Benedetta Voltolini

Benedetta Voltolini is Marie SkŁodowska-Curie Fellow at Sciences Po Paris. In the past she held visiting positions at at Sciences Po Paris (April-June 2013), Freie Universität Berlin (May-June 2012) and EU Institute for Security Studies, Paris (September - December 2011). She holds a PhD in International Relations from the London School of Economics. Her thesis investigated the role of lobbying in EU foreign policy, with a specific focus on the case of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

During her fellowship at the MEC, Benedetta will continue her work on the role of lobbying in EU foreign policy in the MENA region and on the EU’s engagement with political Islam.

Research Interests

• Lobbying and advocacy in EU foreign policy
• EU policy towards the Arab-Israeli conflict
• EU democracy promotion in the MENA region
• EU engagement with political Islam
• Role of knowledge and framing in EU foreign policy

Selected Publications

Monographs

• Lobbying in EU foreign policy-making: The case of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. London: Routledge, 2015 (forthcoming).

Journal articles (peer-reviewed)

• 'Business as Usual' in 'EU democracy promotion towards Morocco? Assessing the limits of the EU’s approach Towards the Mediterranean after the Arab Uprisings’, L'Europe en formation, 371, pp. 41-57 (with Silvia Colombo).

• ‘EU Democracy Assistance in the Mediterranean: What Relationship with the Arab Uprisings?’, Democracy and Security, 9:1-2, pp. 80-99 (with Federica Bicchi).

• ‘Eyes Wide Shut: The European Union and the Arab Minority in Israel’, European Foreign Affairs Review, 16:4, pp. 521-538 (with Nathalie Tocci).

• ‘The Middle East and the Mediterranean: the “Russian doll” policy of the European Union’, Review article, Mediterranean Politics, 16:2, pp. 337-342.

Book contributions

• ‘Territorial borders and functional regimes in EU-Israeli agreements’, in R. Del Sarto (ed.), Fragmented Borders, Interdependence and External Relations.The Israel-Palestine-European Union Triangle. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan (forthcoming).

• ‘When Security Trumps Democracy: EU Democracy Promotion in Israel and Palestine’, in A. Wetzel and J. Orbie (eds.), The Substance of European Union Democracy Promotion: Conceptual Discussions and Country Comparisons. Houndmills/Basingstoke: Palgrave  (with Federica Bicchi).

• ‘EU democracy promotion and electoral politics between ‘milieu goals’ and ‘possession goals’: the cases of Lebanon and Morocco’, in G. Faleg and B. Wassenberg (eds.), Europe and the Middle East: the hour of the EU? Bruxelles, Bern, Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, New York, Oxford, Wien: Peter Lang, pp. 61-80 (with Silvia Colombo).

• ‘La politica estera e di sicurezza europea: approcci teorici recenti’, in G. Bonvicini [et al.], L'Unione europea attore di sicurezza regionale e globale. Milano: Franco Angeli (1269. Quaderni del Centro Altiero Spinelli, 2), pp. 45-65.

• ‘Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East: A Story of Concentric Circles’, in R. Tiersky e J. Van Oudenaren, European foreign policies. Does Europe still matter? New York: Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 107-132 (with Nathalie Tocci).

Working papers (peer-reviewed)

• ‘The role of non-state actors in EU policies towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict’, Occasional Papers no. 99. Paris: European Union Institute for Security Studies, October 2012.