- European International Relations; EU Foreign Policy Identity; European diplomacy
- EU relations with its Eastern and Southern neighbours; Politics in Central Europe; Politics of Populism;
- Qualitative Research; Practice Theory; Social Network Analysis;
How and why states interact diplomatically in a poly-centric and networked 21st century environment is the key question of my academic research. I want to better understand what value and expectations states do attach to their diplomatic interactions, and how their diplomatic approach balances between innovation and tradition. In particular, I am interested to add conceptually and empirically to our understanding of how EU actors (its member states, institutions and citizens) perceive the added value of cooperating diplomatically and politically. In regard of the latter I am also particularly interested about how Central European states make sense of their EU membership and how the EU adjusted its relationship to Eastern Europe troughout the last decades.
My academic work is inspired by the cross-fertilization of my research, teaching and policy dissemination activities. I am convinced that my understanding for a variety of research traditions makes me a better teacher and policy advisor, that my teaching makes me a better researcher, and that my regular engagement with policy-makers and practitioners informs my teaching and my ability to prepare students for academic as well as non-academic professional careers.
My research agenda thus informs three connected research strands, which are presented in more detail on the subpages:
