ELHAM M. MANEA
PD. Dr. Elham Manea is of dual nationalities, Yemeni and Swiss. She is a political scientist specialized on the Arab Middle East, a writer, and a human rights activist. She has published academic and non-fiction books in English, German, and Arabic in addition to two novels in Arabic. Her research interests include Islamism in its two forms societal and political; politics of the Arabian Peninsula, especially Yemen; legal pluralism and Islamic Law; and gender and politics in the Arab MENA region.
EDUCATION
3/2006-12/2010
Habilitation (venia legendi) in Political Science
University of Zurich, Institute for Political Science, Department of International Relations
8/1996-11/2000
Ph.D. (high honors) in Political Science
University of Zurich, Institute for Political Science, Department of International Relations
08/1993-08/1995
M.A. (Cum Laude) in Comparative Politics
The American University, Washington, D.C.
09/1985-05/1989
B.A. (Summa Cum Laude) in Political Science
Kuwait University
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Since 06/2016
Senior Fellow, The European Foundation for Democracy, Brüssels
Since 02/2016
Senior Lecturer, University of Bern, Institute for Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies
Since 9/2014
Senior Researcher, Project Safeguarding Democracy: Contests of Values and Interests, Swiss South African Joint Research Programme(SSAJRP)
Since 09/2014
Lecturer, Department of Humanities, Social and Political Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich
Since 01/2010 Privatdozentin (compares to Associate Professor in North America), University of Zurich, Institute for Political Science, Department of International Relations
Since 05/2008 Consultant in Politics, Religion and Gender in the Middle East,Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (GIIDS) & Swiss Ministry for Foreign Affairs (EDA) / Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)/Freedom House/ USAID/ Swiss Federal Commission for Women Issues
03/2006-03/2009 Post-doc Fellow “UFSP Asien und Europa”, University of Zurich Institute for Political Science, Department of International Relations
Since 03/2005 Lecturer in Political Science, University of Zurich
Institute for Political Science, Department of International Relations
01/2004-12/2005 Deputy Head of the Arabic Service, Swissinfo, Bern, Switzerland
06/1997-12/2003 Multimedia Journalist and Radio Presenter, Swissinfo / Swiss Radio International, Arabic Service, Bern, Switzerland
01/1991-07/1993 Teaching Assistant, Political Science Department University of Sana'a, Republic of Yemen
06/1990-03/1993 Secretary of the Academic Staff Affairs Committee Office of the Vice Rector, Sana'a University
OTHER RELEVANT EXPERIENCE
Since 09/2014
Fellow of the Secular Global Institute (SGI), Washington, DC
8-12 Feb 2014
Member, Swiss Delegation, 5th Round of Human Rights Dialogue between Switzerland and Tajikistan
Since Aug 2013
Co-Chair Inclusive Mosque Initiative, Swiss Branch
Jan & Aug 2013
Field Work on Impact of Legal Pluralism, UK
Since 01/2012
Member, Federal Commission for Women Affairs
By appointment of the Swiss Federal Council
Since 03/2010 Member, Roundtable “Female Genital Mutilation and Child Protection”, UNICEF Swiss Section
Since 05/2010 Member, The Swiss Dialog Platform "Muslims in Switzerland”. The Directory of Justice and Internal Affairs, Canton Zurich
09/2006-11/2008 Field Work on the Arab State and Gender Politics in Yemen (September-October/2006), Syria (July/2007), and Kuwait (November/2008)
Since 07/2005 Affiliate Researcher, NCCR Democracy: "Challenges to Democracy in the 21st Century” – Project 3 “Democratizing Divided Societies in Bad Neighborhoods”, University of Zurich
03/1997 Interpreter and Interviewer “Yemen: The Last Drop of Water” Format NZZ (documentary film), Republic of Yemen
COURSES
Muslims in Europe: Migration, Integration and Conflicts, University of Bern, HS 2017
Yemen: a Failed State?, University of Zurich, FS 2012, FS 2013, HS 2014, FS 2015; ETH HS 2015; University of Bern, FS 2016
‘Activism’ and Social, Ethnic and Political Exclusions in the MENA Region, ETH, HS 2014
Political Islam: Islamists Parties in Arab States, University of Zurich, FS 2012, HS 2012, HS 2013, HS 2014, FS 2015; FS 2016, HS 2016, FS 2017
Islamism between Ideology and Context, University of Bern, FS 2016
Civil Society and Democratization in Arab States, University of Zurich; HS 2009, HS 2011, FS 2013
Histories of Yemen in the 20th Century: Contested Perspectives and Historical Narrations, University of Bern, HS 2012
Regional Politics of the Arabian Peninsula, University of Zurich, SS 2005, WS 05/06; SS 2007; HS 2008 & FS 2010, 2011, HS 2015; ETH, FS 2015, FS 2016
Politics of the Arabian Peninsula, University of Zurich, SS 2005; WS 05/06; SS 2007; HS 2008 & FS 2010; scheduled for FS 2011
Democratization of the Arabian Peninsula, University of Zurich, SS 2006, HS 2010
The Arab State and Women Rights, University of Zurich, WS 06/07; HS07; FS09
Civil Society and Democratization in Arab States, University of Zurich; HS 2009
Frauenrechte in den arabischen Staaten, Universität Bern, HS 2009
Gender und Politik in den arabischen Staaten, University of Zurich, HS 2010; scheduled for FS 2011
AWARDS
Research Grant, Swiss South African Joint Research Program (2014-2016)
Fellowship of UFSP Asien und Europa, University of Zurich (2006-2009)
Membership of the Pi Sigma Alpha, The National Political Science Honour Society, USA, 1994
Fulbright Scholarship, USA, 1993-1995
The Golden Medal for Achievement, Kuwait University, 1991
LANGUAGES
Arabic (mother tongue), fluent in English and German
ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS
Books
Regional Politics in the Gulf: Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, Saqi Books: London, 2005,
192 p.
Political Parties and Organizations in Yemen, 1948-1993 (in Arabic), The Athawabit
Book Series #2, Sana'a, 1994, 336 p.
Post Doctoral Thesis
The Arab State and Women’s Rights: The Trap of the Transitional State (Yemen, Syria, and Kuwait), Post-Doctoral Thesis (Habilitation), Submitted to Zurich University on November 2009, 265 p.
Dissertation
Regional Politics in the Developing World: The Case of the Arabian Peninsula (Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Oman), Doctorate Thesis, Studentendruckerei: Zurich, July 2001
[translated into Arabic and published in: Al Quds Newspaper, London, 24.09.2002 – 12/13.10.2002]
Essays and Papers
Am Anfang war der Stamm, inamo 62, Jahrgang 16, Summer 2010, pp. 4-8
Europa und seine muslimischen Migranten: Integration oder Assimilation, in: Kreis, Georg (Hrsg.), Europa in der Welt, Schwabe Verlag, Basel, forthcoming, 14 p.
Islam and Human Dignity: a Consequence-Based Approach to Human Dignity and Rights, in: Deimann, Dorothèe und Mugier, Simon (Hrsg.), Entgegensprechen: Texte zu Menschenwürde und Menschenrecht, Teil 1, Basel: edition gesowip, 2010, pp. 499-521
Yemen: Gender Situation, in: Women Rights in the Middle East and North Africa, Freedom House, Washington DC, February 2010, 24 p.
The Arab State and Women’s Rights: The Case of Saudi Arabia - The Limits of the Possible, Orient, German Journal for Politics, Economics and Culture of the Middle East, Berlin, July 2008, pp. 15-25
We do not Speak the Same Language! In: Bernhard Debatin (Hrsg.), Der Karikaturenstreit und die Pressefreiheit: Wert- und Normenkonflikte in der globalen Medienkultur, Reihe: Kultur und Technik, Schriftenreihe des Internationalen Zentrums für Kultur- und Technikforschung der Universität Stuttgart, Münster: LIT Verlag, 2007, pp. 45-47
Überleben und Übergeben: Familienherrschaften auf der Arabischen Halbinsel, in: Hartmut Fähndrich (Hrsg.), Vererbte Macht: Monarchien und Dynastien in der arabischen Welt, Campus Verlag: Frankfurt / New York, 2005, pp. 81-102
La tribu et l’Etat au Yémen, in: Mondher Kilani (ed.), Islam et changement social, Editions Payot: Lausanne, 1998, pp. 205 - 218
The Arab National Security between Theory and Reality (in Arabic), Althawabit Periodical: Sana'a 1993, pp. 197- 231
The Algerian Electoral Experience, in: Proceedings of the Symposium on the Electoral System and the Future of Democracy in Yemen (in Arabic), Sana'a, 16/17 February 1992, pp. 79 -104
Book Reviews
Rezension "Länderkunde Jemen”, Geographica Helvetica (Swiss Journal of Geography), Heft 1, 2007, pp. 57-58
“Note de Lecture: Saudi-Arabia”, in: SGMOIK Bulletin, Schweizerische Gesellschaft Mittlerer Osten und Islamische Kulturen, Nr. 18, May 2004, pp. 17-18.
NON ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS
Non-Fiction
Ich will nicht mehr Schweigen: Der Islam, der Westen und die Menschenrechte, Herder Verlag, Freiburg, 2009, 200p.
Novels
Sins (in Arabic), Dar Al Saqi: Beirut, 2008
Echo (in Arabic), Dar Al Saqi: Beirut, 2005
Articles and Essays
Is Yemen the Next Failed State?, The Guardian, London, December 29, 2009.
„Islamisches Recht in der Schweiz wäre Verheerend“, NZZ am Sonntag, January 4,
2009
Diary of an Arab Woman: For a Humanistic Islam, (in Arabic), published in a series
of online articles in: Middle East Transparent”, September 2005 - September 2006,
pp. 108
“Back to Islam”!, Yemen Observer, Vol. IX, issue 29, August 15, 2006
“Falsche Toleranz Diskriminiert die Mädchen", NZZ am Sonntag, February 12, 2006
“Im Jemen Streiten Staat und Stämme um die Macht", Tages Anzeiger, January 18,
2006
A monthly column in German in the Swiss newspaper Südostschweiz; a column
published every two weeks in Arabic in Alnedaa Newspaper, Sana’a (2006-present)
and Middle East Transparent, Online Magazine, Paris (2005-present); numerous
articles published in Arabic in: Swissinfo, Bern (2001- present), Al Quds Newspaper,
London (2001-2003), Albayan Newspaper, Dubai (2001
