Dimitris BOURIS

Dr Dimitris Bouris is an Assistant Professor (Senior Lecturer) at the Department of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam and an Associate Editor of the journal European Security. He is also the leader and coordinator of the EU-Middle East Jean Monnet Network EUMENIA (www.eumenia.eu) which includes 8 partners namely the University of Amsterdam – the Netherlands, the University of Peloponnese - Greece, Istituto Affari International - Italy, Roskilde University - Denmark, BirZeit University - Palestine, Yasar University – Turkey, American University of Beirut – Lebanon and University of Jordan – Jordan. Dr Bouris is also the co-leader of the Europe in the World theme of the Amsterdam Centre of European Studies (ACES).

Prior to joining the University of Amsterdam, he was a Research Fellow in charge of the southern dimension of the European Neighbourhood Policy at the European Neighbourhood Policy Chair at the College of Europe (Natolin) (2013-2016) and a visiting lecturer in Middle East Politics at Kingston University (2012). 

Dr Bouris holds a BA (Hons) in Political Science from the University of Crete, a MA in International Politics from the University of Manchester and a PhD in Politics and International Studies from the University of Warwick. His research focus lies at the intersection of International Relations (IR theory, peacebuilding, state-building, security sector reform, conflict resolution), EU Studies (EU External Relations, EU Common Security and Defence Policy) and Middle East and North Africa Studies (with a particular focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Libya). His current research focuses on issues of recognition and contested states in world politics.

Dr Bouris is the author of "The European Union and Occupied Palestinian Territories: State-building without a state" which was published by Routledge in 2014 (Hardback) and 2015 (Paperback) and for which he was selected as Routledge Politics and International Relations author of the month for February 2014. Dimitris is also the co-editor (with Tobias Schumacher) of the "Revised European Neighbourhood Policy: Continuity and Change in EU Foreign Policy" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017). He is also the co-editor (with Daniela Huber and Michelle Pace) of the forthcoming Routledge Handbook of EU-Middle East Relations (Routledge, 2022).  

Dr Bouris has also published a number of scholarly articles in peer-reviewed academic journals such as European Security, the Hague Journal on the rule of law, Mediterranean Politics, Global Affairs, International Spectator, the British Journal of Politics and International Relations, International Political Sociology and Geopolitics. He is also a frequent media commentator and has published a number of policy briefs and op-eds for major European and Middle East news and policy outlets such as EUROMESCO, Al Jazeera, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Open Democracy. 

Selected Publications:

• The EU and Contested Statehood in its Near Abroad: Europeanisation, Actorness and State-building, Geopolitics (with Dimitris Papadimitriou).
• The European Union and Practices of Governing Space and Population in Contested States: Insights from EUPOL COPPS in Palestine, Geopolitics (with Beste İşleyen).
• Unintended Consequences of State-building Projects in Contested States: the EU in Palestine, International Spectator.
• “Contested States, Hybrid Diplomatic Practices, and the Everyday Quest for Recognition”, International Political Sociology (with Irene Fernandez Molina)
• “The EU and civilian missions in the neighbourhood” in Schumacher, T., Marchetti, A. and Demmelhuber, T. (eds.) The Routledge Handbook on the European Neighbourhood Policy, Routledge (with Madalina Dobrescu).
• “Imposing Middle East Peace: Why EU Member States Should Recognise Palestine”, EUROMESCO (with Daniela Huber)
• ‘Europeanisation, Sovereignty and Contested States: The EU in northern Cyprus and Palestine’, The British Journal of Politics and International Relations (with George Kyris). 
• The Revised European Neighbourhood Policy: Continuity and Change in EU Foreign Policy, Palgrave Macmillan (co-edited with Tobias Schumacher).  
• ‘Déjà vu: Moving on from the French Peace Initiative’, Al Jazeera, 15 July (with Nathan Brown).
• ‘The Middle East Quartet’s Quest for Relevance’, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 21 July (with Nathan Brown).
• ‘The 2011 Revised European Neighbourhood Policy: Continuity and Change in EU Foreign Policy’ in Bouris, D. and Schumacher, T. (eds.) The Revised European Neighbourhood Policy: Continuity and Change in EU Foreign Policy, Palgrave Macmillan (with Tobias Schumacher).
• ‘The Vicious Cycle of Building and Destroying: the 2014 War on Gaza’, Mediterranean Politics, 20:1, pp. 111-117.
• ‘Riding Shotgun: The EU’s Role in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict', Carnegie Endowment for International Peace – Middle East Center, 17 September.
• ‘Can the EU revive the cause of Middle East Peace?’, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 29 May (with Nathan Brown).
• The European Union and Occupied Palestinian Territories: state-building without a state, Oxon: Routledge.
• ‘The EU becomes assertive in the Middle East Peace Process’, Open Democracy, 25 July (with Tobias Schumacher).
• ‘The European Union’s role in the Palestinian Territories: state-building through Security Sector Reform?’, European Security, 21:2, pp. 257-271.
• ‘Introducing the Rule of Law in Security Sector Reform: European Union Policies in the Palestinian Territories’, The Hague Journal on the Rule of Law, 4:1, pp. 176-193 (with Stuart Reigeluth).
• ‘The limits of Normative Power Europe: Evaluating the Third Pillar of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership’,Political Perspectives, 5:2, pp. 80-106.

• 'The European Union's Role in the Palestinian Territory after the Oslo Accords: Stillborn State-building', Journal of Contemporary European Research, 6:3, pp. 376-394.