A Global Perspective on European Politics

Our guest is Dr. Farid Shafiyev. In 2009 Farid Shafiyev was appointed Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Canada where he served until July 2014. From July 2014 to February 2019 Dr. Shafiyev was Ambassador of Azerbaijan to the Czech Republic. On 19 February 2019 he was appointed the Chairman of the Center of Analysis of International Relations. Dr. Shafiyev is the author of numerous op-eds, articles and several academic publications, including “Resettling the Borderlands: State Relocations and Ethnic Conflict in the South Caucasus” by McGill-Queen’s University Press (2018). Farid Shafiyev has been lecturing in the field of International Relations and Foreign Policy in Baku. Currently, he is an Adjunct Lecturer at ADA University.

Davide Dell’Isola is a lecturer at the IRIO department at the University of Groningen. He holds a PhD in Security Studies from the University of Central Florida (UCF) and a MA in International Relations from Università degli Studi di Roma Tre in Rome, Italy. His research covers several aspects related to terrorism and security issues in Europe, particularly the links between discrimination against religious minorities, secularist policies and radicalization dynamics. He delves into the importance of focusing on the roots of the social and political grievances related to discrimination against religious minorities, particularly Muslims, in European countries, and on the limits of addressing prevention of terrorist attacks exclusively from an intelligence perspective. He explores issues of integration of immigrants in the European context and its links with secularist policies, as well as the role of political parties in Europe in shaping the discourses related to secularism and religious freedom.

Ole Martin Stormoen is a PhD candidate in the research group on security and defense at NUPI, and is also an external candidate at RUG. His research area is foreign and defense policies, with an emphasis on Norway. His research interests also include international military operations, counter-terrorism, extremist ideology and radicalization, with a focus on the Middle East and North Africa, and the Balkans. Stormoen has studied Arabic at the University of Oslo, where he also completed his master’s degree in Peace and Conflict Studies. His thesis examined the literature on the causes of Jihadi terrorism. He has previously worked for the Norwegian Army in Kosovo (KFOR/NATO) and as a research assistant at the Norwegian Military Academy.”

This episode is Powered by the Rudolf Agricola School for Sustainable Development. Guest: Tom Casier is Chair in Global Politics of Europe at the University of Groningen. Before he was Reader in International Relations at the University of Kent’s Brussels School of International Studies (BSIS). He led BSIS as Academic Director from 2014 to 2017 and was Director of the Global Europe Centre. He also held a Jean Monnet Chair. Tom Casier’s research focuses mainly on Russian foreign policy, EU–Russia relations, and the EU and its eastern neighbours. Recent articles have appeared in JCMS Journal of Common Market Studies, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Cooperation and Conflict, Geopolitics and Democratization. An edited volume entitled EU–Russia Relations in Crisis: Understanding Diverging Perceptions (with Joan DeBardeleben, 2018) and one entitled Hegemony and world order (with Piotr Dutkiewicz and Jan Aart Scholte, 2021) were published with Routledge. He led a Jean Monnet project on EU–Russia relations with four Jean Monnet chairs. He has also provided policy advice for different institutions and organisations, including the European Parliament, the House of Lords and the US State Department. Tom's article: https://doi.org/10.22215/cjers.v16i2.4148

Dr. Eric Cezne is a postdoctoral researcher associated with the inFRONT: Inside Investment Frontiers of Sustainability Transitions project. His expertise lies at the intersections of International Relations and Development Studies, underpinned by an interest in the politics of the Global South and South–South relations (broadly interpreted), particularly in contexts shaped by infrastructural development, natural resource extraction, and sustainability transitions.

Tony van der Togt is a Senior Research Fellow at the Clingendael Russia and Eastern Europe Centre in The Hague. After studying contemporary history in Amsterdam (Free University) and Nijmegen, he had a long career as a Dutch diplomat, dealing with Eastern Europe and Central Asia, both in The Hague and in Moscow, Almaty and as Dutch Consul-General in St. Petersburg. In 2013 he acted as Dutch co-ordinator of the Netherlands-Russia bilateral year. He has published widely on EU-Russia relations, the EU’s Eastern Partnership, Dutch-Russian bilateral relations and the Eurasian Economic Union. He also participated in a number of dialogue platforms with Russian and other international experts, including in the framework of the EU-Russia Expert Network, the Minsk Dialogue and the Cooperative Security Initiative. At the moment he is also a guest researcher at Leiden University, working on a PhD on Russian strategic narratives towards Europe since 1991. A full list of his publications is available at the Clingendael expert page: www.clingendael.org.

Our guest is Fuad Shahbazov. He is a Baku-based policy analyst. He holds a master's degree in Political Science from the University of Vytautas Magnus (2016), a professional master's degree in Terrorism and Countering Religious Radicalization from the University of Bergamo (2021), and another master's degree in Defense and Diplomacy from the University of Durham (2022). His expertise area covers regional security, energy diplomacy and defense-related issues.

Natalia Gavrilița served as the 15th Prime Minister of Moldova between August 2021 and February 2023. She led the Government through multiple overlapping crises caused by the war in neighbouring Ukraine, while also advancing ambitious anti-corruption, economic, and governance reforms. During her time in office, Moldova received the largest influx of Ukrainian refugees of any European country, managed to diversify its energy market away from Russian gas, and became a candidate country to the European Union. Gavrilița is first Deputy Chairwoman of the pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) and has had a long history in economics and politics. She served as finance minister from June 2019 to November 2019 when President Maia Sandu was Prime Minister. Earlier in her career, she was Managing Director at the London-based Global Innovation Fund, a hybrid investment fund supporting social innovation in developing countries. She has also worked within the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Economy and for Oxford Policy Management. Throughout her career, she has worked in a number of countries across Africa, Central and South Asia. Gavrilița graduated from Moldova State University with a bachelor’s degree in International Law and also earned a master’s degree in Public Policy from Harvard University.

Nathan Hutson is an Assistant Professor of urban planning at the University of North Texas. His research focuses on freight infrastructure coordination and its role in economic development. He has fifteen years of freight planning research and consulting experience. Over the last year he has worked extensively with the World Bank and the Ro3kvit Urban Coalition for Ukraine in assessing the impact on the Ukraine invasion on supply chains and implications for Ukrainian reconstruction. He holds a PhD in Urban Planning and Development from the University of Southern California. In the Fall he will be teaching an applied research course on Ukraine reconstruction at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, from which he also holds a masters of Public Affairs and a Master of Russian East European and Eurasian Studies.

Hugo Rasch: a criminologist turned investigative journalist at Follow Money

Dr. Francesco Giumelli (Deputy Head of Department, Associate Professor in International Relations and International Organization at the University of Groningen). Expertise: International sanctions, EU Foreign Policy, Illicit Trade

Our guest is Dr. Eric Cezne is postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Global Cooperation Research (GCR21), Duisburg, Germany & the Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Utrecht University, the Netherlands.

Our guest: Dr. Donya Ahmadi is an Iranian-Dutch intersectional feminist and Assistant Professor of International Relations at the University of Groningen. Her current research project concerns the (re)-gendering of contemporary Iranian historiography, through documenting and highlighting the crucial role played by women activists in the political developments of 20th and 21st century Iran.

Our guest is Rusif Huseynov, who is the Co-founder and Director of Topchubashov Center, a Baku-based think tank. His main interests are socio-political developments, frozen conflicts, and ethnic minorities, in post-Soviet countries, while his focus areas mainly cover Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Caucasus and Central Asia. Mr. Huseynov obtained his bachelor’s degree from Baku State University and master’s degree from the University of Tartu. He is a ReThink.CEE (2021) fellow with the German Marshall Fund of the United States and Local Focal Point within the EU4Dialogue project. Mr. Huseynov also taught as an adjunct lecturer at ADA University. He pens articles for international media outlets such as The National Interest, The Jamestown Foundation, the New Eastern Europe.

Our guest is Dr. Mustafa Ali Sezal, lecturer in the Department of International Relations at the University of Groningen. We thank our partner Globalization Studies Groningen

In this episode, we discuss the Russian elite, and public and opposition parties' discourses about the war in Ukraine. What is the elite discourse behind this war? What is the public discourse, and is it different from the elite discourse? To what extent do the opposition parties in Russia share the problematic elite discourse on Ukraine? Our guest is Dr. Lisa Gaufman, Assistant.Prof of Russian Discourse and Politics at the University of Groningen. After completing her PhD at the University of Tübingen, Germany, in 2016, she spent 3 years as a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Intercultural and International Studies at the University of Bremen. She is the author of "Security Threats and Public Perception: Digital Russia and the Ukraine Crisis" (Palgrave, 2017). Her other publications include peer-reviewed articles on nationalism, sexuality, and social networks, as well as regular blog posts at “The Duck of Minerva”. Lisa's research is situated on the intersection of political theory, international relations, media and cultural studies. We also thank our partner Globalization Studies Groningen for supporting us.

Our guests: Michal Jacunski, Professor in Political Communication at the University of Wroclaw, and Artur Gruszczak, Professor of Social Science, chair of National Security at the Faculty of International and Political Studies, Jagiellonian University in Krakow.

Our guest speaker is Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. He served as Secretary-General of NATO from 5 January 2004 until 1 August 2009. From 1976 to 1986, he was employed in the Foreign Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He started in the spokesmen’s service (1976). From 1976 to 1978, he served at the Embassy in Accra (Ghana). He then worked at the Permanent Delegation to NATO in Brussels until 1980, where he was responsible for issues relating to defence planning. He was in charge of the private office of four successive Ministers of Foreign Affairs (Van der Klaauw, Van der Stoel, Van Agt and Van den Broek) until 1986. Mr De Hoop Scheffer was elected to the House of Representatives of the States General for the Christian Democratic Alliance (CDA) in June 1986. He became the party’s spokesperson on foreign policy (as well as asylum and refugee policy and European justice matters) in the House and served on the Permanent Committees on Justice, European Affairs and Defence. From 1989 to 1994 he chaired the Permanent Committee on Development Cooperation. After his term as Secretary General of NATO ended, De Hoop Scheffer became a professor at the Leiden University sitting in the Pieter Kooijmans Chair. He also teaches at Leiden University College. (Source: European Leadership Network: https://www.europeanleadershipnetwork.org/person/jaap-de-hoop-scheffer/) We also want to thank our partner Globalization Studies Groningen

Our topic: Considering the current war between Russia and Ukraine and its energy security implications, we discuss the role of the Caspian Sea countries (South Caucasus and Central Asia) for EU Energy Security. Our guest is Dr. Morena Skalamera, Assistant Professor of Russian and International Studies at Leiden University. Her research interests include the political economy of Eurasia, Russian and post-Soviet Politics, and the Geopolitics of Energy in Eurasia. Dr. Skalamera has spent extensive time conducting field research in post-Soviet Eurasia, especially in Russia and Central Asia, and in Turkey. She is currently working on a book manuscript that examines how energy firms have shaped the energy relationship between Russia and Europe and the energy strategies of the former Soviet states. We also would like to thank our partner Globalization Studies Groningen (https://www.rug.nl/research/globalisation-studies-groningen/?lang=en) (GSG) or their support.

The current conflict in Ukraine has created the most severe crisis between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War. Ukraine’s fate hangs in the balance. Renewed international diplomacy strengthens hopes for a negotiated settlement, but the spectre of all-out war still looms large. This roundtable will bring together experts to discuss the current tension from different perspectives. Our speakers will cover the Russian and Ukraine position, as well as the role West in the conflict Speakers: - Prof. Pavel Baev (the Peace Research Institute Oslo) - Yaroslava Marusyk (University of Groningen) - Tony van der Togt (the Clingendael Institute and the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs) - Prof Jaap de Wilde (University of Groningen) We also would like to thank our partner Globalization Studies Groningen (GSG) for organizing this roundtable! GSG: https://www.rug.nl/research/globalisation-studies-groningen/