Mathieu Guidère

Mathieu Guidere's interest in studying the Arab world began while he was a child as he spent his first 18 years in various countries throughout Africa and the Middle East. There, he received both a French and Arabic education. Upon arriving to Paris, he began his advanced studies at the Sorbonne University. There, he studied French literature and Middle Eastern cultures at Bachelor then the Master's level. During this time, he joined the Ecole supérieure de cadres interprètes traducteurs and graduated from there in 1995.[14] Then, in 1997, he received the agrégation degree in Arabic language and culture before obtaining his doctoral degree in linguistics a year later and while preparing a second doctorate in medieval Arab history from Paris-Sorbonne University.[15]

In short, Guidère holds a Ph.D. in linguistics, a master's diploma in French Linguistics and a MA in Arabic Studies, as well as a bachelor's in Middle Eastern Studies and a BA in French literature. He also has an HDR diploma (Accreditation to Supervise Doctoral Research, Habilitation à Diriger les Recherches) since 2005. His degrees were completed in both French and Arabic. He is fluent in several languages including a dozen of Arabic dialects. Dr. Guidere published books in Arabic, French and English (Historical Dictionary of Islamic Fundamentalism, 2017).

After his agrégation degree (1997), Guidere became an associate professor (Maître de Conférences) at the Lumière University Lyon 2 in France, where he taught linguistics and translation from 1998 to 2003.[16] After September 11, 2001, the French government made use of his knowledge and Guidere was appointed resident professor by the French Military Academy of Saint-Cyr in 2003. While at this position (which lasted until 2007), he was also the director of the Strategic Information Analysis Laboratory (LAISVT) in the academy's research center (CREC Saint-Cyr).

In 2006, he began to study radical groups for the Center for Advanced Defense Studies in Washington D.C.. Then, in 2007, Guidere joined the University of Geneva (Switzerland), where he was a full professor of multilingual monitoring and translation studies.[17]

He is the founder of Predictive Linguistics, an emerging discipline that studies the interrelation between linguistic markers and action considered as an intentional, purposive, conscious and subjectively meaningful activity. He coined the term "predictive linguistics" in 2006 while he was professor at the French Military Academy of Saint-Cyr and director of the Strategic Information Analysis Unit. In 2015, he published a book in French that summarizes his work on predictive linguistics: "La Linguistique predictive: de la cognition à l’action", one of his numerous writings on language and security. Guidere had already previously written many publications discussing the role of linguistic markers in the prediction of violent actions. Some of these previous publications include “Rich Language Analysis for Counterterrorism” and the detection of suicide bombing plans through the predictive analysis of suicide bombers’ notes and "testaments" in Les Martyrs d'Al-Qaida (2006). In 2011, he published the paper "Computational Methods for Clinical Applications: An Introduction", in which he also coined the term "cognitive computing”. Soon after, he developed, with Prof. Newton Howard, LXIO: the Mood Detection RoboPsych. By the end of 2012, the field had attracted the attention of many people and started to grow. He has been keynote speaker at the Internatioanl First Responder Military Symposium and the organizer of the European Symposium on Psycho-Trauma and PTSD.

In his books on the psychology of terrorism (2006, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017), Guidere examines, analyzes, evaluates and synthesizes what has been stated in the scientific and professional literature about the etiology of terrorism. He also offers a logical framework and an exploration of the psychodynamics of "Islamist Terrorism" by focusing on the concept of "fanaticism" which carries some implications of mental illness since the fanatic often has fastidious perspective to the world view, which is at the extreme end of a continuum.

In his recent books, he explains the cultural factors of terrorism and argues that violent actions derive from historical, political, and educational parameters. By giving thorough translations of terrorist biographies and case histories, he provides evidences that most major players in a terrorist organization are motivated by political and ideological mobiles often facilitated experiences of injustice, resentment and humiliation.

In "The Return of the Caliphate" (Paris, 2016), Guidere explores the frustration-aggression dynamics of Islamic State militants. He shows that the historical background is a key element to understand the new trends in radicalisation and terrorism. The New Terrorists (Paris, 2010) continues his research and investigates the effects of western foreign policy in the radicalization process of individuals in Western societies. Guidere shows that among terrorists, the themes of perceived injustice and humiliation are dominant. This misperception appears as a possible source of motivation for aggressive actions and, in some cases, a trigger for hardening one's militant ideology.

• La Guerre des Islamismes (Éditions Gallimard, 2017).
• Le Retour du Califat (Éditions Gallimard, 2016).
• Atlas du terrorisme islamiste (Éditions Autrement, 2017).
• Terreur: la nouvelle ère (Éditions Autrement, 2015).
• La Linguistique prédictive: de la cognition à l'action (Harmattan, 2015).
• Etat du monde arabe (Éditions De Boeck, 2015).
• Sexe et charia (Éditions du Rocher, 2014).
• Historical Dictionary of Islamic Fundamentalism (Scarecrow Press, 2012, New Ed. 2017).
• Le Printemps islamiste: démocratie et charia (Éditions Ellipses, 2012).
• Atlas des pays arabes (Éditions Autrement, 2012).
• Le Choc des révolutions arabes (Éditions Autrement, 2011; nouvelle édition 2012).
• Les Nouveaux terroristes (Éditions Autrement, 2010).
• Obama inchallah (Éditions Le Manuscrit, 2009).
• Al-Qaida à la conquête du Maghreb (Éditions du Rocher, 2007).
• Le Manuel de recrutement d'Al-Qaida (Éditions du Seuil, 2006).
• Riche comme un oignon (Editions Ellipses, 2008).
• Introduction à la traductologie (Éditions De Boeck, 2008)
• La communication multilingue (Éditions De Boeck, 2008)
• Irak in Translation ou De l'art de perdre une guerre sans connaître la langue de son adversaire (Éditions Jacob-Duvernet, 2008).
• Les Martyrs d'Al-Qaida (Éditions du Temps, 2005).
• La traduction arabe (Editions Ellipses, 2005).
• La poésie arabe classique (Éditions Ellipses, 2005).
• Dictionnaire multilingue de la Défense (Éditions Ellipses, 2004).
• Méthodologie de la recherche (Éditions Ellipses, 2004).
• Kalimât: le vocabulaire arabe (Éditions Ellipses, 2003).
• Manuel de traduction français-arabe (Éditions Ellipses, 2002).
• Lexique bilingue de l'arabe d'aujourd'hui (Éditions du Temps, 2001).
• Publicité et traduction (L'Harmattan, 2000).

• Mohammed Merah: France Shooting Suspect Seen as Home-Grown Militant, New York Times
• The Interview, France24
• An al-Qaeda link in British terrorism case?, The Washington Post
• Toulouse Safe from Gunman, The Riviera Times
• English-language magazine provided bomb tips to 9 terror suspects, British say, The Washington Post
• Toulouse Siege: As it Happened, The Telegraph
• These European Jihadists become Destabilized after their Return from Afghanistan, Huffington Post
• French Gunman was on Terror Watch List, The Ledger
• Live from France, BBC

• Al-Qaeda’s Noms de Guerre Defense Concepts, Vol.1, Edition 3, Fall 2006, pp. 6–16. ISSN 1932-3816
• Algeria’s Al-Qaida Franchise Le Monde diplomatique, Nov. 2006, English edition
• Iraq’s Resistance Evolves Le Monde diplomatique, May 2006, English edition
• How to Decode Resistance Propaganda' in Le Monde diplomatique, May 2005, English edition
• Une filiale algérienne pour Al-Qaïda Le Monde diplomatique, Nov. 2006, French edition
• Qui sont les insurgés irakiens? Le Monde diplomatique, May 2006, French edition

• Official website