Mojtaba Mahdavi-Ardekani, PhD

Contact

Professor, Faculty of Arts - Political Science Dept

Email: mahdavia@ualberta.ca
Address: 10-25 Tory (H.M.) Building
11211 Saskatchewan Drive NW

Edmonton AB

T6G 2H4

Overview

Area of Study / Keywords

Middle East and North Africa Islamic Political Thought Social Movements Democratization Post-colonialism State-Society Relations Political Economy Religion & Politics Contemporary Islamic Studies Iranian Studies

About

Mojtaba Mahdavi is Professor of Political Science and the ECMC Chair in Islamic Studies at the University of Alberta. He is the author and editor of numerous works on post-Islamism, contemporary social movements and democratization in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), postrevolutionary Iran, and modern Islamic political thought. He is the editor of The Myth of Middle East Exceptionalism: Unfinished Social Movements (Syracuse University Press, 2023), the co-editor of Rethinking China, the Middle East and Asia in a "Multiplex World" (Brill 2022), the co-editor of Towards the Dignity of Difference: Neither ‘End of History’ nor ‘Clash of Civilizations’ (Routledge 2012), the guest editor of The Many Faces of Contemporary Post-Islamism in journal of Religions (2021), and the guest editor of Contemporary Social Movements in the Middle East and Beyond in journal of Sociology of Islam (2014). Dr. Mahdavi is currently working on the following book projects: Ali Shariati and Beyond: Imagining Ethical Democratic Socialism in Muslim Contexts; Towards a Progressive Post-Islamism: Neo-Shariati Discourse in Postrevolutionary Iran; and Iran: Is a post-Islamist Democracy Possible?

He is a recipient of numerous awards and grants including the Fulbright Canada Visiting Scholar Award at Princeton University, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Connection Grant, and the SSHRC Conference Fund, IDRC Canada Partnership Grant, Killam Research Operating Grant, Visiting Fellow Grant at the Liu Institute and Green College at the University of British Columbia, among others.

Dr. Mahdavi’s research lies at the intersection of critical Middle East Studies, Political Economy, Contemporary Islamic Studies, and Decolonial/Postcolonial Studies. It is primarily driven by his interest in socio-structural changes in the life of ordinary people and discursive/intellectual transformations in MENA/Muslim contexts. He is interested in supervising graduate students working on the critical study of social movements, state-society relations, religion & politics, and political economy of MENA; alternative modernities and democracies in Muslim majority contexts; critical post-colonial studies; and contemporary Islamic studies.

Research

Selected Publications:

Mahdavi, Mojtaba. 2025. "Did Progressive Muslims Pave the Way for the Hegemony of "Khomeinism"?: Public Religion and the 1979 Revolution. In Houchang E. Chehabi, Ed. Political, Social and Cultural History of Modern IranIn: Essays in Honour of Ervand Abrahamian. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 141-165.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba. 2024. "Red Capitalism and Neoliberal Authoritarianism: Revisiting Sino-MENA Relations." Sociology of Islam, vol. 10, no. 2, pp.101-124.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba. Ed. 2023. The Myth of Middle East Exceptionalism: Unfinished Social Movements. New York: Syracuse University Press.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba. 2023. "The Myth of MENA Exceptionalism." In Mojtaba Mahdavi, ed. The Myth of Middle East Exceptionalism: Unfinished Social Movements. New York: Syracuse University Press, pp. 1-25.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba. 2023. “The Velayat-e Faqih: Basis, Power, and Longevity.” In Mehran Kamrava, ed. The Sacred Republic: Power and Institutions in Iran. London: Hurst Publishers, pp.89-121.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba. 2023. "Non-Western Ideas." In J. Brodie, S. Rein, M. Smith, eds. Critical Concepts: An Introduction to Politics. Toronto: Oxford University Press, pp. 76-88.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba and T. Keskin. Eds. 2022. Rethinking China, the Middle East and Asia in a "Multiplex World". Leiden, Netherlands: Brill Publishers.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba. 2022. "The Triple Pillar of Sino–MENA Relations in the Age of Neoliberalism." In Mojtaba Mahdavi and T. Keskin, eds. Rethinking China, the Middle East and Asia in a "Multiplex World". Leiden, Netherlands: Brill Publishers, pp. 11-34.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba and T. Keskin . 2022. Introduction. In Mahdavi, Mojtaba and T. Keskin. Eds. Rethinking China, the Middle East and Asia in a "Multiplex World". Leiden, Netherlands: Brill Publishers, pp. 1-8.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba. Guest Editor. 2021. The Many Faces of Contemporary Post-Islamism. Journal of Religions.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba. 2021. "Ethical Democratic Socialism: Shariati's Legacy in the Age of Islamism and Neoliberalism." Pooye: Iranian Studies Quarterly, no. 14 (Winter): 89-112.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba. 2020. “ From Nakhshab to Neo-Shariati: Three Generations of Iran’s Modern Muslim Left.” In R. Jahanbegloo. Ed. Mapping the Role of Intellectuals in Iranian Modern and Contemporary History. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books; Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 275-294.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba. 2020. “Charismatic Authority in a Hybrid State: Reading Max Webber and Beyond in Postrevolutionary Iran.” In Mehran Kamrava. Ed. Routledge Handbook of Persian Gulf Politics. London: Routledge, pp. 292-307.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba. 2019. "Whither Post-Islamism: Revisiting the Discourse/Movement After the Arab Spring." In E. Mohamed and D. Fahmi, eds. Arab Spring and the Quest for New Metaphors: Modernity, Identity and Change. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 15-38.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba. 2018. “The Muslim Left in Iran in Three Episodes: From Nakhshab to Neo-Shariatis.” Azadiye Andisheh Journal, vol. 6 (June): 202-228.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba. 2017. "Iran: Multiple Sources of a Grassroots Social Democracy?" In P. Vahabzadeh, ed. Iran's Struggles for Social Justice: Economics, Agency, Justice, Activism. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 271-288.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba. 2017. "Ali Shariati’s Legacy and our Future.” In M. Jami, Ed. The Legacy of Shariati and the Future of Iran. London: H& S Media Ltd., pp. 244-256.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba. 2017. "Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place? Muslims and a Multidimensional Emancipatory Discourse." In M. Masaeli and R. Sneller, eds. The Root Causes of Terrorism: A Religious Studies Perspective. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp.198-218.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba. 2016. “The Challenge of Democratization in Post-Revolutionary Iran: Beyond the Democratic Peace Theory.” In Y. Halabi, ed. Democratic Peace Across the Middle East: Islam and Political Modernization. London and New York: I. B. Tauris, pp. 95-137.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba. 2015. “A Postcolonial Critique of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in the Middle East." Perceptions: Journal of International Affairs - Centre for Strategic Research, vol. XX, no. 1 (Spring): 7-36.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba. 2014. Guest Editor. “Contemporary Social Movements in the Middle East and Beyond.” Sociology of Islam, vol. 2, issue 3-4.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba. 2014. "Introduction: East Meets West? The Unfinished Project of Contemporary Social Movements in the Middle East and Beyond." Sociology of Islam, vol. 2, issue 3-4: 103-110.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba. 2014. “One Bed and Two Dreams? Contentious Public Religion in the Discourses of Ayatollah Khomeini and Ali Shariati.” Studies in Religion, vol. 43, no. 1: 25-52.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba. 2014. “Postrevolutionary Iran: Resisting global and regional hegemony.” In T. Ismael and G. Perry, eds. International Relations of the Middle East Today: Subordination and After. Routledge, pp. 141-173.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba. 2014. “The Rise of Khomeinism: Problematizing the Politics of Resistance in Pre-revolutionary Iran.” In A. Adib-Moghaddam, ed. A Critical Introduction to Ayatollah Khomeini. Cambridge University Press, pp. 43-68.

Mojtaba Mahdavi. 2014. "Iran, Islamic Republic of." In Emad El-Din Shahin, ed. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Politics. Oxford University Press.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba. 2013. “Muslims and Modernities: from Islamism to Post-Islamism?” Religious Studies and Theology, vol. 32, no. 1: 31-56.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba.2013. “Ayatollah Khomeini” In John L. Esposito and Emad El-Din Shahin, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Islam and Politics. Oxford University Press, pp.180-201.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba and Andy Knight. Eds. 2012. Towards ‘The Dignity of Difference’? Neither ‘End of History’ nor ‘Clash of Civilizations.’ Farnham: Ashgate Publishing Ltd/Routledge.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba and Andy Knight. 2012. “Introduction: Towards ‘The Dignity of Difference? Neither ‘The End of History’ nor ‘The Clash of Civilizations.’” In Mojtaba Mahdavi and Andy Knight, eds. Towards ‘The Dignity of Difference’? Neither ‘End of History’ nor ‘Clash of Civilizations.’ Ashgate Publishing Ltd/Routledge, pp. 1-23.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba. 2012. “Civil Society Approach to Democratization in Iran: The Case for Bring it Back in Carefully.” In R. Jahanbegloo, ed. Civil Society and Democracy in Iran. Lexington Books, pp. 79-93.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba. 2012. “R2P in the Middle East and North Africa” In A. Knight and F. Egerton, eds. Routledge Handbook of the Responsibility to Protect. Routledge, pp. 257-275.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba. 2011. “Post-Islamist Trends in Post-Revolutionary Iran.” Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, vol. 31, no.1: 94-109.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba. 2009. “Islam/Muslims and Political Leadership.” In J. Masciulli, M. A. Molchanov, and A. Knight, eds. The Ashgate Research Companion to Political Leadership. Ashgate Publishing Ltd/Routledge, pp. 287-306.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba. 2009. “Universalism from Below: Muslims and Democracy in Context.” International Journal of Criminology and Sociological Theory, vol. 2, no. 2 (December): 276-291.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba.2008. “Rethinking Structure and Agency in Democratization: Iranian Lessons.” International Journal of Criminology and Sociological Theory, vol. 1, no.2 (December): 142-160.

Mahdavi, Mojtaba. 2008. “The West and the Rest.” In Janine Brodie and Sandra Rein. Eds. Critical Concepts: An Introduction to Politics. 4th edition. Toronto: Prentice Hall, pp. 265-275.