Vito Morisco

About me:

Vito Morisco obtained his bachelor's degree in Intercultural Communication and Mediation at the University of Bari, Italy, in 2013 and worked as an intern at the immigration office of the Italian Ministry of the Interior. In 2015, he completed a two-year master’s degree in International Studies and Diplomacy at the University of Siena, Italy, with a dissertation on Italian foreign policy in the Mediterranean by analysing archival historical sources

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During his MA, Vito also worked as an intern at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, a US Department of Defence organisation based in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, focusing on cyber security and terrorism. In September 2017, he completed his master’s degree in Middle East and Islamic Studies at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies (IAIS), University of Exeter, with a dissertation on collective deradicalisation dynamics in Algeria and Tajikistan under the supervision of Dr Omar Ashour.

Before returning to the IAIS as a doctoral student, Vito completed a Certificate in Terrorism Studies at the Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence (CSTPV), University of St. Andrews. He is currently working on a PhD in Arab and Islamic Studies and his research is supervised by Dr Lise Storm and Dr Billie Jeanne Brownlee.

In addition, he studied Persian at the Dehkhoda Lexicon Institute at the University of Tehran in Iran and Arabic at the University of Jordan in Amman.

Vito is currently working as postgraduate teaching assistant (PTA) at the University of Exeter and as non-resident junior analyst in a private think tank based in London – the Institute for Islamic Strategic Affairs (IISA) – where his responsibilities include drafting weekly reports on armed groups in Libya and Syria and supporting Track II diplomatic initiatives.

Research Project:

This doctoral research analyses Hezbollah’s transformation from 2001 to 2021 through the lenses of relational sociology. Relational sociology, as outlined in Emirbayer’s Manifesto for a Relational Sociology (1997), considers social reality in dynamic, fluid and processual terms thus social/political movements transform, across time and space, due to multiple and complex relational interactions with other actors. Therefore, this project analysis Hezbollah’s evolution within four “arenas of interactions”, namely: 1. Hezbollah vis-à-vis the Lebanese state; 2. Hezbollah and the Lebanese army/security forces; 3. Intra-movement relations (e.g. ideology, political identity, structure etc.); 4. Hezbollah and the public arena

Moreover, this doctoral project aims, first, to contribute to the research on political violence offering, possibly, a new perspective; and, second, to emancipate movements such as Hezbollah going beyond orthodox terrorism and security studies. The author will adopt an interdisciplinary approach by analysing his case study through Social Movement Theory (SMT) and Critical Security Studies (CSS). Indeed, while mainstream security and terrorism studies consider political violence as a sui generis social pathology, SMT and CSS scholars examine this phenomenon never in isolation but within the movement and, more broadly, within the societal and political context.

Although this work is focused on the Middle East, it raises interesting comparative perspectives with other global groups (e.g. the IRA, ETA, etc.) in order to "de-orientalize" the study of Islamist movements by placing the selected case studies within the same theoretical framework of Western political/social movements.

Research Supervisory team:

Dr Lise Storm (Senior Lecturer in Middle East Politics)

Dr Billie Jeanne Brownlee (Lecturer in Middle East Politics)

Research Wider Research Interests:

Topics

• Political Violence
• Islamist Movements
• Radicalisation, Moderation and Deradicalisation
• Middle East Politics
• IR of the Middle East
• Critical Terrorism Studies
• Social Movement Theory
• Italian Foreign Policy in the Mediterranean
• Islam in Italy

Regions

• Middle East and North Africa
• Central Asia (Afghanistan and Tajikistan)

Professional/research experience:

June 2019 August 2019

University of Jordan

Certificate in Arabic Language I

February 2019

University of Exeter (UK)

Learning and Teaching in Higher Education

January 2019

University of Exeter (UK)

Postgraduate Teaching Assistant (PTA)

October 2017 October 2018

University of St Andrews (Scotland)

Certificate in Terrorism Studies

January 2017 May 2019

Institute for Islamic Strategic Affairs (UK)

Non-resident junior analyst

January 2016 March 2016

University of Tehran (Iran)

Certificate in Persian Language I

October 2014 December 2014

George Marshall European Center for Security Studies (Germany)

Intern

April 2013 May 2013

Immigration Office - Ministry of Interior (Italy)

Intern

Education:

January 2018 January 9999

University of Exeter (UK)

PhD in Arab and Islamic Studies

Thesis title: "Relational Radicalisation and Deradicalisation Within Movement Parties: Case Studies of Hamas and Hezbollah"

Supervisors: Dr Lise Storm, Dr Billie Jeanne Brownlee

January 2016 January 2017

University of Exeter (UK)

MA in Middle East and Islamic Studies

Thesis title: "The De-radicalization of Islamists in the Middle East and Central Asia: Case Studies of Algeria and Tajikistan"

January 2013 January 2015

University of Siena (Italy)

MA in International Studies and Diplomacy

January 2009 January 2013

University of Bari (Italy)

BA in Intercultural Communication and Mediation

Thesis title: "Language and Power: How World Leaders Have Influenced Public Opinion"