1. Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient
  2. Research
  3. Cross-Cutting, Exploratory and Supplementary Research
  4. Research Group "Learning Intelligence"

Research Group "Learning Intelligence"

Open
Noura Chalati, Dr. Sophia Hoffmann, Ali Dogan (v.l.n.r.)

Learning Intelligence: The Exchange of Secret Service Knowledge between Germany and the Arab Middle East 1960–2010

The research group Learning Intelligence investigates and analyses the exchange of secret service knowledge between German and Arab intelligence agencies between 1960 and 2010. The group carries out the project titled “Learning Intelligence: The Exchange of Secret Service Knowledge between Germany and the Arab Middle East”, which is funded by a Freigeist Fellowship Grant from the Volkswagen Foundation.

If you are interested in regular updates, follow us on Twitter @LearnIntelZMO !

Forum zu Nachrichtendienstforschung in der Zeitschrift für Internationale Beziehungen (ZIB)

In der ZIB erschien vor Kurzem ein Forum, von Prof. Dr. Sophia Hoffmann herausgegeben. Mit Beiträgen von Sophia Hoffmann, Noura Chalati und Ali Dogan.

Follow us on Twitter! @LearnIntelZMO

Check out our new Twitter page and see what's going on in our project and learn more about intelligence agencies, surveillance and security.

Interview mit Noura Chalati im SWR2 Wissen Podcast

Assads Folterknechte – Wie die Nazis den syrischen Geheimdienst aufbauten

Interview mit Noura Chalati über Geheimdienstbeziehungen Syriens und der DDR

Ab den 1960er Jahren entwickelte sich ein reger Austausch zwischen den Geheimdiensten der DDR und Syriens. Noura Chalati untersucht ihn.

Podcast "MfS und Mukhabarat" mit Noura Chalati - Hier reinhören!

Über Forschung im Stasi-Archiv, Beziehungen zwischen MfS und syrischen Geheimdiensten, Überwachung und warum Geheimdienste Bourdieu'sche Felder sind!

Ali Dogan's new article about Saddam's Mukhabarat in West Germany is out!

Ali Dogan reveals a new discovery about the nature and extent of the relationship between the Iraqi and West German intelligence services during the [...]

"West Germany's Secret Back Channel to Iraq" by Ali Dogan

Starting in 1979 and lasting through most of the Iran-Iraq War, West German and Iraqi intelligence officials developed a backchannel that resulted in [...]

Staff

Individual Research Projects

Publications

2022, Forum Nachrichtendienste. ZIB - Zeitschrift für Internationale Beziehungen 29 (2).

2022, Sophia Hoffmann, Noura Chalati and Ali Dogan. “Rethinking intelligence practices and processes: three sociological concepts for the study of intelligence,” Intelligence and National Security (open access). 

2022, Hoffmann, Sophia. "The geopolitical economy of state-led intelligence-commerce: two examples from Iraq and West Germany," Globalizations.

2021, Dogan, Ali. “Saddam's Mukhabarat in West Germany: Monitoring and Silencing the Iraqi Opposition”, Wilson Center, Washington D.C.

2021, Dogan, Ali. "West Germany's Secret Back Channel to Iraq", Wilson Center, Washington D.C.

2021, Hoffmann, Sophia. "Circulation, not Cooperation: Towards a new understanding of intelligence agencies as transnationally constituted knowledge providers", Intelligence and National Security, online first 1st Juli 2021.

2021, Dogan, Ali. "Saudi Arabia's Neom Diplomacy", Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 3rd March 2021.

2020, Chalati, Noura. "Illness as Metaphor and Reality in Syria", Middle East Report 297 (Winter 2020).

2020, Hoffmann, Sophia.  "The possibilities and limits of ethnography: two examples from Syria and Jordan". In: Schlichte, K. and Biecker, S., eds.,The Political Anthropology of Internationalized Politics. ML: Rowman and Littlefield.

2020, Hoffmann, Sophia. "Humanitarian Corridor"; "Sovereignty"; "Impartiality"; "International Cooperation". In: De Lauri, A., ed., Humanitarianism: Keywords. Leiden: Brill.

2020, Hoffmann, Sophia.  "Arab students and the Stasi: Agents and objects of intelligence", Security Dialogue, Online First, 31st March 2020.

2019, Hoffmann, Sophia. "Why is there no IR scholarship on intelligence? Some ideas for a new approach", ZMO Working Papers Nr 23, Berlin: ZMO.