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Co-Director of the Centre for Security Research (CeSeR)

Qualifications

• PhD, MA, Political Science (The Ohio State University)
• BA, Political Science (University of Oklahoma)

Biography

Juliet Kaarbo joined the Politics and International Relations department in June 2011 as a Senior Lecturer and was promoted to Professor with a Personal Chair in Foreign Policy in 2015. She served as Postgraduate Adviser for Politics & International Relations (2013-2016) and is the founding co-Director of CeSeR.

Julie previously held posts at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva and the University of Kansas where she served as Director of Faculty Programs in the Office of International Programs, and as Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Political Science. In 2009, she was awarded a Visiting Scientist Fellowship by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey. She has received awards for conference papers and for post-graduate mentoring.

In 2018, Julie was named the  Distinguished Scholar in Foreign Policy Analysis for the Foreign Policy Analysis section of the International Studies Association. In 2019, Julie won the Best Supervisor Award at the University of Edinburgh.

Research Interests

Julie’s research focuses on political psychology, leadership and decision making, group dynamics, foreign policy analysis, foreign policy roles, and parliamentary political systems. Areas of specialization include German, British, Israeli, Dutch, Japanese, Turkish, and U.S. foreign policy. Her research has appeared in various journals, including International Studies Quarterly, European Journal of International Relations, British Journal of Politics and International Relations,  International Studies Review, Political Psychology, Cooperation and Conflict, Foreign Policy Analysis, and Leadership Quarterly. She has co-written multiple versions of two textbooks -- Global Politics and Foreign Policy in Comparative Perspective.

Recent Publications

• ‘A Foreign Policy Perspective on After Victory’, commentary in forum on Ikenberry’s After Victory as Breakthrough research, British Journal of Politics and International Relations (2019).
• 'Party Politics at the Water’s Edge:  Contestation of Military Operations in Europe', with Wolfgang Wagner, Anna Herranz-Surralles & Falk Ostermann  European Political Science Review (2018).
• ‘Personality and International Politics:  Insights from Existing Research and Directions for the Future,’ European Review of International Studies (2018).
• 'Casting for a Sovereign Role: Socialising an Aspirant State in the Scottish Independence Referendum,'  with Ryan Beasley, European Journal of International Relations (2018).
• 'Domestic Role Contestation and Foreign Policy,' with Cristian Cantir, Encyclopedia of Foreign Policy Analysis, Oxford University Press (2018).
• ‘Prime Minister Leadership Style and the Role of Parliament in Security Policy,’ British Journal of Politics and International Relations (2018).
•  'Coalition Politics, International Norms, and Foreign Policy: Multiparty Decision-making Dynamics in Comparative Perspective,' International Politics (2017).
• 'Personality or Role? Comparisons of Turkish Leaders Across Different Institutional Positions,' with Esra Cuhadar, Baris Kesgin, & Binnur Ozkececi-Taner,  Political Psychology (2017).
• ‘Introduction: Coalition Politics and Foreign Policy’ in  with Kai Oppermann & Klaus Brummer,  European Political Science (2017).
• Domestic Role Contestation, Foreign Policy, and International Relations, Editor, with Cristian Cantir Routledge (2016).
• 'No, Prime Minister:  Explaining the House of Commons Vote on Intervention in Syria,' with Daniel Kenealy, European Security (2016).

Personalities of Political World Leaders     This project includes several tracks, including research in a collaborative project on Turkish leaders and a new project (Breaking Bad) on who leader personalities change over time.  Related to this research, I am co-editing the Oxford Handbook of Political Executives.  

National Roles:  Contestation & Socialisation    This research extends my prior theoretical and empirical analyses of internal disagreements over national role conceptions and their influence on foreign policy.  A collaborative project examines the relationship between sovereignty and roles in the Brexit referendum.  

Coalition Cabinets, Political Parties, & Parliaments in Foreign Policy     My research continues to examine the effects of coalition cabinets and political party disagreements on foreign policy. I am part of a research team doing comparative analyses on parties’ positions on military deployments and the politicization of security policy in parliamentary votes. We have created and extended a database of deployment votes:  http://deploymentvotewatch.eu/.

The Future of Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA)     Following my editorial work on the Oxford Research Encyclopaedia of Foreign Policy Analysis, I am co-   editing (with Cameron Thies) the Oxford Handbook of Foreign Policy Analysis.  This Handbook aims to re-position FPA to a central analytic location within the study of International Relations.

Recent Professional Activities

Expert Testimony

Written testimony submitted to the UK House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee's Inquiry on Globa Britain, 17 July 2018.

Invited witness for the UK House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee’s Inquiry on the Foreign Policy Implications of and for a Separate Scotland, London, 15 January 2013.  

Invited witness for the Scottish Parliament European and External Relations Committee’s evidence session on ‘The Scottish Government’s Proposals for an Independent Scotland’, Edinburgh, 12 June 2014.

Selective Presentations

 'The Scottish Question,' Brookings Center on the United States and Europe, Brookings Institution, 12 September 2014 (broadcast nationally in the U.S. on CSPAN)

'Foreign Policy Considerations for an Independent Scotland,' Scottish Parliament Staff Development Seminar, 15 April 2014. 

'An Independent Scottish Foreign Policy,' in “The Independence Debate with Kirsty Wark,” at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, 13 August 2013.

Selective Blogs

'As Others See Us:  The Striking Similarities between Brexit and Scottish Independence Debates,’ Herald Scotland, 21 June 2016.

'Too small for the big leagues? Foreign policy in an independent Scotland,' on the University of Edinburgh’s Blog Scotland’s Referendum:  Informing the Debate, 25 January 2013.

Topics interested in supervising

foreign & security policy * political psychology * political leadership * group decision-making * parliamentary systems * the role of individuals and domestic politics in international relations

If you are interested in being supervised by Juliet Kaarbo, please see the links below for more information: