Graig Klein
Dr. Graig R. Klein is an Assistant Professor of Terrorism and Political Violence at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) at Leiden University, where he is a member of the Terrorism & Political Violence and War, Peace & Justice research groups. He leads the European Research Council (ERC)-funded project Terrorist Group Adaptation & Lessons for Counterterrorism (TERGAP), which examines how non-state armed actors adapt their violent tactics in response to government repression and shifting opportunities to recruit both violent and non-violent activists.
He is also the co-investigator on the Google Trust & Safety Research Award-funded project Countering Violent Extremist Content Online: A Multidisciplinary Approach, which examines how emerging technologies, including generative AI, are exploited to spread extremist content and develops strategies to counter the exploitations. His broader research agenda explores the instrumentality of political violence and how dissident-government interactions shape tactical and strategic evolution across conflict processes, international security, and national security.
Klein’ s research has appeared in leading peer-reviewed journals, including International Organization, Terrorism and Political Violence, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, Defence and Peace Economics, Conflict Management and Peace Science, Foreign Policy Analysis, Research & Politics, and European Journal of International Security. His work has informed public discussion and debates including analyses for International Centre for Counter-Terrorism and the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs; invited talks and workshops at NATO Centre of Excellence Defence Against Terrorism, NATO Centre of Excellence Strategic Communication, and the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute; and interviews on BBC, France24, BBC Turkish, BBC Arabic, RTL, This is Not a Drill, and in De Volkskrant and EuroNews. He has served as an Academic Primary Investigator at the World Bank, where he analyzed Nicaragua’s 2018 protest crisis and the Ortega government’s response.
He was previously an Assistant Professor of Security Studies at New Jersey City University. Klein holds a PhD in Political Science from Binghamton University (2016) and an MA in International Peace & Conflict Resolution from American University (2010).
