Isabell Burmester

I am a post-doctoral researcher at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris where I currently work on the EU-funded REUNIR project investigating how the EU can strengthen its foreign and security toolboxes to bolster the resilience and transformation of (potential) candidate countries.

My research explores mechanisms of hegemony and dynamics of norm contestation with a particular focus on Russia and its contestation of the Liberal International Order. It is situated at the intersection of international relations, area studies, and political science and investigates the consequences of Russian norm-breaking at the regional and international level. In my book I characterize the evolution of parallel hegemonic orders and the respective exercise of hegemonic power by Russian and the EU in Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus.

My work is published or forthcoming in Democratization, European Security, Europe-Asia Studies, Cambridge Review of International Affairs,  Contemporary Politics, and Palgrave, and has been supported by the Swiss National Science Fund (SNSF) and the Jean Monnet Network on Research and Teaching.

I received my PhD in political science from the University of Geneva (Switzerland) and have been a visiting researcher at Maastricht University (the Netherlands), MGIMO-University (Russia), and Tartu University (Estonia). I hold a Master’s degree in European Interdisciplinary Studies from the College of Europe (Natolin) and a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and International Organization from the University of Groningen (the Netherlands).

On this website you will find more information on my research and teaching activities. You can also contact me at isabell.burmester[at]sorbonne-nouvelle.fr

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