Raphaël Lefèvre's new book, Jihad in the City: Militant Islam and Contentious Politics in Tripoli, is based on more than 200 interviews with Islamist fighters from Tawhid, and their enemies, who ravaged Tripoli, Lebanon in the period 1982-1985.

“With my book I wanted to shed light on a little-known historical event with large contemporary echo: the creation by a militant Islamist movement of an ‘Islamic Emirate’ on the city of Tripoli, Lebanon in 1982-1985. This movement has modern parallels​ with the ‘Islamic Caliphate’ created by ISIS in parts of Iraq and Syria after 2014,” says Raphaël Lefèvre.

Now, Raphaël Lefèvre is honored by the American Political Science Association for the best book award 2022 in the Middle East and North Africa category.

"I am delighted to have received this award, which also sheds light on the excellent work carried out at Aarhus University in Political Science, International Relations and Middle East Politics. Without such an inspiring, strong and supportive scholarly community, amongst them my two mentors Morten Valbjørn and Jeroen Gunning, I could not have written this book," says Raphaël Lefèvre.

In addition to the postdoc position at the Department of Political Science at Aarhus BSS at Aarhus University, Raphaël Lefèvre is also a senior research fellow at the Department of Politics and International Relations at Oxford University.

• Read the book Jihad in the City on Cambridge University Press' website.
• Read more about Raphaël Lefèvre and his research on his PURE profile.