Mika Aaltola
(Employment at FIIA has ended)- US domestic and foreign affairs, great power relations, Finnish foreign and security policy, global governance
Dr. Mika Aaltola is the Director of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. He also holds the rank of Docent at Tampere University. He has been a Visiting Fellow at Cambridge University, Sciences Po (CERI), and Johns Hopkins, a visiting professor at the University of Minnesota as well as a tenured professor of International Relations and European Union Affairs at Tallinn University (part-time). Aaltola’s areas of expertise include the U.S. global role, dynamics of major power politics, democratic vulnerability, pandemic security, and Finnish foreign policy.
His published peer reviewed monographs include research on Finnish foreign policy (Tampere University Press, 2003), on the cultural foundations of the U.S. foreign and security policy (Brill, 2008), on ethics and humanitarianism as geopolitical practices (2008, Palgrave), on pandemic security (Routledge 2012), on the power politics of U.S. global infrastructure (Palgrave 2014, Routledge 2016, co-authored). His latest published monograph is Democratic Vulnerability and Autocratic Meddling – The ‘Thucydidean Brink’ in Regressive Geopolitical Competition (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2021). He has also published a monograph on Finnish foreign policy after Crimea (Docendo 2019) as well as an edited volume together with Mikael Wigell and Sören Scholvin (Geo-economics and Power Politics in the 21st Century: The Revival of Economic Statecraft, Routledge, 2018).
He defended his doctoral degree at Tampere University in 1999 (“The Rhythm, Exception, and Rule in International Relations: The Case of Mad Cow Disease”), received his MA degree from Tampere University (1994) and BA degree from Columbia University (1992).
Declaration on external dependencies
Degrees
Doctor of Social Sciences, University of Tampere, 1999 (Award: Best Doctoral Dissertation at University Tampere 1999-2000)
M.Sc.Soc., University of Tampere, 1995 (Award: Best Master Thesis in Political Science in Finland 1994-1995)
BA, Columbia University, 1992
Language skills
Finnish, English (working languages)
Positions of trust
The Scientific Advisory Board For Defence (MATINE), Expert sub-committee on social sciences, 2010-
Docent, University of Tampere, 2005-
Member of the Board, Finnish Artic Association, 2013-2019
Member of the Board, European International Studies Association, 2010-2017
Steering Committee Member, Standing Groups of International Relations (SGIR), 2010-2015
Member of the Management Committee,
European Union Cost Action on Peace Keeping and Crisis Management, 2009-2013
Member of the Board, Nordic International Studies Studies Association, 2008-2015
Member of the Board, Finnish International Studies Association, 2005-2016
Member of the Board, Finnish Political Science Association, 1998-2010
Principal Investigator, Academy of Finland Research Project:
“Ethics, Politics, and Emergencies: Humanitarian Collaboration and Co-option in World Politics”, 2009-2013
Editor, Finnish Journal of Political Science, 2007-2008
President, Finnish International Studies Association, 2005-2008
Work experience
Programme Director, Global Security research programme, Finnish Institute of International Affairs, 2011-2019
Professor (part-time), Tallinn University, 2012-
Visiting Senior Research Fellow, Johns Hopkins, SAIS, Fall 2013
Visiting Senior Research Fellow, Sciences Po, CERI, Fall 2010
Academy Fellow, Finnish Institute of International Affairs, 2008-2010
Visiting professor, University of Minnesota, 2006-2008
Senior assistant, University of Tampere, 1998-2006
Visiting Fellow, Cambridge University, Spring 1997
Research Fellow, University of Tampere, 1995-1998
All publications
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