Marie Louise Combes
Adjunct Professorial Lect
School of International Service
Additional Positions at AU
Adjunct faculty at the Elliott School, George Washington University
Adjunct faculty at the School of International Service, American University
Degrees
AB Dartmouth College, magna cum laude
MA in International Affairs; American University of Paris, with distinction
MA in sociologie des conflits; Institut Catholique de Paris
PhD in International Relations; American University
Languages Spoken
French, Arabic, Russian, Italian
Favorite Place in Washington DC
C&O canal with my dog
Bio
M. L. deRaismes Combes recently finished a postdoctoral fellowship at the Clements Center for National Security at the University of Texas at Austin and is currently teaching at American University. She received her PhD in International Relations at AU’s School of International Service in 2018. Her dissertation examined the role of 9/11 in formulating, propagating, and contesting U.S. security policies from September 2001 to January 2017. She received her AB in French and War & Peace Studies at Dartmouth College (Magna cum Laude) and later completed a dual bilingual Master’s program in Paris on International Relations and the Sociology of Conflict (with distinction). Her research is interdisciplinary by nature and draws on the historical roots of identity and colonialism to better analyze contemporary U.S. foreign policy and international security, with a focus on the Middle East and South Asia. She is currently working on a project comparing U.S. counterinsurgency efforts in Vietnam – particularly the use of “winning hearts and minds” -- to operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Past scholarship and policy work have covered homegrown terrorism, ISIS, the Arab/Israeli conflict, the Islamic world, ethnic and civil wars, irregular warfare, as well as the theoretical underpinnings of international relations.
