Elai Rettig is the Israel Institute Teaching Fellow in Israeli and Environmental Studies. His research focuses on the interplay between energy security and foreign policy, particularly in the Middle East and West Africa.
Rettig examines how the export of fossil fuels affects interstate conflict and cooperation patterns, as well as the protection of human rights and the persistence of authoritarian rule.
He has published his research in peer-reviewed journals, including International Studies Quarterly, International Journal of Press/Politics, and Israel Affairs, as well as in leading policy think-tanks in Europe and Israel, including the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv (INSS), the Peace Research Institute in Oslo (PRIO), and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES). He also contributes regularly to Israeli and international media outlets on issues pertaining to Israel's energy policy, and has testified before the Israeli parliament on energy security matters.
Prior to joining the department, Rettig taught at New York University - Tel Aviv and at the University of Haifa in Israel, and was a visiting scholar at the Elliot School of International Affairs in George Washington University. His courses include "Israel's Foreign Policy", "International Energy Politics", "Energy Governance in Israel and the Middle East", and "Democracies and Dictatorships in the Middle East."