Alexei Anisin, Ph.D.

Dr Alexei Anisin is a scholar and senior lecturer in the School of International Relations & Diplomacy. He has previously held the position of dean (2020–2025) and is currently undergoing a research fellowship at the Centre for Ethics as Study in Human Value, University of Pardubice (supported by the European Research Council).

Anisin completed his PhD in Government at the University of Essex where he researched civil resistance, state repression and mobilization under professors Hugh Ward and David Howarth. He also holds an MA in Politics from the University of Essex and a BA in Politics from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

To date, Anisin has published five monographs and close to 40 peer-reviewed studies. His research is interdisciplinary and methodologically diverse, encompassing quantitative analyses, qualitative studies, and qualitative comparative analysis. Anisin’s works have appeared in public discourse and in media outlets like BBC, CNN, and Bloomberg, among others.

comparative politics: political violence; mass murder; nonviolence; quantitative and qualitative research methods; Boolean and decision-theoretic modeling

Dr. Anisin has frequently been interviewed on the following subjects: protests/social movements; revolutionary mobilization; security force defection; political violence; mass shootings; ideologically motivated violence

Interviews:

[36] 2025. Postmaterialism and Voluntary Childlessness. Journal of Family Studies. Onlinefirst.

[35] 2024. Riots, Civil Resistance, and External Intervention in the Failed 2022 Kazakhstan Revolution. The Soviet and Post-Soviet Review, 51(3), 299-321.

[34] 2024. Fame Seeking Mass Shooters in Eastern Europe. Journal of Contemporay Central and Eastern Europe, 32(3), 695-710.

[33] 2024. Nonviolence and morally-induced property destruction. In, Martin, Brian, Alexandre Christoyannopoulos, Isak Svensson, Kathleen Gallagher Cunningham, Alexei Anisin, Antoine Durance, and Manuel Cervera-Marzal. On Andreas Malm’s How to Blow Up a Pipeline. Journal of Pacifism and Nonviolence, 2(2), 257–291.

[32] 2024. Fraternization and Repression during the 2020-1 Attempted Revolution in Belarus. Contemporary Politics.

[31] 2023. Problematizing the Diversity Debit Hypothesis. Journal of BRICS Studies. Forthcoming.

[30] 2023. The Perfect Storm? Political Instability and Background Checks During COVID-19. International Journal of Criminology and Sociology, 12, 15–26.

[29] 2023. Resistance and Military Defection in Turkey. Co-authored with Pelin Ayan Musil. Mediterranean Politics, 28(2), 202-226.

[28] 2023. Do Mass Shootings in Central and Eastern Europe Differ from US Mass Shootings? Insights from the (MSCEE) Data Set. Journal of Mass Violence Research. Onlinefirst.

[27] 2022.Discourse, Antagonisms, and Identities during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais, 128, 39-60.

[26] 2022. Military Defection During the Collapse of the Soviet Union. Central European Journal of International and Security Studies, 16(2), 26-53.

[25] 2022. Comparing central and Eastern European mass shootings to American mass shootings. International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, Onlinefirst.

[24] 2022. Pandemic Surveillance Capitalism: Authoritarian Liberalism or Democratic Backsliding? Journal of Political Power, 15(2), 262-278.

[23] 2022. Heidegger and the Technocratic Warping of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Cultural Studies <=> Critical Methodologies, 22(3), 321-332.

[22] 2022. Protester-Police Fraternization in the 2013 Gezi Park Uprisings. Co-authored with Pelin Ayan Musil. Social Movement Studies, 21(4), 395-412.

[21] 2021. Identity, Repression, and the Collapse of Apartheid. Strategic Review for Southern Africa, 43(2), 308-336.

[20] 2021. Humanity and the Disruption of the Cosmos: How Berdyaev Foresaw our Reliance on Machines. Cosmos and History: The Journal of Natural and Social Philosophy, 17(3), 33–59.

[19] 2021. Reinforcing Criticisms of Civil Resistance: a Response to Onken, Shemia-Goeke, and Martin. Critical Sociology, 47(7-8), 1205–1218.

[18] 2021. The Contradictions of COVID-19 and the Persistence of Western Hegemony. Politikon, 48(2), 331-346.

[17] 2021. Exogenous Events and Media Reporting of Mass Shootings. Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression, 13(2), 160-173.

[16] 2020. Unravelling the Complex Nature of Security Force Defection. Global Change, Peace and Security, 32(2), 135-55.

[15] 2020. Debunking the Myths Behind Nonviolent Civil Resistance. Critical Sociology, 46(7-8), 1121-1139.

[14] 2020. The Revolutions of 1989 and Defection in Warsaw Pact States. Democracy and Security, 16(2), 151-178.

[13] 2019. Violence, Resistance, and Social Transformation in Anarchist Thought and Practice. Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Social Work, 38(4), 383-400.

[12] 2019. Mass Shootings and their Asymmetric Effect on Civilian Armament. Crime, Law and Social Change, 72(4), 483-500.

[11] 2019. Comparing Protest Massacres. Journal of Historical Sociology, 32(2), 258-274.

[10] 2019. Diverse and Alternative Economic Practice in The Trailer Park Boys Series, 2002-2018. Journal of Cultural Geography, 36(3), 317-345.

[9] 2019. Tracing the State of Nature in Stephen King’s Under the Dome. Socialism and Democracy, 33(1), 166-185.

[8] 2018. A Distinction Without a Difference: Examining the Causal Pathways Behind Ideologically Motivated Mass Public Shootings. Homicide Studies, 22(3), 235-255. Co-authored with Joel Capellan.

[7] 2018. Social Causation and Protest Mobilization: Why Temporality and Interaction Matter. Territory, Politics, Governance, 6(3), 279-301.

[6] 2018. A Configurational Analysis of 44 U.S. Mass Shootings: 1975-2015. International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, 42(1), 55-73.

[5] 2017. Antagonisms and the Discursive Sedimentation of American Gun Culture: A New Framework. Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies, 17(2), 133-139.

[4] 2016. Repression, Spontaneity, and Collective Action: The 2013 Turkish Gezi Protests. Journal of Civil Society, 12(4), 411-429.

[3] 2016. Violence Begets Violence: Why States Should Not Lethally Repress Popular Protest. International Journal of Human Rights, 20(7), 893-913.

[2] 2014. The Russian Bloody Sunday Massacre of 1905: A Discursive Account of Nonviolent Transformation. Politics, Groups and Identities, 2(4), 643-660.

[1] 2014. Adverse Repression and Social Transformation: A Political Process Model. International Journal of Interdisciplinary Civic and Political Studies, Volume 8(2), ISSN 2327-0071.