CenMAS

The Center for Multidisciplinary Area Studies (CenMAS)

CenMAS will open at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University, in spring 2026. It will bring together experts from the humanities and the social sciences focusing on Asia, Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. It aims to explore the causes and impacts of political, social and economic crises in these regions. 

The centre will support high-quality comparative research that bridges different global regions and transcends narrow academic disciplines. It will actively cooperate with area studies departments at the Faculty of Arts and contribute to a shared research agenda on global developments. Its mission is to offer deeper insight into today’s challenges and support informed public and policy debate. 

The core CenMAS team includes a research leader and three postdoctoral scholars recruited through international calls. Together, they will form a new research group working across area studies fields and actively engaging in research, public outreach and academic instruction. 

Dr. Mahmoud Farag has been selected by the International Recruitment Board as CenMAS Leader through an open call in 2025. He will assume his duties on April 1, 2026.

Mahmoud Farag

CenMAS Research Group Leader | WP 7 and WP 8
mahmoud.farag@ff.cuni.cz

LinkedIN | Web

Mahmoud is the head of CenMAS Research Group and he also leads WP 7 and WP 8 of the project ERA-AREAS.

Mahmoud Farag is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Institute of Political Science at TU Darmstadt, Germany. He also serves as an External Lecturer at the Department of Political Science at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. Starting in April 2026, he will be a Research Group Leader at the Center for Multidisciplinary Area Studies (CenMAS) at Charles University in Prague.

He previously held positions or undertook research visits at Goethe University Frankfurt, Humboldt University of Berlin, the University of Zurich, and the University of Geneva. He received his PhD (Dr. phil., summa cum laude) in political science from Humboldt University of Berlin. His dissertation was shortlisted for the German Thesis Award offered by the Körber Foundation.

His research interests lie broadly in comparative politics, with a focus on democratic backsliding, comparative authoritarianism, polarization in divided societies, and Middle Eastern politics. His current research examines two main questions: the dynamics of opposition strategies under democratic backsliding and authoritarianism, and the origins and consequences of polarization in societies divided along ideological and ethnic lines.

His research has been published or is forthcoming in journals such as European Political Science Review, Civil Wars, European Political Science, Government and Opposition, International Political Science Review, Mediterranean Politics, PS: Political Science & Politics, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft, in addition to a number of policy outlets.

His work has been supported by fellowships and scholarships from the German Academic Exchange Service (twice) and the State of Berlin.

Before transitioning to academia, he spent over a decade consulting for and working with international NGOs, including Transparency International, CARE International, and the International Civil Society Centre, focusing on issues related to good governance and accountability.

Mariana V. Ramírez Bustamante

Postdoc Researcher

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Mariana V. Ramírez Bustamante is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Heidelberg Center for Ibero-American Studies at Heidelberg University in Germany. She received her Ph.D. in Political Science from Vanderbilt University in May 2024, where she was also a Graduate Research Affiliate with the LAPOP Lab. During the 2023–2024 academic year, she was an APSA EPOVB Early-Career Fellow. She holds a B.A. in Political Science and Government from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, an M.A. in Political Science from Vanderbilt University, and an M.A. in Latin American Studies from the University of Salamanca (Spain).

Her research focuses on criminal governance, drug trafficking, public opinion, and electoral outcomes. She applies a mixed-methods approach in her work, including surveys and experiments, as well as in-depth interviews, direct observation, and focus groups.

Her dissertation examines how the illicit drug trafficking economy and related actors influence vote choice, as well as citizens’ attitudes toward local authority and democracy more broadly. She analyzes these phenomena in four ways. First, she investigates why people vote for narco-linked candidates using original online experiments conducted in Peru. Second, she demonstrates the effect of illegal revenues from the coca industry on popular support for incumbents through an in-depth case study of the Monzón Valley (Peru). Third, she draws on survey data from Andean countries to examine illegal economic voting and explain levels of support for local government. Finally, she uses survey data and qualitative evidence from direct observation and focus groups in Peru to assess the impact of drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) on citizens’ support for democracy.