Michal Onderco appointed to the Chair International Relations

In his work, Michal Onderco addresses two major transformations driving international relations today. Firstly, the new technologies necessitate shifts in the established security paradigms. Whether it is artificial intelligence, cyber capabilities or hypersonic gliding vehicles, they all upend the status quo through their strategic consequences. Artificial intelligence in military systems can, for example, make decisions faster, but it can also lead to more errors. The mix becomes potentially combustible as these technologies become entangled in existing systems. Therefore, it is no surprise that governments worldwide increase their attention to how technologies make societies vulnerable. And secondly, the growing involvement of a broader set of actors in international politics. International politics is no longer a matter of small communities who decide based on an abstract raison d’etat. Within countries, citizens are becoming more interested in the conduct of international politics. Globally, there is a growing number of states whose voices are being heard. In the future, Onderco wants to bring new methodological and theoretical perspectives to study new actors in international politics. 

Besides his research, Onderco will contribute to the Bachelor and Master curriculum in international policy and global governance at the Department of Public Administration and Sociology (DPAS). He will also contribute to the European and global governance research, in cooperation with DPAS and university-wide colleagues.

About Michal Onderco

Michal Onderco was appointed Full Professor of International Relations at Erasmus University Rotterdam on 1 July 2022. Previously, he was Associate Professor at the same university. His research focuses on international security, particularly the politics of cooperation between states within international security regimes and the study of domestic foundations of security policies in liberal democracies. He published two monographs, edited three volumes, and published almost thirty papers in leading international journals. Since 2020, he has edited the book series Central and Eastern European Perspectives on International Relations at Palgrave Macmillan. In 2018-2019, he was a Junior Faculty Fellow at Stanford University; in 2014-2015 he was a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence. He received his PhD from VU University Amsterdam in 2014. He is a member of various expert boards and is affiliated with the Peace Research Center Prague.