Expertise
  • US foreign policy
  • norms and values in foreign policy
  • great-power politics
  • trust in international politics

Ville Sinkkonen is Leading Researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, Center on US Politics and Power. He also holds the Title of Docent in International Politics at the University of Turku. His research focuses on US foreign policy, great-power politics, the changing international order, normative power and the politics of trust in international relations.

Sinkkonen has published in various peer-reviewed academic journals, including the Cambridge Review of International Affairs, the Journal of Transatlantic Studies and the European Foreign Affairs Review. Sinkkonen has co-edited the volume Competing Visions for International Order: Challenges for a Shared Direction in an Age of Global Contestation (Palgrave, 2026) and is the author of A Comparative Appraisal of Normative Power: The European Union, the United States and the January 25th, 2011 Revolution in Egypt (Brill, 2015).

Sinkkonen holds an LL.D. (International Law) from the University of Turku, where he defended his doctoral dissertation Failing hegemony? Four essays on the global engagement of the United States of America in the 21st Century in December 2020.

Sinkkonen was the chairperson of the Finnish International Studies Association (FISA) from 2023 to 2025. He is a co-editor of the Nordic Review of International Studies (NRIS).

Podcasts

US Elections Untangled – EP 15: The End of US Global Leadership? 
US Elections Untangled – EP 17: The Aftermath
US Elections Untangled – EP 18: The Biden Foreign Policy

Degrees

Doctor of Laws (LL.D., International Law), University of Turku, 2021
Master of Social Sciences (Political Science), University of Turku, 2013
Bachelor of Social Sciences (Political Science), University of Turku, 2010

Language skills
Finnish, English (working languages)
Positions of trust

Chairperson, Finnish International Studies Association (FISA), 2023–2025
Vice-Chairperson, Finnish International Studies Association (FISA), 2020–2022
Member of the Board, Finnish International Studies Association (FISA), 2012–
Secretary, Finnish International Studies Association (FISA), 2012, 2016–2020

Work experience

Senior Research Fellow, Finnish Institute of International Affairs, 2023–2025
Postdoctoral Fellow, Finnish Institute of International Affairs, 2021–2023
Research Fellow, Finnish Institute of International Affairs, 2017–2020
Doctoral Candidate (International Law), University of Turku 2014–2016
Project Researcher (Political Science, “Utopias in Foreign Policy” Project), University of Turku, 2013
Research Assistant (Political Science), University of Turku, 2011


All publications

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