Jacob Aasland Ravndal

Academic interests

• Terrorism and political violence
• Right-wing militancy
• Left-wing militancy
• Armed conflict
• International security
• Intelligence
• Set-theory and Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA)

Background

Since 2012, I have studied the evolution of right-wing terrorism and violence in Western Europe, with a particular focus on the Nordic countries. I also developed and lead the continuous development of the Right-Wing Terrorism and Violence (RTV) dataset, documenting the most severe RTV attacks in Western Europe since 1990. In addition, I teach a master's degree course on terrorism and political violence in Western democracies at the Department of Political Science.

My current research is on methodological challenges in terrorism research, the relationship between left- and right-wing militancy, and set-theoretic methods in the social sciences. I am also interested in the use of intelligence to counter terrorism and political violence.

From 2019 to 2020, I worked as a full-time member of the public commission tasked to evaluate the Norwegian Police and the Police Security Service's handling of a right-wing terrorist attack against a mosque outside Oslo in 2019.

I serve as an editorial board member for Studies in Conflict and Terrorism and the International Center for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT). I am also a steering group member for ECPR’s Standing Group on Political Violence.

Previously, I worked as a Research Fellow at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI), researching topics such as counterinsurgency operations, the use of intelligence in international peace operations, protection of civilians, security in the High North, and international cybersecurity.

Teaching

STV4510 - Terrorism and Political Violence in Western Democracies

Data

Right-Wing Terrorism and Violence in Western Europe (RTV)