I am a Professor of International Relations in the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen. I enjoy working with junior and senior colleagues inside and outside the department, and I love teaching and supervising our many talented students.
Research and publications
I have a keen interest in the theory and practice of foreign policy and have published widely on small state foreign policy, international order and peaceful change, and neoclassical realism.
Much of my work focuses on how states seek to navigate an international environment, which is both institutionalized and dominated by power politics. Some of this work seeks to bridge the gap between the study of power politics and the study of international organizations, and to understand how, when, and why international organizations contribute to or detract from peaceful change.
Other work zooms in on how small states seek to maximize interests and promote values in international relations. My work on this topic includes much-cited overviews and discussions of the state of the art of research on small state politics and small states in the European Union as well as discussions of the grand strategies of small states and the strategic choices of small states in the European Union and during international crises. It also includes discussion of strategic options and challenges of small states under different types of polarity and classical realist insights on the power politics of small states. Finally, I have done a number of case studies of small states, mostly focusing on Denmark and Scandinavian politics but also on other states such as Estonia, Moldova, Georgia and microstates in the Pacific.
My academic articles have been published in e.g., International Affairs, International Studies Review, International Relations, Foreign Policy Analysis, European Journal of International Security, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Cooperation and Conflict, Journal of European Integration, Journal of Common Market Studies, Journal of International Relations and Development, Ethics and International Affairs, European Security and African Security.
My recent books include International Organizations and Peaceful Change in World Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2025, co-edited with T.V. Paul and Kai He), Polarity in International Relations: Past, Present, Future (Palgrave, 2022, co-edited with Nina Græger, Bertel Heurlin and Ole Wæver) and The Oxford Handbook of Peaceful Change in International Relations (Oxford University Press, 2021, co-edited with T.V. Paul (lead editor), Deborah W. Larson, Harold Trinkunas and Ralf Emmers).
Leadership and service
I love working with colleagues on designing and implementing collaborative research projects, and I am happy to take the lead. I have comprehensive experience as PI, co-PI, grant holder and research leader based on grants from e.g., the European Commission, Danish Parliament, Independent Research Fund Denmark, Carlsberg Foundation, and Danish Maritime Foundation.
From 2026 to 2029, I am PI of ‘Rivalry in International Politics (RIP): Critical Junctures and Perceptions of Threat in Interstate Rivalry’, a research project funded by Independent Research Fund Denmark. Also, from 2024 to 2027, I am University of Copenhagen PI for CEE Security Hub – A critical relational perspective on peace & security in Central and Eastern Europe, a collaborative project between Tallin University, Tampere University and the University of Copenhagen funded by Horizon Europe.
Since 2020, I chair of the ‘Small States in World Politics’ section at the European International Studies Association (EISA) with Revecca Pedi from University of Macedonia. I serve as West European Director and member of steering committee of the Global Research Network on Peaceful Change (GRENPEC), (2019-present).
I enjoy policy work. I am writing a book for the Danish Democracy and Power Study 2.0, an audit of Danish democracy funded by the Danish parliament. The book – co-authored with Kristian Søby Kristensen from the Royal Danish Defence College and Niels Byrjalsen from the Centre for Military Studies – is an analysis of the democratic control of Danish defence and security policy.
From 2017 to 2019, Iwas Chief Investigator and Deputy Director of Research in the Independent Inquiry on Denmark’s Military Participation in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan (“Krigsudredningen”) commissioned by the Danish Parliament. I have also served as member of expert advisory groups and written a number of newspaper op-eds and blog posts for outlets such as the LSE’s EUROPP blog and The Conversation.
At the University of Copenhagen, I have served in various leadership roles, including Head of Studies 2010-2016 (Bsc. and Msc. programmes in social science and political science with approximately 1800 students) and Head of PhD Programme in Political Science (2022-2025). Since 2025, I am Head of the IR Research Section at the Department of Political Science.
I serve on the editorial advisory boards of Foreign Policy Analysis, Cooperation and Conflict, Journal of European Integration, The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, Scandinavian Journal of Military Studies and Small States and Territories.
Teaching and supervision
I love to teach and supervise and I am continuously impressed with the students at at the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, where I have been teaching since 1997. Since 2007, I have lectured at the Small States Summer School, University of Iceland. From 2015 to 2021, I was responsible for a teaching module on small state foreign policy each spring semester at Ramon Lull University, Barcelona. Since 2000, I have supervised more than 100 Master’s theses and more than 75 Bachelor’s theses. You can read more about my teaching philosophy and find examples of my syllabi here.
Contact details and social media
You are most welcome to connect with me on LinkedIn and X/Twitter.
For an overview of my work, please download my bio or CV or visit my researcher profile at the University of Copenhagen. Please feel free to send me an e-mail if you have any questions or are looking for one of my publications.