Neil CRUICKSHANK
Country of residence
Canada
Brief introduction
Assistant Professor, Algoma University
Education
PhD International Relations (2008), University of St Andrews
Academic profile
My PhD thesis examined contentious collective action and political mobilization in post-communist Europe, looking explicitly at the impact of transnational activism, multilevel governance and, internationalisation, on civil society development and democracy. Part of this involved investigating: (a) discrete episodes of contentious collective action; (b) particular nongovernmental organizations and advocacy organizations, and; (c) EU policy/procedures relating to Roma rights, environmental regulation and gender equality (and antidiscrimination).
My current research seeks to understand how nongovernmental organizations and interest groups utilize an expanded European space and new and/or reconfigured
European and/or international institutions to initiate policy change at the
national level. I’m looking at the emergence of new political opportunity structures, normative and ideational frameworks (including governance) and international advocacy communities in an effort to comprehend and explain how policy formulation actually occurs in multilevel, polycentric polities. This methodology ultimately will be used to discern broader patterns of international and transnational ethnic mobilization, NGO activism and dispute settlement.
I’ve also begun to investigate Romani identity formation, nationalism and political activism, with the hope of discerning how or to what degree Europeanization (and the presence of European and EU institutions) influences repertoires of contention and modes of collective action amongst Romani advocacy organizations and cognate groups.
Publications
Keywords
Transnationalism, Europeanization, ethno-politics, Romani mobilization
Contact
Neil.Cruickshank@algomau.ca
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