GMU Sociology Alumni Mohamed Elgohari' s Talk

From Legalism to Algorithmic Control: Digital Authoritarianism, Legal Instruments, and the AI-Enhanced Surveillance State in the MENA Region

Friday, October 10, 2025 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM EDT
Fuse at Mason Square, #6302

Mohamed Elgohari is a scholar–practitioner of authoritarianism, law, and technology whose work bridges rigorous research and movement-centered practice. He earned a PhD in Sociology from George Mason University, where his dissertation examined how political regimes instrumentalize law and militarized governance to consolidate authoritarian rule. Building on this foundation, his current research investigates algorithmic governance in the Middle East, tracing how cybercrime and counterterrorism legal frameworks intersect with platform policies, data pipelines, and automated enforcement to produce everyday digital repression, leading to a regional regime complex where regimes learn how to upgrade digital authoritarianism and algorithmic control.

Elgohari led the Propaganda team at the University of Chicago’s Chicago Project on Security and Threats, directing analyses of militant groups’ and other non-state actors’ propaganda and influence operations across the MENA region. In the policy arena, he has held roles at leading institutes—including Assistant Director at the Atlantic Council, MENA Program Officer at Freedom House, and researcher and team lead at Democracy for the Arab World Now—where he produced practitioner-facing briefs, data-driven assessments, and training modules.