Category: News

Maria Mälksoo and Thomas Fraise at the EISA PEC2026 in Lisbon, 1-4 September 2026

Maria Mälksoo and Thomas Fraise participated in the European International Studies Association’s 19th Pan-European Conference at the ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon, Portugal on 1-4 September 2026.

Maria Mälksoo co-convened a pre-conference workshop with Dr Andrew Hom (University of Edinburgh) and Dr Lauren Rogers (University of Leuven) on ‘Ritual Times of War and Peace’ (with 13 participants). She also spoke at two book roundtables (on Mirko Palestrino’s Military Victory Beyond the Battlefield, Oxford University Press 2025 and Dorothy Noyes and Tobias Wille’s edited volume on Exemplarity in World Politics, Bristol University Press 2025).

Together, Maria Mälksoo and Thomas Fraise presented their respective work in progress at the panel ‘Temporal politics of catastrophe: War, climate and competing visions of survival’. Maria’s paper was entitled ‘Ritual Endtiming as International Ordering’ and Thomas’s ‘Apocalyptic World-Ordering: The Logic of the Liberal International Order’.

Thomas Fraise also featured his paper ‘Nuclear Deterrence as Ontological Security: The Origins of NATO’s Extended Nuclear Deterrence’, chaired a panel ‘Martial Materialities of Environmental Devastation’, and presented his paper (co-authored with Sterre Van Buuren and Benoît Pelopidas) ‘The Climate Security Costs of the New Nuclear Arms Race’.

 

 

Maria Mälksoo at the SRM panel discussion, University of Copenhagen 26 August 2026

Maria Mälksoo spoke at the panel ‘What if Russia tests NATO in the Baltics?’, organised by the Security Risk Management Student Association at the University of Copenhagen on 26 August 2026. The panel discussed threat scenarios in the Baltic region and beyond, NATO’s credibility, and the problems with crying wolf.

 

Mariia Vladymyrova presents her work on Russian lawfare in the Arctic at the Law and Security Conference 2026 at the University of Copenhagen

On 27 August Mariia Vladymyrova attended the PhD symposium within the framework of the Law and Security Conference at the Law Faculty, University of Copenhagen. She presented her recent study of the coercive signaling elements embedded in the Russian regime of the Northern Sea Route. This regime provides a framework through which Moscow asserts its dominance in the Arctic and signals resolve and commitment by introducing escalatory threshold without resorting to the overt hostility (and cost) of militarized threats.

 

‘There is no fish’: Mariia Vladymyrova comments on her research on Russian grey zone activity for Euronews

While it is difficult to provide a “credible number” of Russian fishing vessels involved in espionage operating in European waters, their presence is increasing. By leveraging ambiguity and dual-use capabilities, Russia blurs the line between civilian and military operations, complicating NATO’s maritime situational awareness and demanding adaptive countermeasures in an evolving security environment. The EU has recently made a step into the right direction with issuing sanctions against two major Russian fishing players. However, national governments, including those overseeing port authorities and domestic legislation, can be just as effective. “More meaningful interventions can be made at the national level because fisheries are usually a matter for the coast guard or police, depending on national laws,” Mariia argues.

Read full text here.

Mariia Vladymyrova attends Kiel International Seapower Symposium

On 18–19 June, Mariia attended the Kiel International Seapower Symposium, “How to Defend Europe at the Northern Flank,” and contributed her insights into Russian deterrence activities at sea during the post-conference workshop. She introduced participants to the key findings of her ongoing research on the repertoire of Russian coercive tactics in the grey zone. In particular, her study of Russian lawfare in the High North spoke directly to one of the central questions the symposium posed: what is the opponent seeking to achieve?
The understanding of Russian seapower in the High North too often begins with an assessment of Western vulnerabilities. Yet legal frameworks can serve as early indicators of Russian strategic priorities and adaptation. Mariia urged workshop participants not to overlook their coercive dimension. A state’s legal practices, domestically and internationally, remain an important site deterrence signaling, and therefore should be embedded in NATO’s threat assessments accordingly.

 

Thomas Fraise auditioned on nuclear deterrence by the Sénat

On June 16th, Thomas Fraise was auditioned alongside Benoît Pélopidas (Nuclear Knowledges, Sciences Po) and Sébastien Phillipe (University of Wisconsin) by the Commission on Foreign Affairs, Defence and the Armed Forces of the Sénat (France’s upper chamber). The audition was part of an information mission on French nuclear deterrence.

The discussion focused on the role that Parliament can play in shaping and overseeing nuclear weapons policy, as well as broader questions related to France’s nuclear doctrine of forward deterrence, force structure, the European security context, transparency, democratic accountability, and the consequences of nuclear weapons use. It also delved into issues related to the future of French defence policy under climate duress.

Thomas Fraise at the European Security Studies Conference in Stockholm

On June 11th, Thomas Fraise was present at the European Security Studies Conference in Stockholm. He organized and discussed a panel on “The politics of deterrence in Europe” with contributions from July DeCarpentrie (Swedish Defence University), Matthew Evangelista (Cornell University), Benoît Pelopidas (Nuclear Knowledges, Sciences Po), and Emma Rosengren (Stockholm University). The conference was organized by the European Initiative for Security Studies (EISS).

Panel program:

  • Emma Rosengren (Stockholm University): Reconceptualizing nuclear deterrence and national identity: the cases of Finland and Sweden (paper prepared with and Tapio Juntunen)
  •  Matthew Evangelista (Cornell University): Ritual deterrence, magic strategies, and nuclear war in Europe
  • Benoît Pelopidas (Sciences Po): Nuclear Futures, Utopias, and the Case for a Renewed ‘Strict Sufficiency’
  • July Decarpentrie (Swedish Defence University): Plus ca Change: Continuity in the French Nuclear Approach.

    From left to right: July DeCarpentrie, Emma Rosengren, Thomas Fraise, Benoît Pelopidas, Matthew Evangelista

Thomas Fraise and Cameron Hunter at the 2026 BISA Conference in Brighton

Thomas Fraise and Cameron Hunter recently attended the 2026 annual conference of the British International Studies Association in Brighton. They organized a panel on “The elite politics of deterrence” with Sterre van Buuren (University of Glasgow) and Shivani Singh (O.P. Jindal Global University). At this panel, Cameron Hunter presented his research on US-China interaction ritual chains of deterrence, and Thomas Fraise on ontological security and the ritualization of NATO extended nuclear deterrence.

Under the auspices of BISA’s Global Nuclear Order panels, Dr. Hunter also presented his work on “The International Doomsday Machine”, conceptualizing global nuclear arsenals as a single large technical system. Dr. Fraise, for his part, presented his book project on nuclear secrecy in democratic states.

From left to right: Thomas Fraise, Sterre van Buuren, Cameron Hunter, and Shivani Singh

Cameron Hunter contributes to KCL Peacegaming Workshop

On 14th May, Cameron Hunter attended a workshop on Peacegaming at King’s College London, as part of KCL’s Wargames Week. The workshop aimed to bring together academics and practitioners to explore the possibilities of peacegaming as an emerging practice. Attendees represented a variety of universities, government departments, armed services and non-governmental organisations. Dr Hunter contributed his critical theoretic perspective on wargames, as well as practical experience in conducting them.

Maria Mälksoo at the Cambridge IR and History Conference, 15 May 2026

Prof. Maria Mälksoo presented her work on the visions of the Russo-Ukrainian postwar at the Cambridge International Relations and History Conference, Queens’ College, University of Cambridge, on 15 May 2026. Organised by the Cambridge IR and History Working Group, the conference brought together scholars of International Relations, International Law and International History.

Maria spoke in the panel on “Imagining Futures: How do we think of normative futures?”. She discussed how the competing visions for peace in Ukraine are symptomatic of the present moment in international politics – where the Liberal International Order is in severe distress, with some open challengers and various less radically revisionist contesters who are still claiming to uphold the core principles of the UN Charter-based order in spirit, if not in practice.