Mitchell received his B.A. from Cambridge University in 1977 after which he began his doctoral studies in Politics at Princeton University, from which he received a Ph.D. in 1984. Upon arrival he was "surprised to discover that the Politics Department at Princeton was teaching the same old positivism. I was interested in the politics of the Arab world, having traveled there several times, so I evaded political science by taking courses in Middle Eastern history and Arabic language and spent three of the next six years studying and researching in Cairo. Meanwhile, Discipline and Punish had just appeared in English and Orientalism came out a year later. I read these against the Marx I had studied as an undergraduate, and moved on to Derrida and Heidegger, all of which informed the book I eventually produced, Colonising Egypt." Mitchell is known for his expansive research into modern Egypt's economy and for his different contributions to postcolonial theory. Jeffrey Azarva has called Mitchell's book Colonising Egypt a staple of university syllabi. Mitchell's book rests on the theory that the roots of colonialism are as much internal as external, and that power operates through representation and culture as well as brute force. Nineteenth century reforms and modernization, Mitchell asserts, were backdoor attempts to subjugate Egypt to British influence. Urban planning and other attempts to control the basic elements of daily life enabled subjugation. Mitchell responded to 9/11 with a critique of American support for autocracy in the Muslim world and for Israel, asserting that "Washington continues to side with the exclusionary politics and expansionist militarism of the Israeli government. Most Palestinians endure this American-funded violence and collective imprisonment with a quite extraordinary forbearance and fortitude. But the resources for collective resistance are very few, the rule of the Palestinian authority is increasingly inept and corrupt, and for some the politics of despair and a reactive violence are never far away."
Political activity
Mitchell is a supporter of the academic boycott of Israel. Mitchell also signed a petition "La démocratie en Iran, pas la guerre. Trois cents intellectuels appellent l'ONU à faire pression pour les droits de l'homme sans se focaliser sur le nucléaire", a letter advocating democracy in Iran and discouraging militarism, a letter supporting the right of NYU graduate teaching assistants to make their own decisions on unionization, and many other political open letters signed by academics.
