Hussein Kassim
Profile
I am specialist of the EU, where my research examines four main areas: the EU institutions; EU civil servants; EU-member state relations; and Brexit. I have co-authored or co-edited six books and six special issues, and my work has appeared in top journals in politics, public administration, and EU studies. I have been principal investigator or co-investigator on research funded by 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.
As well as projects on the EU’s approach to Brexit and its aftermath and the presidentialisation of leadership in the European Commission, I am currently working on Negotiating Brexit. EU institutions, national governments, and the UK, with Simon Usherwood, Coordination at the Top, with Jean-Michel Eymeri-Douzans and Marie Goransson, and The National Coordination of European Policy after Lisbon and an era of Crisis, with Eva Heidbreder. A book, coedited with Adriaan Schout, on National European Union narratives: ‘official stories’ of belonging, exploring the meanings that the EU has for different European states through an examination of how governments explain and justify the relationship with the EU, will appear later this year.
Research
I have led four major multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary research projects on the EU that have significantly advanced understanding of the EU administration and the people who work in it:
- ‘The European Commission: Where now? Where next?’
- ‘Understanding the EU Civil Service: the General Secretariat of the Council’
- ‘European Commission: Facing the Future’
- ‘The European Commission in Question'
I also work on UK relations with the EU before and after Brexit. I am a three-time Senior Fellow of the ESRC ‘The UK in a Changing Europe’ initiative. My current project, ‘Living with the neighboursLink opens in a new window’, follows UK-EU relations, compares the UK’s relationship with the EU with the EU’s relations with its other neighbours, and looks at the UK’s bilateral relations with European states. It 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 hosted podcasts, ‘Good Neighbours? The UK and Europe after Brexit’, 'After Brexit: What has changed?’, and ‘Negotiating Brexit: views from the Member States’. I have made many radio and TV appearances, and been frequently interviewed by the national and international media.
Areas of Expertise
- European Union institutions
- the EU administration and the people who work for it
- European Union policy and policy making
- UK-EU relations before and after Brexit
Teaching Interests
- Administering Europe
- The EU and the member states
- Comparative Politics
- Public Policy
- Public Administration and Management
- European Union: history, institutions, policy
- Britain and Europe
- The Politics of Regulation
- International Organizations
- Capitalism
Key Research Interests
- Leadership in the European Commission
- the European Commission and the European Council
- the EU administration and the role of central coordinators
- the backgrounds, beliefs and values of individual bureaucrats
- gender, diversity and inclusion in the EU administration
- UK-EU relations, the EU's relationship with its neighbours, the UK's bilateral relations with European states
- UK regulation before and after Brexit
- EU policy and policy making, especially in developing fields
Previous experience
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. I was also a co-founder of the University-wide network policy@uea. 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. I am currently a Visiting Professor at the College of Europe in Bruges, EGPP Fellow 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.
Education/Academic qualification
Doctor of Philosophy, University of Oxford
Award Date: 1 Jan 1996
Master of Philosophy, University of Oxford
Award Date: 1 Jan 1989
Bachelor of Arts, University of Oxford
Award Date: 1 Jan 1987