, Development & Peacebuilding (CCDP)) the University of Oxford (the Department of Politics and International Relations (DPIR) and the Blavatnik School of Government), and the University of Manchester's Mitchell Centre for Social Network Analysis.
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My research focus
My research examines (mostly Islamist) non-state armed groups at the meso-level, including institutional, organisational, and networking approaches. Building upon social movement theory and contentious politics studies, I am particularly interested in armed groups’ trajectories in armed conflicts, which I have researched extensively in both Egypt and Syria.
I focus specifically on the transformation of armed groups into more pragmatic and mainstream political actors. In terms of methodology, I rely on extensive field research and interviews with armed groups’ leaders and members in addition to primary sources. I use rich case studies to develop theoretical models that are relevant beyond them.
My research contributes to broader issues in conflict studies, including armed groups' alliances, institutionalisation, and structures of governance.
My research has been supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), the Project on Middle East Political Science (POMPES), and the Durham Energy Institute (DEI).
I have conducted extensive field work in Egypt, Iraq (Kurdistan), Lebanon, Mauritania, Nigeria, Palestine, Rwanda, Syria (pre and post-2011, including Idlib), Thailand and Turkey.
My books
My first book, Institutionalizing Violence, examines how Jihadis adopt violence and mobilise short of territorial control, focusing on Egyptian Jihadis from the formation of Islamic Jihad and al-Jama'a al-Islamiyya in the 1970s to these groups' interactions with al-Qaeda in the 1990s and partial joining of the political process after 2011.
My second book, From Jihad to Politics, explores how Jihadis fight and take over territory, manage their relations with one another and with foreign states, as well as their politicisation in the Syrian conflict based on the in-depth case study of Ahrar al-Sham and, to a lesser extent, Jabhat al-Nusra, within the Syrian armed opposition.
My third book will analyse the transition of (former) jihadis into governance, using the case of the former Nusra Front or HTS in Syria after 2017.