Stig Jarle Hansen

Dr. Stig Jarle Hansen was a Professor at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), before joining Stanford in 2024. At NMBUhe led Norway’s only master program in international Relations. In 2016-2017 he was a Renee Belfer fellow at Harvard University. He is also a senior nonresident associate fellow at the Royal United Services institute in London. His work is in the intersection between crime, security and great power politics, and he has worked on relevant topics with a focus on the Middle East and Africa. 

Professor Hansen’s 2013 book, ‘Al-Shabaab in Somalia’, was critically acclaimed by Foreign Policy and The Economist, and Newsweek published a chapter of the book in their magazine. In 2019, he published a book ‘Horn, Sahel and Rift: Fault-Lines of the African Jihad’, acclaimed by Foreign Affairs, International Affairs and The Washington Times. He also worked as a maritime security analyst for the Danish based Risk Intelligence from 2006 to 2016, and has contributed to Jane’s Intelligence Review, as well as the MES Insights of the United States Marine Corps, and West Point’s CTC Sentinel. He has commented for CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, Reuters, CCTV 4, and many other international media outlets. 

Professor Hansen has also given presentations to various defense and governance institutions, including NATOs intelligence fusion center, NATOs defense college in Rome,  US Special Forces Command, as well as testified in  hearings the British house of commons, and been invited to give presentations to the senate foreign relations committee. He is a board member of the RAAD institute in Mogadishu, and a member of the editorial board of Small Wars and insurgencies.