Elena Baracani holds the Jean Monnet Chair on ‘The EU as a Global Actor’ (EUGlobA). Since 2019, she has been an Associate Professor of Political Science at the Department of Political and Social Sciences of the University of Bologna, where she teaches courses on ‘The EU as a Global Actor’, ‘EU Institutions and Crises’, and the workshop on ‘EU Foreign Policy Analysis’, and she is part of the academic board of the PhD Programme of Political and Social Sciences. Since 2023, she has been co-editor of the Annual Review of the EU of the Journal of Common Market Studies. She received her Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Florence in 2006, and in 2008 won a European Union Institute for Security Studies Visiting Fellowship and a post-doc research grant in the framework of the ‘European Foreign and Security Policy Studies’ Program. She has been Visiting Professor at the Stanford Program in Florence from 2011 to 2022. She has almost twenty years of teaching experience in EU Politics and Foreign Policy, at BA, MA, and PhD levels, at both Italian and American universities (University of Bologna, University of Florence, University for Foreigners of Perugia, Istituto Italiano di Scienze Umane, LUISS, Rutgers University, Kent State University, California State University, and Stanford University). Her current research focuses on EU foreign policy, external relations, and the role of EU institutions and leaders in crises. Her work, published mainly in English, has appeared in journals like European Security, Geopolitics, Journal of Common Market Studies, Journal of Contemporary European Research, West European Politics, and World Political Science Review. Her most recent book is EU-Turkey Relations. A New Direction for EU Foreign Policy? (Edward Elgar 2021), which won the 2022 UACES best book prize.
Academic degrees:
- 2025: National scientific qualification as Full Professor in Political Science
- 2022: Jean Monnet Chair on the EU as a Global Actor (EUGlobA)
- 2019: Associate Professor in Political Science at the University of Bologna
- 2017: National scientific qualification as Associate Professor in Political Science
- 2013-19: Assistant Professor in Political Science at the University of Bologna
- 2008-10: post-doctoral fellowship at the Istituto Italiano di Scienze Umane (currently Scuola Normale Superiore) in the framework of the ‘European Foreign and Security Policy Studies' programme funded by the Compagnia di San Paolo, the Riksbankens Jubileumsfond and the VolkswagenStiftung
- 2008: winner of a post-doc research grant in the framework of the ‘European Foreign and Security Policy Studies' programme funded by the Compagnia di San Paolo, the Riksbankens Jubileumsfond and the VolkswagenStiftung
- 2008: winner of a European Union Institute for Security Studies Visiting Fellowship
- 2006: PhD in Political Science, University of Florence (Italy). Title of the dissertation: ‘The European Union and Democracy Promotion. The Cases of Turkey and Serbia', supervisor: Professor Leonardo Morlino
- 2001: MA, University of Florence, Faculty of Political Sciences. Degree in Political Sciences - International Political Studies - cum laude. Thesis in International Organization. Title of the dissertation: ‘The United Nations and Democracy Promotion', supervisor: Professor Marina Spinedi
Career:
- 2022: Jean Monnet Chair on the EU as a Global Actor (EUGlobA)
- 2019: Associate Professor in Political Science at the University of Bologna
- 2013-19: Assistant Professor in Political Science at the Department of Political and Social Sciences of the University of Bologna
- 2012-22: Visiting Assistant Professor at the Breyer Center for Overseas Studies of the Stanford University
- 2011-14: Scientific Secretary of the PhD Program in Political Science at the Istituto Italiano di Scienze Umane (Scuola Normale Superiore) in Florence
- 2010-13: Teaching assistant at LUISS
- March 2010-February 2011: Research Fellow at the Department of Political and Social Sciences of the University of Florence
- 2009-2011: Adjunct Professor at the University of Florence
- 2008-14: Tutor of the PhD Program in Political Science at the Istituto Italiano di Scienze Umane (Scuola Normale Superiore) in Florence
- 2008-13: Adjunct Professor at Kent State University in Florence
- 2008-13: Adjunct Professor at California State University in Florence
- 2008-10: Post-doctoral fellow at the Istituto Italiano di Scienze Umane
- 2006-09: Adjunct Professor at the University for Foreigners of Perugia
- 2006-11: Adjunct Professor at Rutgers University in Florence
- 2006-07: Research Fellow at the Department of Political and Social Sciences of the University of Florence
- 2003-05: PhD Fellow at the Department of Political and Social Sciences of the University of Florence
Other activities:
Member of the Scientific Committee of Centro studi, formazione, comunicazione e progettazione sull'Unione europea e la global governance (CesUe); member of the University Association of Contemporary European Studies (UACES)