Rate My Professor Peter Lentini

Peter Lentini is an Associate Professor in Politics and International Relations at Monash University’s Faculty of Arts. He earned his BA in Political Science and Russian from the University of Rhode Island in 1988 and his PhD from the Institute of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Glasgow in 1997. Prior to joining Monash in 1994, he taught at the Centre for Russian and East European Studies at the University of Birmingham (1992-1993) and the Department of Sociology and Politics at Central European University, Prague Campus (1993-1994). At Monash, Lentini has occupied significant administrative roles, including Deputy Head of the School of Political and Social Inquiry, Co-Convenor of the Global Terrorism Research Unit, Convenor of the Master of Counter-Terrorism Studies program, Head of the School of Political and Social Inquiry in 2004, Interim Heads of Communications and Anthropology in 2004, Associate Dean (Research) for the Faculty of Arts (2002-2003), and Founding Director and Coordinator for Research, Policy and Governance of the Global Terrorism Research Centre (GTReC) in the School of Social Sciences.

Lentini’s research specializations include neojihadism in Australia and globally, comparative extremisms and new religious movements, terrorism, political violence, countering violent extremism, radicalization, and post-conflict reconstruction in Russia and the North Caucasus. He served as co-chief investigator on the Australian Research Council-funded project ‘Understanding Terrorism in an Australian Context: Radicalisation, De-Radicalisation and Counter-Radicalisation’ (2009-2013). Lentini has briefed civil servants on terrorism-related matters for Australia, Singapore, the UK, and the US, and contributed to Australian counter-terrorism training programs for professionals and police. His key publications feature ‘A Tribute to Gary Bouma’ (2022), ‘Environmental and animal oriented radicalization: walking a different path?’ (2022), ‘Fifty years of scholarly research on terrorism’ (2022), ‘Examining the relationship between alienation and radicalization into violent extremism’ (2021), ‘‘Our diggers would turn in their graves’: nostalgia and civil religion in Australia’s far-right’ (2021), ‘Jihadist beheading: A convergence of technology, theology, and teleology?’ (2007), and books such as ‘Elections and Political Order in Russia’ (1997) and chapters on Russian politics.