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Politics and International Studies

Hussein Kassim

Professor of European Public Policy and Administration

Senior Fellow under the ESRC 'UK in a Changing Europe' initiative

Hussein.Kassim@warwick.ac.uk

Room: E1.04

Teaching: European Union; public policy; regulation; public administration; comparative politics

Advice and Feedback hours: Tuesdays, 14:00 to 15:00 or by appointment via Teams

Research

I research the EU institutions, the backgrounds, careers and beliefs of EU civil servants, gender, diversity and inclusion in the EU administration, the interaction between the EU and the member states, and UK-EU relations, pre-and post-Brexit.

I have been PI or Co-I on grants from the British Academy, the ESRC, the Nuffield Foundation, and the EU ('EMU Choices’).

Much of my work has been collaborative across institutions and disciplines. Click for a full list of my publications.

Current projects

As well as monographs on the EU and Brexit, and on the presidentialisation of the European Commission, I am working on several collective volumes:

Negotiating Brexit. EU institutions, national governments, and the UK, co-edited with Simon Usherwood,

Coordination at the Top, co-edited with Jean-Michel Eymeri-Douzans and Marie Goransson

The National Coordination of European Policy after Lisbon and an era of Crisis, co-edited with Eva Heidbreder

Research highlights

I have led four major multi-disciplinary research projects on the EU administration and the people who work for it:

These projects explore leadership and coordination, the internal operation of EU bodies, the backgrounds and beliefs of officials, and the careers of EU civil servants, with a particular focus on gender. Data from the three projects on the European Commission have allowed us to undertake longitudinal analysis of many of these topics.

Beyond the EU administration, I have conducted projects that investigate topics as varied as member state-EU relations, EU competition policy including the operation of the European Competition Network, the EU's common aviation policy, policy instruments in the EU's multi-level system, and uses of the principal-agent model in modelling relations in government and politics.

This project, which I lead as Senior Fellow under the ESRC's 'The UK in a Changing Europe’ initiative, investigates the reconfiguration of the UK's relations with the EU and European states after Brexit. Dr Cleo Davies is the senior research associate and Dr Pippa Lacey the administrative assistant. The 'Living with the Neighbours ObservatoryLink opens in a new window' brings together specialists to provide expert commentary from across Europe on relations with the UK.

'Living with the neighbours' builds on earlier research, ‘Negotiating Brexit: EU institutions, national governments, and the UK’, and ‘Negotiating the Future’, which examined the negotiations that led to the Withdrawal Act and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. It also assesses the impact of Brexit on UK regulation

The events conducted as part of my first Fellowship, ‘Assessing UK membership of the EULink opens in a new window’, explored key aspects of UK-EU relations.

As part of those projects, I have organised multiple events, published commentary and analysis, and co-hosted with Cleo Davies four series of podcasts, including 'Books on Brexit', ‘Good Neighbours? The UK and Europe after Brexit’, 'After Brexit: What has changed?’, and ‘Negotiating Brexit: views from the Member States’.

I have appeared many times on radio and TV, and been interviewed by national and international media in relation to this work.

News

New reports

UK-EU: What next? considers the challenges that the Starmer government will face in resetting the UK's relationship with the EU, July 2024.

'The UK and its neighbours: views from across EuropeLink opens in a new window' - first publication from the Living with the Neighbours ObservatoryLink opens in a new window, written by leading specialists, June 2024.

Panelist 'The State of UK-EU relations' at UK in a Changing Europe annual conference 2024, 18 June 2024

Talk 'Post election prospects for UK-EU relations' at the Royal Elcano Institute, Madrid, 13 June, 2024

Blog: Elena Barcani and Hussein Kassim 'Von der Leyen II and the ‘Geopolitical Commission’: more of the same?', UK in a Changing Europe, 9 October 2024

Podcast series: 'Books on Brexit', with Cleo Davies, 2023

Explainers and working papers:

Cleo Davies and Hussein Kassim Institutions and governance of the EU-UK relationship

Cleo Davies and Hussein Kassim UK bilaterals with EU member States since Brexit

Forthcoming articles:

Pierre Alayrac, Sara Connolly, Miriam Hartlapp, and Hussein Kassim ‘Pathways to the top: Women, men, and leadership in the European Commission’ European Union Politics

Forthcoming book:

National European Union narratives: ‘official stories’ of belonging, coedited with Adriaan Schout, which explores the meanings that the EU has for twelve European states, will appear later this year

Research impact

I am strongly committed to working with research users. I submitted impact case studies drawing on my work on the EU administration to both the 2014 and 2021 REF audits. Our 2021 REF impact case study was awarded a 4*, the highest possible score.

Engagement

I have hosted multiple public events, including several series of 'The too difficult box' featuring leading figures (politicians, civil servants, and others) which I convened with Charles Clarke at my previous institution. My activities as a 'UK in a Changing Europe' Senior Fellow have included multiple conferences, expert events, and broadcasts. Highlights include:

Good neighbours? UK and Europe after Brexit

After Brexit: Utopia or dystopia?

Negotiating the Future EU-UK relationship

What influence? The UK and Europe

Reporting the Europe: the UK media and the EU

The EU and the UK. External Perspectives on UK Membership of the EU – past, present and future

Profile

I moved to Warwick in 2023, after seventeen years at UEA, thirteen at Birkbeck, University of London, and one at Nottingham University, which was my first permanent job. My early teaching experience was in Oxford as a College Lecturer at Balliol College, New College, and Worcester College.

At Birkbeck, I was head of department and teaching director, where I navigated Politics and Sociology through two teaching quality audits. At UEA, I served as head of department, research director, impact champion, REF unit of assessment coordinator, and research theme leader at the Centre for Competition Policy. At University level, I sat on ESRC and AHRC IAA boards, and on the ESRC grant application committee. I was a co-founder of the University-wide network policy@uea.

I am currently a Visiting Professor at the College of Europe in Bruges, Programme Associate of the Transnational School of Governance at the European University Institute, Visiting Professor at Birkbeck University of London, Academic Fellow at the European Policy Centre, and professeur invité at Paris 1 – Panthéon-La Sorbonne.

Over the course of my career, I have held visiting positions at Columbia University, New York University, the Centre d'études européennes at Sciences Po. Paris, École Normale Supérieure, European University Institute, ARENA – the University of Oslo, and the Minda de Gunzberg Center for European Studies at Harvard University.

Recent publications:

    Sara Connolly & Hussein Kassim, (2024) One EU civil service or many? The European Commission and the council secretariatLink opens in a new window. European Politics and Society, 1–29

    Francesca P. Vantaggiato, Zuzana Murdoch, Hussein Kassim, Benny Geys, and Sara Connolly (2024) Intra-organizational Mobility and Employees’ Work-related Contact Patterns: Evidence from Panel Data in the European Commission, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 34(4): 598–610

    Elena Baracani and Hussein Kassim (2024) 'The "Geopolitical Commission": An end of term reviewLink opens in a new window', Journal of Common Market Studies Annual Review.

    Hussein Kassim, Sara Connolly, Pierre Alayrac & Merve Uzunalioglu (2024). ‘6. The administration of the European Commission’ in Gijs Jan Brandsma (ed) Handbook on European Union Public Administration, Edward Elgar, p. 64.

    Hussein Kassim and Sara Connolly. (2024). ‘8. The General Secretariat of the Council’ in Gijs Jan Brandsma (ed) Handbook on European Union Public Administration, Edward Elgar, p.v108.

    Sara Connolly & Hussein Kassim (2024) ‘The Juncker Commission: Internal Perceptions of a SpitzenkandidatenPresidency’ in: Ceron, M., Christiansen, T., Dimitrakopoulos, D.G. (eds) The Politicisation of the European Commission’s Presidency. European Administrative Governance. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham,https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-48173-4_10, pp. 215-249

    Education

    I read PPE at New College, Oxford, and studied for an MPhil and DPhil in Politics at Nuffield College, Oxford.

    I also played football. Highlight from 1993. (Photo: Sara Connolly)