Bio
Michael Driessen is Adjunct Professor at SAIS Europe
Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs; Director, MA program in International Affairs, John Cabot University, Rome
Michael Driessen is Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs and Director of the MA program in International Affairs at John Cabot University. He also directs the Rome Summer Seminars on Religion and Global Politics. Michael received his doctorate from the University of Notre Dame and has been a post-doctoral fellow at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in Doha, Qatar as well as a Jean Monnet Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence. He also holds a research affiliation with Cambridge University’s Von Hügel Institute and serves as an advisor for the
Adyan Foundation in Lebanon. Driessen’s books include
The Global Politics of Interreligious Dialogue (Oxford, 2023),
Human Fraternity and Inclusive Citizenship: Interreligious Engagement in the Mediterranean (ISPI, 2021), and
Religion and Democratization (Oxford, 2014). He has published scholarly articles in
Comparative Politics, Sociology of Religion, Politics and Religion, Constellations, and
Democratization, and essays in
America Magazine and
Commonweal. For a recent curriculum vitae including a full list of publications,
see his personal website.
Courses
- Europe and the Mediterranean Middle East
This course aims to study the multifaceted and complex relationship between Europe/the European Union and the states of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Starting with the history of European colonialism in the Middle East, the course will examine the post-colonial policies of single European states towards the region, together with the declarations, policies and practices of the European Community, and later European Union, from the 1970s onwards. Suggesting a widely overlooked degree of interconnectedness between Europe and the Middle East, special attention will be paid to Europe-Middle East relations in the realms of trade, migration and border control, security cooperation and democracy promotion. The conceptualisation of the policies of the EU and of single MENA states, together with questions pertaining to power relations, interdependence and leverage in Europe-Middle East relations will also be discussed.