Jules Grange Gastinel
PhD student at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), affiliated with Aix-Marseille University, the Center for Economic, Legal and Social Studies and Documentation in Cairo (CEDEJ) and the Institute of Research and Study on the Arab and Islamic Worlds (IREMAM).
PhD school 355 Espaces, Cultures, Sociétés
Email: julesgrangegastinel[at]gmail.com ; jules.grangegastinel[at]proton.me
Phone: + 33 7 86 31 51 49.
Research
Disciplines: Political science, history, anthropology, political sociology.
Focus: Yemen
Member of the Social Sciences research group
Co-convenor of the multidisciplinary seminar “Conflict, Cooperation, and the (Re)configuration of the State in the Contemporary Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Space,” with Hélène Franc, Émilien Debaere, and Alessandro Cecchini, IREMAM-MESOPOLHIS, 2025-2026.
Research topics
Governance in war and public policy in civil war; political crises, conflicts and regime change; international state-building; reconfigurations of politico-religious movements in the exercise of power.
Research project
My interdisciplinary PhD thesis focuses on the statehood and legitimization of the Houthi movement in Yemen since 2014, under the supervision of Sabrina MERVIN and Marine POIRIER. My research focuses on the international governance and state-building mechanisms employed by the Houthi authorities (Ansar Allah). Their takeover of the central administration (2014-2015), its effects on national public policies and the consolidation of their governance since the promulgation of the “National vision” (2019) are also at the heart of my research.
Education
2024: Master’s degree in International Relations (MRIAE) from Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.
2024: Diploma from Sciences Po Aix. Research dissertation in history on the Islamic Salvation Front in Algeria (1989-1992).
2024: Master’s degree in Comparative Politics “Africa/Middle East” (PCAMO), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. Research dissertation on educational reform in Yemen (Sanaa).
2022: Diploma in Modern Standard Arabic from the Bourguiba Institute of Modern languages in Tunis.
2021: Diploma in standard and Egyptian dialectal Arabic from the French Institute in Cairo.
Selected publications
Forthcoming article. “Defending Palestine to Embody the State: Ansar Allah and the Diplomacy of Resistance in Yemen”, Mondes Arabes, N°9, Paris.
Forthcoming article. “The Houthis and Conspiratorial Rhetoric: Educating the New Generation through Fear of the Other”, Sana’a center for strategic studies, Aden.
Forthcoming book chapter. “The Houthi reform of education: when the ideological formation of a generation of partisans threatens long-term peace”. In: Helen Lackner and Richard Baltrop (ed.). Peace in Yemen: Constraints and Prospects. IB Tauris, Londres.
Forthcoming book chapter. “The Organizational and Leadership Structure and the Decision-Making Mechanism within the Houthi Movement”. Yemen and Gulf Center for Studies, Aden.
Interview. “Inside Houthi Governance: How a Rebel Movement Built a State in Northern Yemen?”, European Institute for Studies on the Middle East and North Africa (EISMENA), Paris, 04/03/2026.
2026. “Ansar Allah and the Islamic Republic of Iran: Between Doctrinal Alignments, a Partnership of Interests, and Strategic Rivalries”, Diplomatie, Les grands dossiers, N°90.
2026. “The Houthis and the Red Sea: Yemeni Rebels Confronting Western Imperialism”, Diplomatie, L’état des conflits dans le monde, N°89.
2025. “Yemen: how the Houthis are training a generation of fighters”, The Conversation, Paris.
2025. “The Houthis (Ansar Allah) and the State in Yemen: reformulations of a politico-religious project in the face of regional recompositions”. Journal of the Religious Observatory, Bulletin N°55, Sciences-Po/EPHE, Paris.
BONNEFOY, Laurent and GRANGE GASTINEL, Jules, 2024. “Yemen: Threats in the Red Sea. “The Houthis, in the Red Sea and Beyond”. In: DE MONTBRIAL, Thierry and DAVID, Dominique, Ramses 2025, Entre puissances et impuissance. Paris: Dunod. Hors collection, p.86-89.
2024. “Training a generation of revolutionaries. Education in the service of legitimizing Ansar Allah’s project in Yemen (2014-2024).”, Master 2 thesis under the supervision of Olivier GROJEAN and Sabrina MERVIN, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris.
GRANGE GASTINEL, Jules, 2022. “The emergence and rise of the Algerian Islamist movement through the prism of the recruitment methods of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) from 1989 to 1992”, Master 1 thesis under the supervision of François DUMASY, Sciences Po Aix, Aix-en-Provence.
Selected Talks and Conference Papers
“When Rebels Address the People: The Houthis and the appropriation of state communication in Yemen,” 9th Meeting of African Studies in France (REAF), Aubervilliers, 29/06-02/07/2026.
“Political Elites in the Yemen War: Between Co-optation, Repression, and Integration into the Insurgent Apparatus (2014-2026),” CEDEJ seminar, Cairo, 09/04/2026.
“Rethinking the Yemeni nation-state through the prism of Houthi governance (2014-2024)”, international conference “Reimagining the ‘Middle East’: Polity, Society and Human Security”, Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University, Cairo, 16-18/12/2025.
“Methodological challenges of fieldwork under constraints: how to conduct research in a mistrustful environment”, IREMAM doctoral workshop, Aix-en-Provence, 20/10/2025.
“Between media control and the dissemination of the narrative of foreign aggression: the Houthis and the making of a ‘society of resistance’ in Yemen”, workshop “Discourse and counter-discourse: media, memories, and resistance in the Arab and Muslim worlds”, Halqa/EHESS, Paris, 25-26/09/2025.
“The Houthis and the Challenge of Governance in Yemen: restructuring a protest movement towards a strategy of political hegemony”, IREMAM annual seminar, Marseille, 06/30-01/07/2025.
“Roundabouts at the Crossroads of Politico-Religious Rivalries. A comparative study of the Sadrists (Baghdad) and the Houthis (Taez)” with Émilien Debaere, 6th Congress of the GIS-MOMM, Strasbourg, 24-27/06/2025.
“The Houthis and the test of the State in Yemen: between legitimization of governance and competing trajectories of political elites in the war”, IREMAM doctoral workshop, Cairo (online), 04/06/2025.
“Reforming Youth Education in Yemen: The Houthis and the Challenge of Primary Education”, workshop “From Past and Present to Future: Finding a Positive Path between Ideals and Possibilities in Yemen”, London School of Economics, London, 24-25/04/2025.
“Houthi dynamics and Zaydism”, workshop “Yemen: 10 years of war (2015-2025)”, Sciences Po Paris, Paris, 26/03/2025.
“The Houthis and the Test of Statehood in Yemen: the rise and legitimization of a politico-religious movement with revolutionary ambitions (2014-2024)”, IREMAM doctoral workshop, Aix-en-Provence, 14/10/2024.
CNRS thematic school “Terrains à hauts risques en Syrie et au Moyen-Orient”, Aussois, 26/05-01/06/2024.
Languages
French, English, Italian, Arabic.