Dr Elisabetta Brighi

I joined the University of Westminster in 2014 and now serve as Assistant Head of School for Social Sciences, alongside my role as Senior Lecturer in International Relations. I bring rigour and warmth to academic management, leading in a way that is resonant, effective, and grounded in a commitment to inclusive excellence. Within the School of Social Sciences, I hold specific responsibility for Politics and International Relations, where I oversee curriculum development, support staff and students, and contribute to strategic planning across the School.

My academic journey has spanned institutions of global excellence. After graduating at the oldest University in the Western world, the University of Bologna, I received a Masters degree and a Doctorate in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). I was then a Jean Monnet Fellow at the European University Institute (EUI) and the first 'Bennet Boskey' Junior Research Fellow at Exeter College, University of Oxford. I subsequently held research and teaching positions at the University of Cambridge and University College London (UCL), as well as visiting positions at the University of Milan 'La Cattolica', and the University of Naples 'L'Orientale'.

My scholarship is positioned within the field of critical security studies and international theory. I am particularly interested in theorising violence and insecurity (including terrorism, war, and urban security) from the affective, mimetic, and aesthetic dimensions. I have pioneered the introduction of René Girard’s mimetic theory in International Relations, and particularly within the study of international security, establishing a distinctive framework for analysing rivalry, scapegoating, and violence in global politics. I have secondary interests in international political theory, particularly pragmatism, mimetic theory qua critical theory, and the intellectual foundations of the New Right. My broader intellectual engagement with the field of IR is reflected in my authorship of the only book tracing the intellectual history of the International Relations Department at the London School of Economics, as well as my collaboration with Millennium: Journal of International Studies. Finally, I bring strong expertise to the field of foreign policy analysis, offering critical insights particularly into European and Italian foreign policy.

I am currently developing a series of forthcoming projects that build on my long-standing interdisciplinary engagement with the study of mimesis. The first advances a novel theory of terrorism through the lens of René Girard’s mimetic theory. The second explores populist right-wing leaders as ‘mimetic tricksters’, examining how they manipulate desire to consolidate power. The third investigates the misappropriation and weaponisation of mimetic theory by the US New Right, tracing its ideological distortions and strategic deployment in contemporary political discourse.

For details of all my research outputs, visit my WestminsterResearch profile.