Jacques Bertrand

Jacques Bertrand is David Chu Professor (Chair) in Asia-Pacific Studies and Political Science at the University of Toronto, as well as Director of David Chu Program. He is also the co-founder of the Postcor Lab at the University of Toronto, a research hub for the study of civil wars and war-to-peace transitions.

Professor Bertrand has worked for many years on issues of ethnic conflict, nationalism and secessionism in Southeast Asia. His research has been funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the United States Institute of Peace, as well as the International Development Research Centre. His most recent books include State and Sub-State Nationalism in Southeast Asia (Cambridge UP, 2025) and Winning by Process: The State and Neutralization of Ethnic Minorities in Myanmar (w/ Ardeth Thawnghmung and Alexandre Pelletier, Cornell UP, July 2022). He is also the author of Democracy and Nationalist Struggles in Southeast Asia: From secessionist mobilization to conflict resolution (Cambridge UP, 2021); Political Change in Southeast Asia (Cambridge, 2013) as well as Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict in Indonesia (Cambridge, 2004). Finally, Professor Bertrand has co-edited two volumes: Multination States in Asia: Accommodation or Resistance (Cambridge, 2010); and Democratization and Ethnic Minorities: Conflict or Compromise? (Routledge, 2014), in addition to numerous articles and book chapters.

His work has been funded by several grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and twice by the United States Institute of Peace. Professor Bertrand was also co-investigator and executive member of a SSHRC Major Collaborative Research Initiative on Ethnicity and Democratic Governance. He was the recipient in 2024 of the Dean’s Research Excellence Award recognizing sustained excellence and achievement in research. In 2022-23, he was the Lee Kong Chian Visiting Scholar at Stanford University and the National University of Singapore (2022-23). He has also been a visiting professor at the London School of Economics.