Dr Kamil Zwolski BA, MA, PhD
Associate Professor in International Politics, Departmental Programme Director
Dr Kamil Zwolski is Associate Professor in International Politics and Jean Monnet Chair of European Security Governance. He is also Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
If someone thought that studying European security after the Cold War was boring, it’s time to think again
Dr Zwolski’s current research and education activities revolve around the European Commission’s Jean Monnet Chair award, which he received in 2019. These activities involve conducting research for a new book on European security as well as promoting research-based teaching in European studies.
Dr Zwolski’s latest book, European Security in Integration Theory (2018), shows how international integration theories developed after World War I (federalism and functionalism) should be revisited today, particularly in the context of the troubled European-Russian relations and the conflict in Ukraine.
Dr Zwolski’s earlier book, The EU as a Global Security Actor (2013, co-authored by Prof Christian Kaunert), adopts a comprehensive approach to the study of the EU’s role in international security. Breaking with the tendency to associate the EU’s external security policy exclusively with the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy, the book offers comprehensive analysis across the case studies as varied as climate change security, maritime piracy and weapons of mass destruction.
Dr Zwolski also regularly publishes in peer-reviewed journals. For example, he published on David Mitrany and contemporary European security order (JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies); power relations in the so-called communities of practice in international relations (Journal of European Integration); or how the study of the sociology of bureaucracy and bureaucratic behaviour in international relations can help to explain the EU’s international security policy (JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies).
Dr Zwolski, a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, is also leading the Department’s efforts in the area of teaching and learning innovation. He received the 2015 Vice-Chancellor’s Teaching Award for introducing on-line simulation to the teaching and assessment of his International Relations Theory module.
In 2019, Dr Zwolski received the Southampton Students' Union Academic Award for his innovative staff-students partnership initiative, allowing students to work with staff on assessment and feedback. For this initiative, Dr Zwolski was also announced the Finalist of the 2019 Vice-Chancellor’s Awards.
In 2019, as part of his Jean Monnet Chair award, Dr Zwolski began researching and popularising research-based teaching in European studies. To that end, his annual Jean Monnet Workshop ‘Research-based Teaching in EU Studies’ offers inclusive and encouraging space to exchange knowledge and best practice among EU studies teachers.
The workshops, in turn, contribute to Dr Zwolski’s Open Research-based Teaching and Learning Library in EU Studies (ORTALL |EUS), which is a highly innovative, high-quality and interactive open educational resource available to, and promoted among new and established teachers of EU studies.