Jean-Francois Ratelle

Research Interests

• Processes and Trajectories of Violent Militantism in Eurasia
• Field Research and Political Ethnography in Conflict Studies

Areas of Current Teaching

• EURR 4209/PSCI 4504: Politics of the Caucasus and Caspian Basin
• Conflict and Terrorism in the North Caucasus
• Central and Eastern European Politics
• Terrorism and Radicalization
• Conflicts, Resources, and Environment
• Introduction to Conflict Studies

Selected Publications

Articles (Peer-Reviewed)

“Conflict diffusion in internal wars: A reassessment of the spillover of the second Chechen conflict into Dagestan and Ingushetia” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism Volume 37 No. 2 (February 2014), p.115-134.(With Aurélie Campana)

“Making Sense of Violence in Civil War: Challenging Academic Narratives through Political Ethnography” Critical Studies on Security, Volume 1 No.2, 2013, pp.159-173.

Book chapters (Peer-Reviewed)

“The North Caucasus Insurgency: Understanding the Chechen Rebels in the Context of the Caucasus Emirate” in Anne Le Huérou, Aude Merlin, Amandine Regamey & Elisabeth Sieca-Kozlowski (eds). Chechnya at War and Beyond, Routledge. 2014. 

“How Participant Observation Contributes to the Study of (In)security Practices in Conflict Zones” in Mark Salter & Can Mtulu (eds.), Research Methods in Critical Security Studies: An Introduction, Routledge, 2012 (PRIO New Security Studies series).

Academic Publications & Reports (Non-refereed)

“The Myth of the Black Widow” Open Democracy, 13 February 2013. Available at: http://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/jean-francois-ratelle/myth-of-black-widow

“A New Anti-Terrorist Law in Russia: Feeding the Insurgency through Corruption and Police Abuses” Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, Matters Military, 26 November 2013. Available at:: http://journal.georgetown.edu/2013/11/26/a-new-anti-terrorist-law-in-russia-feeding-the-insurgency-through-corruption-and-police-abuses-by-jean-francois-ratelle/

“The Insurgency in the North Caucasus: Putting Religious Claims into Context” Russian Analytical Digest, no. 131, 2013.

“A case-study of Kabardino-Balkaria Insurgency: a Comparative Analysis of Ideological Trends in the North Caucasus”, PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo No.156, Program on New Approaches to Research and Security in Eurasia, (March 2011) (With Sufian Zhemukhov)

http://www.gwu.edu/~ieresgwu/assets/docs/ponars/pepm_156.pdf

Newsletters & Articles (Non-refereed)

“Le bourbier nord-caucasien : la Russie à court de solutions” Grand Dossier de Diplomatie  No. 21. Juin/Juillet 2014.

“The Sochi Olympics: Understanding Terroristic Threats Emanating From the Caucasus Emirate” Huffington Post, 13 January 2014, available at : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeanfrancois-ratelle/the-sochi-olympics-terror-threat_b_4585514.html

“Contextualizing Religious Profiling in Dagestan: Tsarnaev and the Kotrova Mosque” Huffington Post,  28 April 2013, available at : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeanfrancois-ratelle/dagestan-tsarnaev_b_3174171.html

“Tamerlan Tsarnaev in Dagestan and Chechnya: Why and How?, Huffington Post 25 April 2013, available at : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeanfrancois-ratelle/tamerlan-tsarnaev-in-dage_b_3154515.html