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Politics and International Studies

Guillermo Alonso Simon

PhD, AFHEA

For academic or PhD enquiries:

guillermo.alonso-simon@warwick.ac.uk

Qualifications

BA (Hons), Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, First Class Honours, Lancaster University, UK (oct. 2016 - jul. 2019)

MSc, International Relations, IE School of Global and Public Affairs, Top Ten of Class, Spain (oct. 2019 - jul. 2020)

PhD, Politics and International Relations, University of Warwick, UK (oct. 2021 - Nov. 2025)

Visiting PhD Researcher, LUISS Guido Carli University, Italy (sept. 2023 - feb. 2024)

Profile

My research interests are currently situated in the overlap between Comparative Political Economy and European studies, specifically in the increasingly consolidated field of European Political Economy. I am particularly interested in the integration and governance of multiple capitalisms under the Euro, given the context of an incomplete political and economic union, and the rise of challenges like increased levels of socioeconomic inequality, growing public debts, and the need for investment to tackle the climate crisis.

As an example of this, my doctoral research (The Limits of Fiscal Convergence: A Practice-Based Account of the Fiscal Politics of Eurozone Design, Accession, and Crisis in Italy and Spain), funded by a Chancellors' International Scholarship, and supervised by Prof. Ben Clift and Prof. Özlem Atikcan, analysed Italy and Spain's accession to the European Monetary Union in the 1990s. In the context of recent debates about member states' convergence under the Euro, I studied the evolution of each country's fiscal politics and policymaking in response to the Maastricht Treaty's requirements, linking the outcomes of EMU accession to the public financial issues they confronted during the Eurozone crisis. I argued that the Eurozone's model of monetary and fiscal integration posseses a set of self-undermining tendencies, a product of a series of blind spots and biases around how it operationalises ideas of fiscal discipline and convergence. Part of the thesis' findings have been published as a solo-authored article in the Journal of Common Market StudiesLink opens in a new window, and serve as the basis for my contemporary research agenda on fiscal and economic policymaking in Europe, and on status seeking in the international political economy.

I also have administrative, teaching, and research experience from previous employment. In particular, before starting my PhD I worked as a Research Assistant for various projects, ranging from qualitative studies into understanding violent extremist groups, to the digital revolution and its implications for the European Union. I am also an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, demonstrating my knowledge of the institution's Professional Standards Framework.

Research interests
  • Comparative and European Political Economy, specifically of Southern Europe
  • European economic integration and governance, particularly in relation to Europeanisation dynamics and to the Eurozone debt crisis.
  • The role of the state in contemporary capitalism, particularly in regards to fiscal policymaking and public financial management.
  • Constructivist Political Economy, specifically recent approaches related to the politics of economic ideas
Academic publications
  • Alonso Simón, G. (2024), 'Opening the Black Box of Convergence in the European Economic and Monetary Union: A Discursive Analysis', Journal of Common Market Studies, online access, p.1-19
  • Bayes, C, Johnson, M & Alonso, G (2020), ‘WP Game Playing: Exploring alternative pathways to ‘New Political Minds'’. in G Atherton, S Kendall, M Naughton & M Webster (eds), The Third Age of Widening Access, National Education Opportunities Network (NEON).
  • Johnson, M. T, Bowden, G. and Alonso, G. (2020) ‘Rethinking Disadvantage: A social capital approach to Widening Participation’, Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning, Vol 22 (1), p.55-78.
Selected Conference Presentations
  • Alonso Simón, G. & Stockwell, L. (2024) “Macroeconomic indicators, issue evolution, and the narrative construction of the Eurozone crisis” in the Annual PAIS Research Conference, University of Warwick
  • Alonso Simón, G. (2024) “The Lagging South? Convergence, Europeanisation, and the fiscal politics of EMU accession in Spain and Italy”, presented in the British International Studies Association (BISA) Annual Conference 2024, Birmingham
  • Alonso Simón, G. (2024) “Opening the black box of ‘convergence’ in the European Economic and Monetary Union: the contributions of Comparative Political Economy and Europeanisation research”, presented in the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR)’s Standing Group on the European Union (SGEU) Biennial Conference, Lisbon
  • Alonso Simón, G. & Otero Iglesias, M. (2024) “Varieties of Capitalism, NGEU, and the Politics of Coordination in Post-Covid Spain”, presented in the International Studies Association (ISA) Annual Conference, San Francisco
Other publications
Teaching experience
  • Senior Graduate Teaching Assistant, PO131 World Politics, PAIS Department, The University of Warwick (2024-2025; 2023-2024)
  • Senior Graduate Teaching Assistant, PO133 Foundations of Political Economy, PAIS Department, The University of Warwick (2022-2023)
  • Graduate Teaching Assistant, PO107 Introduction to Politics, PAIS Department, The University of Warwick (2021-2022)
  • Intern Workshop Coordinator, New Political Minds course, Richardson Institute for Peace Studies, Lancaster University, August 2019
Awards and Scholarships
  • Chancellors' International Scholarship, Doctoral College, University of Warwick, 2022-2025
  • Best Undergraduate Dissertation - Philosophy, Lancaster University, 2019
Other Activities
    • Co-Chair of the 2022-2023 Critical Research and International Political Studies (CRIPS) graduate working group

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