# Danilo Mandić ![Dr. Mandic](/sites/g/files/omnuum1966/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/mandic/files/ovaaaa.png?itok=t7D91YSg) Danilo Mandić is Associate Senior Lecturer in the [Department of Sociology](http://sociology.fas.harvard.edu/people/danilo-mandic-0), Faculty Associate at the Minda de Gunzburg [Center for European Studies](https://ces.fas.harvard.edu/events/2018/05/changing-youth-values-in-southern-europe1), and [Faculty Associate ](https://daviscenter.fas.harvard.edu/about/people/danilo-mandic)at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies. His researches focus on war, refugees, social movements, nationalism, ethnic relations, organized crime and conflict societies. His first book [*Gangsters and Other Statesmen*](https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691187877/gangsters-and-other-statesmen) received the Mirra Komarovsky [Best Book Award](https://sociology.fas.harvard.edu/news/danilo-mandi%C4%87-wins-ess-best-book-award) (2022) and the ASA Section on Peace, War, and Social Conflict's Best Book Award​​​​​​ (2022). His second book [*The Syrian Refugee Crisis*](https://www.amazon.com/Syrian-Refugee-Crisis-Democracies-Displacement-dp-1032056789/dp/1032056789/ref=mt_other?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=1657334299) draws on extensive fieldwork from five countries to challenge conventional wisdom on the politics of displacement. His next book, *Bad Refugees: Geopolitics, Stigma and Forced Migration in Modern Times,* is forthcoming with Oxford University Press. Mandić is founding Director of the [Refugee Fieldwork Program](https://sociology.fas.harvard.edu/refugee-fieldwork-program), which places students at humanitarian, policy, and research opportunities with refugees abroad. Undergraduates interested in summer internship opportunities are welcome to apply. *Thank you to the Harvard Classes of 2025 and 2026 for voting me "Favorite Professor" - a profound honor. My farewell Yearbook messages* [*here (Class of 2025)*](https://mandic.scholars.harvard.edu/sites/g/files/omnuum1966/files/2024-12/Message%20to%20Class%20of%202025%20-%20MANDIC.pdf) *and* [*here (Class of 2026*](https://mandic.scholars.harvard.edu/sites/g/files/omnuum1966/files/2025-12/Favorite%20Professor%20Class%20of%202026%20Danilo%20Mandic%20Harvard%20yearbook%20message.pdf)*). I question the undergraduates' judgement, if not sanity. - DM* [***Pre-order new book*** ](https://global.oup.com/academic/product/bad-refugees-9780197765982?q=mandic&lang=en&cc=us)***so you can complain about it with authority...*** ![Mandic Danilo Oxford University Press Bad Refugees](/sites/g/files/omnuum1966/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/2026-07/mandic_visual_001.jpg?itok=kciStNfx) [**Order now before new regulations make reading illegal**](https://global.oup.com/academic/product/bad-refugees-9780197765982?q=mandic&lang=en&cc=us)! \- [Time Magazine](https://time.com/6202912/kosovo-serbia-tensions-license-plates/) on Serbia-Kosovo | [*New York Times*](https://mandic.scholars.harvard.edu/sites/g/files/omnuum1966/files/2026-01/Mandic%20gangsters%20statesmen%20in%20NYT%20essay%20-%20The%20New%20York%20Times.pdf) on Trump patrimonialism | [Swiss Radio SRF](https://www.srf.ch/play/radio/popupaudioplayer?id=2a1a13a1-37a8-45b1-95ff-b3b59957d2ba) on *Gangsters and Other Statesmen* | [BBC World Service](https://youtu.be/O8zWYKkrezc)[ ](https://www.facebook.com/WDRforyou/posts/1303755453067173)on Syrian refugees | [Times Literary Supplement](https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/secession-and-the-sovereignty-game-ryan-griffiths-gangsters-and-other-statesmen-danilo-mandic-book-review/) on separatism | [Vice News](https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/8xymjz/we-asked-actual-mafia-experts-if-trump-is-really-acting-like-a-mob-boss) on gangsters and politics | [Here & There podcast](https://davemarash.com/2021/05/04/danilo-mandic-harvard-university-the-role-of-organized-crime-in-separatist-movements/) (w/Dave Marash) on *Gangsters and Other Statesmen* | [Departures](https://robertamsterdam.com/departures-podcast-featuring-danilo-mandic-author-of-gangsters-and-other-statesmen/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter) podcast | [BIRN ](https://balkaninsight.com/2020/07/27/mafias-matter-new-book-looks-at-organised-crimes-influence-on-separatism/)on *Gangsters and Other Statesmen* | [N1](https://rs.n1info.com/english/news/harvard-lecturer-tacit-deal-between-belgrade-and-pristina-on-crime-coruption/) on Serbia-Kosovo | [Radio Televizija Srbija](https://www.rts.rs/upload/media/2020/11/03/92616/sek4.mp4) on U.S. elections | [RTV](https://media.rtv.rs/sr_ci/pravi-ugao/65435) on *Gangsters and Other Statesmen* \[in Serbian\] | [Metro ](https://www.metro.us/news/local-news/boston/what-makes-some-people-protest-massachusetts)on social movements \- SOCI-1186 "[Favorite Course](https://college.harvard.edu/student-life/student-stories/my-favorite-class-harvard-sociol-1186-refugees-global-perspective)," Student Voices @ Harvard College. \- Follow [5k From the Frontline](https://www.instagram.com/sopova.alisa/?hl=en). \- "[Three Tales from Kharkiv: Ethnographic Fragments from the War in Ukraine](https://www.asanet.org/footnotes-article/three-tales-from-kharkiv-ethnographic-fragments-from-the-war-in-ukraine/)," ASA Footnotes (Volume 51, Issue 1). \- "[Ukraine's Millions of Displaced Will Define Its Future](https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/why-ukraines-millions-of-displaced-people-will-define-its-future/)" in *Journal of Democracy*. \- "[Serbia at a Crossroads: Protests, Democracy and the Future of European Values](https://youtu.be/uK7DVvfnDGE) \[[VIDEO](https://youtu.be/uK7DVvfnDGE)\] @ Center for European Studies, Sociology Department, Harvard South Slavic Society. \- "[Professor Spotlight](https://youtu.be/IQse5wUBgLU)" \[[VIDEO](https://youtu.be/IQse5wUBgLU)\] @ HESA. \- "[Forced Migration: Refugees in Global Perspective](https://harvard.zoom.us/rec/play/douV9HVjWWnXlD2j9kXDvGR5xPHN-htQSSdPqbSH49_m5dvcFBquPHkmcZwl5doJMZVft0jd0GMTvBEq.noShFaX0El1nE_bB?continueMode=true&_x_zm_rtaid=WSC_mqC3RDGZXU25GxqBtw.1676913204744.b3c0709a0d24b22625f8103bdd8a369b&_x_zm_rhtaid=926)" \[[VIDEO](https://harvard.zoom.us/rec/play/douV9HVjWWnXlD2j9kXDvGR5xPHN-htQSSdPqbSH49_m5dvcFBquPHkmcZwl5doJMZVft0jd0GMTvBEq.noShFaX0El1nE_bB?continueMode=true&_x_zm_rtaid=WSC_mqC3RDGZXU25GxqBtw.1676913204744.b3c0709a0d24b22625f8103bdd8a369b&_x_zm_rhtaid=926)\] @ Harvard International Relations Club. \- "[Fragments of Displacement and Resilience from the Ukraine War](https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/wrc22-migration/event/migration-cluster-seminar-three-tales-kharkiv-ethnographic-fragments)" @ Weatherhead Research Cluster on Migration. \- "[Syrian Refugee Crisis](https://youtu.be/0jVyWE0ZR8o): Lessons from the Balkan Route" @ IASxSIR Speaker Series. \- [Panel on "Youth in Southeast Europe"](https://youtu.be/wsTmTM9iYlo) @ Center for European Studies, May 2nd, 2018. \- [At a Crossroads: The Future of the European Union](https://gsas.harvard.edu/news/stories/crossroads-future-european-union), Harvard GSAS. \- [What do the Refugees Mean for Europe?](/file_url/107) @ Heller School, Brandeis University. \- [Refugees and Risk](/file_url/103): Syrian Migrant Smuggling on the Balkan Route @ [FXB Center](https://fxb.harvard.edu/event/refugees-and-risk-syrian-migrant-smuggling-on-the-baltic-route/), Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. \- "[The Doubly Stigmatized](/file_url/120)" in ASA Political Sociology Newsletter (Spring 2020).