Member, Expert Advisory Group

Ekaterina Stepanova

Ekaterina Stepanova heads Peace and Conflict Studies Unit at Primakov National Research Institute of the World Economy & International Relations (IMEMO), Moscow. Her research focus is on armed conflicts, insurgencies and terrorism, peace processes and peace-building, human security, and the political economy of conflicts.

Her seven monographs include “ISIS and the Phenomenon of Foreign Terrorist Fighters in Syria and Iraq” (2020), “Terrorism in Asymmetrical Conflict: Ideological and Structural Aspects” (Oxford Univ. Press, 2008), and “Civil-Military Relations in Operations Other Than War” (2001). She contributed chapters on Russia to “The Oxford Handbook on the Responsibility to Protect” (2016) and ”The Cambridge History of Terrorism” (2021). Her several edited volumes include “Humanitarian Challenges, Humanitarian Support and Human Protection in Armed Conflicts” (2018), “Addressing Terrorism, Violent Extremism and Radicalization” (2017), and “Terrorism: Patterns of Internationalization” (Sage, 2009).

She edits Russia’s only journal on peace and conflict studies, “Pathways to Peace and Security”, and serves on editorial boards of “Global Governance” and “Global Responsibility to Protect”. She also serves as an expert at the Global Peace Index methodology panel and is the IMEMO contact point for the UN Counterterrorism Committee Executive Directorate’s Global Research Network.

She is a graduate of, and holds a PhD from, Moscow State University and holds a Dr. Sc. (Dr. Habil.) degree in Political Science from IMEMO. In 2007–2009, she was on leave from IMEMO to lead the Armed conflicts and conflict management program at Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).