Alistair Shepherd
Lecturer in European Security
MA University of Aberdeen
MLitt University of Aberdeen
PhD University of Aberdeen
Contact
Email: lls@aber.ac.uk
Phone: +44 (0)1970 628636
Fax: +44 (0)1970 622709
Office: 2.03
Profile
Alistair Shepherd joined the Department of International Politics in 2003 as Lecturer in Contemporary European Security. He obtained his PhD in Political Science at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, specialising in the EU's security and defence policy. Alistair is on the editorial board of the Routledge journal European Security. Between 2003 and 2008 he was a lecturer for the Scottish Central Committee for Adult Education in HM Armed Forces. In 2007 Alistair received an Award for Teaching Excellence from Aberystwyth University. Prior to undertaking his PhD Alistair worked at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC. During his PhD he also worked on global market intelligence and political risk research for oil and gas market studies.
Research
Alistair’s research interests are in the field of security studies, especially internal and external security in Europe; Europe’s role in international security, particularly conflict management; NATO and Transatlantic relations; EU and national security policies; and conceptualising European power. Previously his research focused on the EU’s security and defence policy and its implications for the nature of European power and its relations with third countries, notably the US. Alistair is currently undertaking two research projects. First he critically examines the nexus between internal and external security threats and responses – the European security continuum. This project examines the extent and implications of the blurring of internal-external security. In particular, it studies the political and ethical tensions the transboundary nature of security creates in formulating policy and identifying capabilities. Second, Alistair is analysing the role of the EU in global conflict management, mapping and critiquing the evolution of civil-military institutions and capabilities – the so called ‘comprehensive’ approach. Future research focuses on contending approaches to energy security.
Teaching Areas
Undergraduate
IP33620 Contemporary European Security
IP33320 NATO: The Making and Breaking of Alliances
IP36320 Contemporary Security: Theories and Threats
IP33820 European Politics
Masters
IPM6830 Security Policy in the European Union
IPM0230 Politics of the European Union
PhD Supervision
Internal and external security challenges in Europe
EU foreign, security and defence policy and conceptualising European power
EU approaches to internal security policy (terrorism, immigration)
NATO & Transatlantic security
The foreign, security and defence policies of European states
Staff Publications
Key Publications
Toward a European Army: A Military Power in the Making? (Boulder: Lynne Reinner, 2003)
The Security Dimensions of EU Enlargement: Wider Europe, weaker Europe? (Manchester: MUP, 2007) (co-editor and contributor)
‘A milestone in the history of the EU’ – Kosovo and the EU’s International Role’, International Affairs, Vol. 85, no. 3 (May 2009) pp.513-530
‘Irrelevant or Indispensable? ESDP, the ‘War on Terror’ and the Fallout from Iraq’, International Politics Vol. 43, no.1 (February 2006) pp. 71-92
‘The European Union’s Security and Defence Policy: A Policy without Substance?’ European Security, Vol.12, No.1 (Spring 2003) pp. 39-63
Works in Progress
Monograph: ‘The European Security Continuum: Inside-Out or Outside-In?’
Article: ‘Comprehensive or Contradictory? The EU’s Civil-Military Conflict Management Capability’