Exiled Scholars and New Organizational Strategies in Academic Humanitarianism in Europe in the Aftermath of the Syrian War

Abstract

Over the past decade and more, many countries in the Middle East and Africa have experienced significant disruptions in their social and institutional life due to the rise of new wars and authoritarian regimes in the region. Although these crises have resulted in large masses of people, including many academics, migrating into neighbouring countries and Europe, the responses of European states to these crises have been varied, and the transnational networks of academic humanitarian actors have continued to expand, especially in Europe. Drawing on Foucault's theory of governmentality, the article proposes to consider these organizations as part of the larger ensemble of governing practices or the regime of what it suggestively calls academic humanitarianism. In this context, the article focuses on the new organizational strategies adopted by the four influential actors (Scholars at Risk Europe- SAR Europe; Philipp Schwartz Initiative -PSI- in Germany; the French Hosting Programme for Scientists in Exile -PAUSE- in France; the Council for At-Risk Academics -Cara in UK) of this network after the Syrian war and argues that this was a turning point that allowed the emergence of new organizational forms and strategies that accelerated the process of hybridization, professionalization and transnationalization of academic humanitarianism in resonance with the national context of each actor.