Dr Xavier Mathieu (he/him)
Department of Politics and International Relations
Lecturer in International Relations
Full contact details
Department of Politics and International Relations
Modular Teaching Village
Northumberland Road
Sheffield
S10 1AJ
- Profile
-
Dr Xavier Mathieu joined the department in May 2023 as a Lecturer in International Relations. Prior to joining Sheffield, Xavier was Lecturer at the University of Liverpool, Teaching Associate at Aston University, and Post-doctoral Fellow at the Centre for Global Cooperation Research (Germany). He holds a PhD from the University of Sheffield and an MA in International Relations from the University of Bordeaux (Sciences Po). Xavier’s research looks at violence and French coloniality (in particular terrorism and anti-terrorism in colonial and post-colonial contexts), as well as the concept of sovereignty and interventions. His research is inspired by post-colonial and post-structuralist approaches.
- Research interests
-
My current project looks at violence in colonial and post-colonial contexts through the lens of the body. This project explores colonial and post-colonial violence as embodied practices that help build racial hierarchies. I use examples from French colonial and contemporary practices, connecting the colonial and post-colonial periods in order to provide a unique perspective on contemporary practices of security. This project also sheds light on the way bodies participate in resisting (post-)colonialism: through their materiality, bodies can exceed the violence imposed on them.
- Publications
-
Books
- Sovereignty and the Denial of International Equality Writing Civilisational Difference in Early Modern International Relations. Routledge.
Edited books
- The Politics of Peacebuilding in a Diverse World. Routledge.
Journal articles
- Precarious multiplicity: France, ‘foreign fighters’ and the containment of difference. Cooperation and Conflict, 57(3), 311-328.
- R2P and the Arab Spring: Norm localisation and the US response to the early Syria crisis. Global Responsibility to Protect, 12(3), 246-270.
- Sovereign myths in international relations: Sovereignty as equality and the reproduction of Eurocentric blindness. Journal of International Political Theory, 16(3), 339-360.
- Critical peacebuilding and the dilemma of difference: the stigma of the ‘local’ and the quest for equality. Third World Quarterly, 40(1), 36-52.
- Beyond Silence, Obstacle and Stigma: Revisiting the ‘Problem’ of Difference in Peacebuilding. Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, 12(3), 283-299.
- The dynamics of ‘civilised’ sovereignty: colonial frontiers and performative discourses of civilisation and savagery. International Relations, 32(4), 468-487.
- The
oecd ’s discourse on fragile states: expertise and the normalisation of knowledge production. Third World Quarterly, 35(2), 232-251.
- Narratology and US foreign policy in Syria: Beyond identity binaries, towards narrative power. International Studies Quarterly.
Chapters
- The OECD's discourse on fragile states: Expertise and the normalisation of knowledge production, The Political Invention of Fragile States: The Power of Ideas (pp. 36-55).
- Sovereignty and the Denial of International Equality Writing Civilisational Difference in Early Modern International Relations. Routledge.
- Research group
-
International Relations
- Supervision Expertise
I welcome PhD candidates in my areas of research, in particular:
- Violence and (counter)terrorism in colonial and post-colonial contexts;
- Sovereignty, Interventions and peacebuilding;
- Colonialism and its legacies (especially for French international relations and security practices).
- Critical and post-colonial approaches to security
- Historical approaches in global politics (colonial history and the legacies of colonialism).