A Global Perspective on European Politics Agha Bayramov

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.