Rate My Professor Tshepo Gwatiwa

Dr. Tshepo Gwatiwa serves as Lecturer in Intelligence Studies within the Department of Security Studies and Criminology in Macquarie University’s Faculty of Arts, School of International Studies. He earned his PhD in International Relations/Political Science from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) in Geneva, Switzerland, in 2017. His doctoral thesis, titled “The African Union’s International Security Partnerships,” examined key aspects of African agency in global security dynamics. Before joining Macquarie in 2023, Gwatiwa was Lecturer in International Relations at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg (2020–2022) and at the University of Botswana (2018–2020). Earlier roles include Research Fellow at the Centre for Military Studies, Stellenbosch University (2016–2017); Teaching and Research Assistant at IHEID (2013–2016); and Security Sector Reform Trainee with the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) in 2013. He currently holds a non-resident Senior Research Fellow position at the Institute for Pan-African Thought and Conversation (IPATC) at the University of Johannesburg.

Gwatiwa’s academic interests center on intelligence studies, foreign security actors in Africa—including the United States, France, China, and Germany—African agency in international politics, violent extremism, cyberterrorism, and the African Union’s partnerships with Western and Eastern powers. He has made significant contributions through authorship and editorship of influential works. In 2025, he edited and contributed to “Contemporary Intelligence in Africa” (Routledge), including chapters “Towards a Cosmic Theory of African Intelligence: Pathways to a Dialectic Engagement” and “Intelligence Personalisation and Politicisation in African Democracies and Hybrid Systems.” Other key publications include editing “Expanding US Military Command in Africa: Elites, Networks and Grand Strategy” (2021) and authoring “The African Union and African Agency in International Politics” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022). His research illuminates contemporary intelligence practices and tradecraft across the continent, advancing scholarly discourse on security and international relations in Africa. As unit convenor for PICT3012 Intelligence Management and Policy, he actively engages in teaching on intelligence-related topics.