Per Ekman

Per Ekman is a Ph.D. Candidate in political science and Research Coordinator for the Swedish Network for European Studies in Political Science.

Per’s research is situated within the fields of comparative and international politics and primarily deals with foreign and security policy. Empirically he studies Ukraine, Georgia and Russia. He was a visiting scholar at the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, George Washington University, 2019/2020.

Research

My research interests include topics related to foreign and security policy, state building, comparative politics, conflict studies, primarily in countries that became independent from the former Soviet Union in 1991. Main area focus: Ukraine, South Caucasus (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan) and Russia. I have experience from traveling in the region as well as from longer field visits in Ukraine and Georgia.

Main methods: qualitative methods, comparative historical analysis, process tracing and elite interviews. For my dissertation I have interviewed over 70 politicians diplomats and experts within Ukraine and Georgia's foreign policy elites, as well as American and EU diplomats.

Media

I comment regularly in Swedish media on Russia's war in Ukraine, as well as the development in Ukraine, Russia and Georgia, and on Sweden's foreign and security policy. I have participated in major Swedish newspapers such as Expressen, Aftonbladet, Dagens Nyheter, and Svenska Dagbladet as well as in Swedish national public broadcasting: Sveriges Radio (SR) and Sveriges Television (SVT). I have also written for Utrikesmagasinet and Baltic Worlds.

Teaching

I am a head teacher and lecturer on a course in international politics on the undergraduate level. I also supervise undergraduate students.

Background

I have a master in political science from Uppsala University. I have previous working experience from the Permanent Mission of Sweden to the United Nations, New York, and from the civil society sector in Georgia.