In June 2017, I had the pleasure of convening two panels on the African Union with Micha Wiebusch (SOAS/Antwerp). At the British International Studies Association annual conference in Brighton, and at the European Conference on African Studies in Basel panelists proposed a great variety of papers on the theme “Speaking Africa, integrating Africa? Norms and powerContinue reading “Panels on the African Union at BISA Brighton and ECAS Basel”

In this foraus blog post in German, I plead for a pinch of pragmatism from the critics of TTIP. Much like Brexiteers, categorical anti-TTIP voices risk isolating themselves from having a real impact in the debate. Read the blog post here: http://www.foraus.ch/#!/blog/c!/content-5816-ttip-kritik-und-brexit-zur-konstruktiven-demokratisierung-europas

In this policy brief for the College of Europe’s CEPOB series entitled “Conditionality in context – scenarios for EU relations with the Eurasian Economic Union”, I show how the EU’s conditionality on Russia after its annexation of Crimea and support to Donbass belligerents is fizzling out. The paper then develops and evaluates different scenarios forContinue reading “Policy Brief: Scenarios for EU-Eurasian Economic Union relations”

Although very few facts have gone unchallenged in a rather untypical campaign, it is very likely that a United Kingdom vote on 23 June to leave the EU would negatively affect its place and influence in the world. The Brexit camp has been strategically quiet on concrete post-Brexit scenarios, while the Remain camp has warnedContinue reading “Paper: How Brexit would put EU development aid in turmoil”

In this discussion paper for the Swiss foreign policy think-tank foraus, I analyse the TTIP negotiations from a Swiss point of view. In a nutshell, my paper argues that TTIP is rightly facing a contentious debate, as it’s an agreement with deep-seated political implications. For Switzerland, the dilemma is between marginal economic gains, traded off against aContinue reading “Discussion paper: TTIP and Switzerland”

Access here. After a moving and emo­tio­nal res­ponse to the ter­ro­rist attacks in Paris on 13 Novem­ber, time has come for reflec­tion. The recent poli­ti­cal vio­lence in France and elsew­here raises big ques­tions and asks for no other than big ans­wers. To address these fun­da­men­tal chal­lenges, we met with Jean-François Bayart, a renow­ned Afri­ca­nist whoContinue reading “Extended interview EN & FR: Jean-François Bayart”

Access here. TTIP reflects the regulatory framework that globalised value chains dictate. Yet, it covers 40% of global trade only – what about the rest? Economic justice should come to the fore – both in a TTIP ‘accession clause’ and at the WTO.

Access here. This paper proposes an innovative analytical approach to regionalism promotion by the European Union (EU) in Africa. The approach pursues the dual aim of accommodating African approaches to regionalism in EU foreign policy analysis and of expounding the centrality of diplomacy in negotiating a renewed EU-African Union relationship. The concept of ‘regionalism diplomacy’Continue reading “UNU-CRIS Bruges Regional Integration & Global Governance Paper: The European Union’s Regionalism Diplomacy in Africa: An English School Approach”