Graduate Student, International Relations
Thesis Title: The Europeanisation of National Foreign Policy: Portuguese post-colonial relations in sub-Saharan Africa
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Professor Karen E. Smith
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About
My PhD project engages with the literature on Europeanisation to assess the impact of European Union (EU) membership on Portuguese foreign policy towards sub-Saharan Africa. After transition to democracy and decolonisation in the mid-1970s, Portugal's foreign policy focus shifted from the Atlantic and Africa to Europe. Yet, past priorities have continued to occupy an important place in the external outlook of Portugal. My analysis centres on Angola and Mozambique, the two largest Portuguese former colonies in sub-Saharan Africa, and covers three policy-areas: external trade, development aid and political issues. This study intends to contribute to the bridge-building effort between rationalist and constructivist scholarship and add to the literature on the foreign policy of EU member states.
Beyond the focus of my thesis, my current research interests include domestic sources of foreign policy in general, nationalism and identity politics, the role of ideology in foreign policy, small states, transatlantic relations, ethics in international relations and qualitative methodologies. I hold an MA in European Politics (Université Libre de Bruxelles) and a BA in Law and European Studies (University of Coimbra). From 2005 to 2006 I was a research assistant at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies, in Lisbon. Before that I worked for two years as a consultant in European and international affairs in Brussels.
