Read my blog post at ECDPM’s Talking Points blog with Bruce Byers, Head of the African Institutions and Regional Dynamics Programme at ECDPM. We discuss how infrastructure support of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is a litmus for a new, focused AUDA-NEPAD.

This article with Frank Mattheis (ULB) outlines the challenges the AU has faced in working towards financial autonomy. Read it on The Conversation.

“Should I do a PhD?” Questions for prospective doctoral students in IR/political science After several conversations with future, current and past PhD students in my field, here is the list of honest questions prospective doctoral students can think about. Don’t let the critical nature of these questions distract you. With the right motivation, context andContinue reading ““Should I do a PhD?” Questions for prospective doctoral students in IR/political science”

The International Studies Association’s  International Organization Section has kindly awarded me the Lawrence S. Finkelstein Prize for Best Paper at the (cancelled) ISA Annual Conference 2020. The prize recognizes the best graduate student paper on international organizations. I submitted a paper drawing from my on-going doctoral dissertation on the financing and reforms of the AfricanContinue reading “ISA International Organization Section – Lawrence S. Finkelstein Prize”

Africa’s new continental free trade area, the AfCFTA, is a remarkable achievement. However, decisive diplomatic, technical and social action is needed for it to succeed. Find my co-written article with Frank Mattheis on the challenges and achievements of the African Union’s new Continental Free Trade Area here: https://theconversation.com/more-work-lies-ahead-to-make-africas-new-free-trade-area-succeed-118135 A radio interview with SA FM’s BongiContinue reading “Launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area”

Peer-reviewed article in West European Politics, written with Stephanie Hofmann, for a special issue on collective securitisation and the EU. Has the European Commission become an agent of collective securitisation in EU energy policy? We argue that EU energy policy has seen repeated collective and national securitisation moves directed in particular at Russian gas exportsContinue reading “Journal article: Frame contestation and collective securitisation: the case of EU energy policy”

Peer-reviewed article in International Spectator, written with Cristian Bobocea: Regional economic integration in the post-Soviet space stands in a complex relation with the European Union’s integration process. Multiple competing internal logics of integration, as well as the EU model are drivers of Eurasian regionalism. The Eurasian Economic Union illustrates how bureaucracies mobilise their technocratic authority inContinue reading “Journal article: Bureaucratic Authority and Mimesis: The Eurasian Economic Union’s Multiple Integration Logics”

Read my review of Anna Katharina Stahl’s book “EU–China–Africa Trilateral Relations in a Multipolar World” in Journal of Common Market Studies (JCMS) here.

Many thanks to the journal African Affairs and the British International Studies Association (BISA) for awarding me their Postgraduate Prize 2017 for the best paper on a topic related to Africa.