Dr David Cadier
Current positions
I am a Senior Research Fellow on European security at the Institute of Strategic Studies (IRSEM) in Paris. I am also a Visiting Professor at the College of Europe in Bruges, an Associate Researcher and Adjunct Lecturer at Sciences Po Paris, and a Future World Fellow at the Center for the Governance of Change at IE University in Madrid. At Sciences Po, I am the Principal Investigator for the University Consortium, an academic partnership on West-Russia relations.
Research
My research mainly deals with analysing the foreign policies of European states - their content, determinants, evolutions and interactions, as well as the actors, processes, discourses and imaginaries that animate them. In doing so, I have been focusing on Central Europe and France in particular and I have notably been working on EU-Russia relations, on the determinants of EU member states' attitudes towards Russia and on EU policies towards the post-soviet space and the conflict in Ukraine. From a conceptual point of view, I am interested in the influence of populism and history on foreign policy, in the role of advocacy and discourse coalitions and in the sociology of foreign policy elites (see Publications).
Employment and Education
My interest in European foreign policy was cultivated and enriched as I lived, worked and taught in a number of European capitals: Paris, Prague, London, Tallin, Vienna, Warsaw, Belgrade, Helsinki, Rome and Madrid. This allowed me to develop a truly pan-European vision on European security and gain knowledge about several national contexts.
Prior to joining IRSEM, I was a tenured Assistant Professor in International Relations at the University of Groningen, Netherlands, an institution regularly ranked among the Top 100 universities in the world (2021-2024). Before that, I was a researcher at Sciences Po’s Centre for International Studies (2018-2021) and a Teaching Fellow at the London School of Economics (2012-2015). At the LSE, I was teaching in the International Department and on the Executive Masters in International Strategy and Diplomacy, a program destined to mid-career practitioners. I have also held visiting positions in a number of universities, research centres and think tanks, such at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Boston, the Prague Institute for International Relations, the Centre for Transatlantic Relations at SAIS Johns Hopkins University in Washington D.C., the Finnish Institute of International Affairs in Helsinki and the Polish Institute of International Affairs in Warsaw. Prior to embarking on a PhD, I had professional experiences at the French embassy to Estonia, the OSCE Headquarters in Vienna and the OSCE Mission to Serbia.
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I obtained my PhD in International Relations from Sciences Po Paris and MPhil in International Security and BA in Political Science from Sciences Po Toulouse
Research outputs, Media and Consultancy
Throughout my career, I have strived to combine rigorous academic research with policy engagement and involvement in public debates. I have published numerous peer-reviewed academic articles, books and academic conference papers on my research topics, as well as policy papers, reports and analysis (see the Publication tab). Based on my research, I have also written op-eds, given interviews, or contributed comments to media such as BBC News, Le Monde, The Wall Street Journal, The Yomiuri Shimbun, Newsweek, The Moscow Times or France Culture. I have also authored commissioned reports for, or delivered briefings and presentations at, inter alia the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the French Ministry of Defence, the UK Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO), the UK House of Lords and the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Finally, I am regularly involved in knowledge exchange with practitioners through my involvement in policy networks and track 1.5/2 initiatives.
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