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Marco Siddi is Leading Researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs and Associate Professor in Political Science at the University of Cagliari, Italy. He is also Adjunct Professor in World Politics at the University of Helsinki and in International Relations at Tampere University. He is a Board Member of the Trans European Policy Studies Association (TEPSA) and a member of the European Leadership Network. He received his PhD at the Universities of Edinburgh and Cologne, in the framework of the Marie Curie Training Network EXACT concerning the external action of the European Union. His work focuses primarily on energy politics, the politics of memory and identity, European politics, and EU-Russia relations.

His latest monographs are European Energy Politics: The Green Transition and EU-Russia Energy Relations (Edward Elgar, 2023) and European Identities and Foreign Policy Discourses on Russia: From the Ukraine to the Syrian Crisis (Routledge, 2020). He has also co-edited the volume Historical Memory and Foreign Policy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022). His research was published in top-ranked international academic journals, including the Journal of European Public Policy, Geopolitics, Europe-Asia Studies, Journal of European Integration, The International Spectator, German Politics, Politics and Governance, and International Politics. He has written policy analyses for several European think tanks, as well as for LSE EUROPP, OpenDemocracy, and the European Leadership Network.

Where do you see the most exciting research/debates happening in your field?

There are numerous interesting developments, it is even difficult to keep track and summarize. In energy and climate politics, the green transition has huge societal consequences that we are only beginning to explore. Concepts such as security, justice, and sustainability drive many debates, and it is more and more difficult to discuss them ‘in isolation’ because they are increasingly interrelated. In the discipline of International Relations more broadly, the ongoing shift of economic and political power from the Global North to the Global South, or at least to some countries in this second grouping, is perhaps the most relevant development. This shift should not be overstated or idealized, but it deserves critical attention.

Conversely, one of my main areas of interest and expertise—EU-Russia and West-Russia relations—has become very depressing to study. I do not mean that the topic has become uninteresting, it is just very hard to cope with the negative developments since 2022. On the other hand, there is a need for solid expertise to analyze the Russo-Ukrainian conflict and its numerous ramifications.

How has the way you understand the world changed over time, and what (or who) prompted the........

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