Mohamed Elgohari

Mohamed Elgohari

Mohamed Elgohari

Affiliate Faculty

Sociology: AI and Society, Securitization of Sports, Law, Democratization, Social Movements, Middle East, Egypt

I am a political sociologist and an affiliate faculty member in George Mason University’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the Movement Engaged Research Hub at the Center for Social Science Research. My research asks how authoritarian power becomes embedded in everyday governance and how collective action challenges its reach. I also examine how technology, particularly artificial intelligence, reshapes social and political life. I pursue these questions through historically grounded research that brings the experiences of the Middle East and North Africa into wider debates about state power and political change.

My work examines how law and military institutions organize state power and shape the possibilities for political participation. I received my PhD in Sociology from George Mason University in 2025 and hold an MA in Comparative Politics from New York University.

My dissertation, The Paradox of Legalism: The Instrumentalization of Law, the Militarization of Governance, and the Consolidation of Authoritarianism in Post-2011 Egypt, examines the nexus between law and the military institution in the construction of Egypt’s authoritarian order after the 2011 uprising. It analyzes how constitutional restructuring and legal mechanisms expanded the military’s political authority and economic power, embedded its influence within civilian governance and insulated it from accountability. The dissertation explains how law and military power reinforced one another to reshape state-society relations and constrain democratic change.

My current research extends this inquiry into the relationship between computational systems and governing capacity. Through the concept of algorithmic legalism, I examine how law organizes the expansion of the state’s infrastructural power: its capacity to gather and connect information, classify populations and intervene through ordinary institutions. The project investigates how these capacities can strengthen authoritarian practices across regime types, including within democracies. I examine how legal obligations and public-private infrastructures make computational capacities available to state institutions, and how these arrangements affect accountability and opportunities for contestation.

Related projects examine the militarization of local governance in Egypt and the securitization of football stadiums across the region. My work on stadium governance investigates how security practices and identity-linked ticketing systems reorganize collective participation and constrain autonomous fan communities. I am developing a comparative book project on sport and state power in North Africa and the Gulf. Through Movement Engaged, I also study the expansion of data centers in Egypt and the political and legal contestations surrounding their development.

A further strand of my research concerns militant propaganda and political communication. Between 2022 and 2024, I managed the Arabic Propaganda Analysis Team at the University of Chicago’s Chicago Project on Security and Threats, where I led primary-source research and briefed U.S. and European policymakers. Since leaving CPOST, I have continued this research independently and founded Bulletin from the Shadows (BFTS), a monthly bulletin analyzing militant propaganda. My work also examines Iran’s AI-generated propaganda, including how Akhbār Enfejārī adapts its messaging for different audiences. I published an analysis of these productions in Foreign Policy and launched Brick Signals, a Substack series that follows and analyzes the group’s releases.

Current Research

  • Algorithmic Legalism
  • Securitization of Sports in MENA
  • Law and Authoritarianism 
  • Jihadist groups' propaganda 

Selected Publications

Expanded Publication List

1. PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLES
Elgohari, Mohamed. 2022. “Deconstructing the Relation between Law and Authoritarianism: How Law Consolidated Authoritarianism in Post-2011 Egypt.” Arab Law Quarterly 36(4–5):452–475. 

2. BOOK CHAPTERS
Elgohari, Mohamed. 2009. “Democracy and the Current Popular Movement of the Arab Mainstream.” In Rereading the Project of Democracy Studies in the Arab World. Cairo: Civilization Center for Political Studies. [Arabic]

Elgohari, Mohamed. 2008. “The U.S. Foreign Policy Towards the Islamic Ummah and the Middle East: Continuity and Change During the Last Year of the Bush Administration.” In Islamic Ummah and the World: Annual Yearbook. Cairo: Civilization Center for Political Studies. [Arabic]

Elgohari, Mohamed. 2008. “Deconstructing the Concepts of Jihad and Social Contract.” In Dictionary of Moderation Concepts from an Islamic Perspective. Cairo: Civilization Center for Political Studies. [Arabic]

3. RESEARCH REPORTS
Elgohari, Mohamed. 2024. “The Two Faces of the Hamas Propaganda War.” Chicago: University of Chicago, Chicago Project on Security and Threats (CPOST).

Elgohari, Mohamed. 2024. “How the War in Gaza Is Helping Hamas: Analysis of Public Opinion in Gaza and the West Bank after October 7.” Chicago: University of Chicago, CPOST.

Elgohari, Mohamed. 2023. “Winning Hearts and Minds: Hamas Propaganda Campaign Post October 7.” Chicago: University of Chicago, CPOST.

4. PUBLIC SCHOLARSHIP & POLICY COMMENTARY
Elgohari, Mohamed. 2026. “Iran’s Lego Clips Are Anything but ‘Stupid.’” Foreign Policy, September 21. https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/09/21/iran-lego-videos-propaganda-rubio/

Elgohari, Mohamed. 2025. “Are Palestinians Ready to Shed Hamas?” Foreign Affairs, December 1. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/middle-east/are-palestinians-ready-shed-hamas

Elgohari, Mohamed. 2024. “The Crisis of Political Cadre Formation in the United States.” Ittijahat al-Ahdath, no. 36 (Winter–Spring):114–123. [Arabic]

Elgohari, Mohamed. 2014. “Ultras and Authority: A Clash of Opposites.” Democracy Magazine, December 31. Cairo: Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. [Arabic]

Elgohari, Mohamed. 2013. “Egypt’s Ultras: No More Politics.” Jadaliyya, June 30.

Elgohari, Mohamed. 2013. “How Can We Understand the Ultras?” Jadaliyya, April 15. [Arabic]

Elgohari, Mohamed. 2013. “The Ongoing Struggle for Egyptian Civil Society.” EgyptSource, Atlantic Council, December 17.

Elgohari, Mohamed. 2013. “The Struggle for the Public Sphere: The State versus Society.” EgyptSource, Atlantic Council, October 16.

Elgohari, Mohamed. 2013. “The General Speaks Out.” EgyptSource, Atlantic Council, October 10.

Elgohari, Mohamed. 2013. “A Path Leading to Failure.” EgyptSource, Atlantic Council, September 23.

Elgohari, Mohamed. 2013. “Nabil Salib Heads Egypt’s Supreme Electoral Commission.” EgyptSource, Atlantic Council, September 11.

Elgohari, Mohamed. 2012. “Institutional Framework Needed to Unite Arab Americans.” Voices of NY, December 4.

Elgohari, Mohamed. 2012. “The Egyptian Christians and the Rise of Illiberal Democracy.” Global Politics Magazine, April 27.

Elgohari, Mohamed. 2012. “Egypt’s Generals Won’t Allow a Smooth Transition.” Worldpress, April 19.

CURRENT RESEARCH & MANUSCRIPTS

6. MANUSCRIPTS UNDER REVIEW
Elgohari, Mohamed. “From the Curva to the Security Apparatus: Ultras, Securitization, and the State’s Consolidation of the Sports Public Sphere in Egypt.” Chapter manuscript under review, MENA Yearbook of Social Sciences, Social Sciences Lab–MENA/Brill, 2026.

7. WORKS IN PROGRESS
Elgohari, Mohamed. “From Legalism to Algorithmic Control: Digital Authoritarianism, Legal Instruments, and the AI-Enhanced Surveillance State in the MENA Region.” Manuscript in preparation.

Elgohari, Mohamed. “Legitimacy Under Fire: Palestinian Public Opinion as a Form of Resistance in the Post–October 7 Era.” Manuscript in preparation.

Elgohari, Mohamed. “The Lego Doctrine: How Generative AI Collapses the Cost-Authenticity Tradeoff in Militant Propaganda Production.” Manuscript in preparation.

Grants and Fellowships

  • GSAS Teaching and Learning Program, New York University.
  • Ford Foundation International Fellowship Program. 
  • Model American Congress exchange program, Washington DC.

Courses Taught

  • Power, Politics, and Society
  • Violence, Conflict, and Peace. 
  • Sociology of Religion (TA).

Education

  • PhD in Sociology, George Mason University 2025
  • MA in Comparative Politics, New York University 2013
  • BA in Political Science, Cairo University 2002

Recent Presentations

  • October 3–5, 2026. “From Legalism to Algorithmic Control: Law, AI, and the Reconfiguration of Authoritarian Governance in the MENA Region.” Fifth ACRPS Conference for Arab Graduate Students in Western Universities, Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, Doha, Qatar.
  • June 10–12, 2026. “Securitized Liaison: Legal Engineering, Personnel Placement, and the Militarization of Local Governance in Post-2013 Egypt.” Ninth Annual Conference on Participation and Decision-Making: Studies on Citizen Engagement and Mobilization in Local Governance, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
  • October 2025. “From Legalism to Algorithmic Control.” Invited lecture, George Mason University.
  • September 10, 2025. “From Legalism to Algorithmic Control: Digital Authoritarianism, Legal Instruments, and the AI-Enhanced Surveillance State in the MENA Region.” APSA MENA Research Development Group, American Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Vancouver, Canada.
  • June 25–26, 2025. “Strategic Narratives and the Battlefield of Perception: Hamas’s Bilingual Propaganda as a Tool of Political and Military Influence.” Workshop on War and Politics in MENA, Arab Network for Political Science, American University in Cairo, Egypt.
  • September 2024. “Early Warning from Hamas Arabic Propaganda: Implications for European Security.” Invited expert briefing, Working Party on External Aspects of Terrorism (COTER), Council of the European Union, Budapest, Hungary.