Shahrbanou Tadjbakhsh


Shahrbanou Tadjbakhsh is an Iranian-American researcher, university lecturer, and United Nations consultant in peacebuilding, conflict resolution, counter-terrorism, and radicalization, best known for her work in "Human Security" and for contributions in the republics of Central Asia and Afghanistan. Currently, she is a lecturer at Sciences Po, researcher, and consultant to the United Nations.

Background

Shahrbanou Tadjbakhsh was born on December 5, 1965, in Iran.
: here, rally at Shakhidon Square, Dushanbe
In 1987, she received a BA from Georgetown University; in 1991 she earned an MA and in 1994 a doctorate from Columbia University plus certificate from Columbia's Harriman Institute. Her doctoral thesis was "The A-Soviet Woman of the Muslim East and Nativization in Tajikistan", supervised by Edward A. Allworth.

Career

Academia

Since 2003, Tadjbakhsh has been an lecturer at Sciences Po. She teaches courses on Human Security at the Paris School of International Studies and at the Summer School within the Institute of Political Studies, Paris as well as a course on Understanding and Responding to Violent Extremism at the Master's of International Security at Sciences Po.
In 2015, she gave a series of lectures to four universities in Tehran, Iran. In May 2013, Tadjbakhsh delivered a Kapuscinski Lecture sponsored by UNDP and the European Commission on the theme of Human Security, delivered at the University of Riga and the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, Latvia.
In addition, in 2002, Tadjbakhsh served as Adjunct Lecturer at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a Visiting Scholar at the Harriman Institute for post-Soviet Studies through 2004. In 2008, she has been a visiting professor at the Jamia Islamiya University in India. She has been a visiting professor also at the: Academy of Sciences in Tajikistan, Russian Centre for Strategic Research and International Studies in Russia, Jawaharlal Nehru University in India, and University of Pretoria in South Africa.

Research

Since 2014, she has been academic advisor to the Afghan Institute of Strategic Studies and has provided guidance for the research and publication of a series of papers on radicalization in Afghanistan.
From 2009 to 2016, Tadjbakhsh was an associate researcher in the CMI–PRIO Afghanistan Initiative "Afghanistan in a Neighborhood Perspective" at PRIO.
From 2007 to 2010, Tadjbakhsh took part in the Peace Research Institute Oslo research project "Liberal Peace and the Ethics of Peacebuilding."
Between 2007-2008, she and ran a one year joint research project between the Institute of Political Studies and Kabul University researching on differences in perceptions on peacebuilding based on liberal values in Afghanistan and its alternatives.
In 2004, Tadjbakhsh founded Journal of Human Security / la revue de Sécurité Humaine at Sciences Po, which ran through 2008.

United Nations

Tadjbakhsh served on the staff of the United Nations Department of Political Affairs from 1997 to 2003 and since then has worked with various United Nations organizations and at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
Since 2010, Tadjbakhsh has been a consultant for the United Nations Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy in Central Asia and the UN Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force, for whom she has engaged in preparing and implementing the Action Plan for Implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in Central Asia.
In collaboration with the UN's Human Security Unit, she prepared a training manual for operationalizing the human security as a concept. She also contributed to the reports of the UN Secretary General on Human Security which led to a General Assembly Resolution in 2012. She trained UN staff on Human Security in various regions. She has helped prepare the Reports on the Millennium Development Goals for Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
. Countries coloured green - high human development, yellow/orange - medium human development, red - low human development.
In 2003, Tadjbakhsh left the UN but has continued to contribute to UN Human Development Reports. She led team in preparing Human Development Reports on South Eastern Europe, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Nepal. She also worked with teams in preparing Human Development Reports for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Djibouti, and Mongolia among others.
In 2000, while also working at the Human Development Report Office at UNDP headquarters, Tadjbakhsh set up the National Human Development Report Unit in 2000 and ran a Community of Practice Network on Human Development.
, Uzbekistan: here, Museum of Applied Arts
From 1995 and through 2003, Tadjbakhsh worked at the United Nations Development Program at the Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, based in Tashkent and in Bratislava, covering 27 countries of the region. She worked in peacebuilding, conflict resolution, counter-terrorism, and radicalization. She collaborated with UN agencies including the Political Affairs, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific as well as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

Current

Tadjbakhsh continues as an lecturer at Sciences Po. Currently she is teaching a course on Human Security and a course on Understanding and Responding to Violent Extremism, both at the Master's of International Security at Sciences Po. She also runs a summer course on Human Security at Sciences Po.
Tadjbakhsh continues as a researcher and UN consultant. In January 2018, she worked with the Permanent Mission of Kazakhstan to the United Nations on their Presidency of the United Nations Security Council to help with resolutions and statements on counter-terrorism and on Afghanistan.

Human Security

As a leader of the Human Security Specialization at the Institute of Sciences Po, Tadjbakhsh advocates for broad definition of "Human Security" to encompass not only freedom from fear but also freedom from want and indignity.
In May 2013, she delivered a Kapuscinski Lecture sponsored by UNDP and the European Commission on the theme of Human Security, delivered at the University of Riga and the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, Latvia.

Personal life

Tadjbakhsh has served on the Board of Governors of Jacobs University/International University of Bremen Germany between. She has also served on advisory boards of the: Cahiers de L’Orient, Central Asian Monitor, and the Afghanistan Institute for Strategic Studies.
Tadjbakhsh resides in France.

Works

Tadjbakhsh’s work appears in detail on WorldCat. They include:
Books:
Chapters, articles, other: