People

John Helferich

MA International Security, SciencesPo Paris (summa cum laude)

Research Topic:

Overcoming the Community Dilemma: Defence Integration in a Post-Heroic European Union
AFFILIATION
International Relations Network
College
St Antony's College
Course
DPhil International Relations
supervisor

Research

I am a final year DPhil student in International Relations at DPIR researching security and defence cooperation in the Euro-Atlantic community. In an effort to develop a community-based account of European defence integration, my dissertation analyses the social motivations underlying two transformative phases of the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy. My broader research interests include International Relations & European Integration theory as well as Foreign-Policy Analysis. As an enthusiastic proponent of interdisciplinary research, my work and thinking are strongly influenced by evolutionary, sociological and psychological approaches to international politics.

Teaching

I have a great passion for teaching, delivering lectures and curriculum design. In my capacity as non-stipendiary lecturer at Hertford College I am teaching the following undergraduate papers in Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE): International Relations, the Politics of the European Union, International Relations in the Era of the Two World Wars, International Security and Conflict. Furthermore, I have delivered the PPE lecture on the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) and designed a course on Contemporary European Politics for exchange students at CMRS/Middlebury.

Publications

Book cover
Helferich, J. N. (2020). Arms Export Controls Under Siege of Globalisation: Defeated Nation States Or Voluntary Surrender?. Tectum Wissenschaftsverlag.

Journal Articles

“The (False) Promise of Germany’s Zeitenwende”. European View, 22 (1). 2023.

“Conséquences du Brexit sur l’Otan et les Nations Unies” (with Olivier de France). Après-demain, 62 (2). 2022.

“Zero Hour Yet To Come? EU Defence Integration After the Ukraine Invasion”.
In Europe at a Crossroads of the Past & Future. Yale Macmillan Center: European Graduate Fellows Conference Journal. 2022.

“Terrorist Learning Viewed Through A Strategic Lens: Explaining Daesh’s Rise To Power”. Wissenschaft & Sicherheit. 2021.

Book Chapters

“Social-Media Jihad as a Learned Strategy: How Daesh Learned but Failed to Exploit Western Vulnerabilities”. In How Terrorists Learn, pp. 64-83. London: Routledge. 2023.

"Pfadabhängigkeiten und Verfügbarkeitsheuristiken als Determinanten von Außenpolitik.Die US-Iranpolitik unter Donald Trump." In Transatlantische Perspektiven unter Obama und Trump: Eine Vergleichsstudie zur Frage nach Kontinuität und Wandel US amerikanischer Außen-und Sicherheitspolitik, pp. 491-522. Wiesbaden: Springer, 2023.

Blog Publications & Commentary

“Les spectres de la défense européenne se raniment” (with Olivier de France). Le Grand Continent. 2022.

“The Power of Memes in Political Campaigning”. Oxford Political Review. 2021.

“Braucht es eine Europäisierung der Rüstungsexportkontrolle?”. Opinions on Security. German Atlantic Association. 2021.

“Engaging Killer Performances – Strategies for Affective Engagement in Genocide Documentaries”. Abstract published in DGPuK Transfer, 20(3). 2016.

Workshop & Conference Participation

“European Security Architectures and their Implications: The Past, Present and Future”.Workshop at the European University Institute, 12-13 October 2023:
“No Twilight in the Greyzone: NATO-CSDP Relations in the Wake of the Russian Invasion”

EISA-PEC 2022, 15th Pan-European Conference on International Relations. Panteion University, Greece, 1-4 September 2022: “CSDP and the Community Dilemma”

ECPR 2020 General Conference, Virtual Event, 24-28 August 2020:“Strategic Culture, Identity and Convergence in European Foreign Policy”