Rosaria Puglisi
Rosaria Puglisi is an international relations and political affairs expert whose work bridges senior practitioner experience and applied research. She focuses on security and defence policy, democratic governance and civil-military relations, with particular attention to how state institutions and societies function under conditions of conflict, political contestation and external pressure.
She has over twenty years of experience providing strategic political advice, shaping reform agendas and leading diplomatic engagement in multilateral settings. She has held senior roles within the OECD, NATO, the European Union and the Council of Europe, including as Head of the OECD Office in Kyiv (2023-24), and as Head of NATO’s regional offices in Georgia and the South Caucasus (2018-21) and in Central Asia (2015-17). Her work has supported governments, parliaments and civil societies in strengthening oversight, accountability and policy coherence across the security sector. She has also contributed to EU crisis response and conflict prevention efforts in Kosovo, Georgia, Moldova and Libya.
She holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of Glasgow.
From her publications:
● “Defence Bottom-Up: Volunteer Battalions at the Onset of the Russian War in Ukraine”, in Christian Kaunert et al. (eds), In the Eye of the Storm. Origins, Ideology, and Controversies of the Azov Brigade, 2014-2023, Hannover/Stuttgart, ibidem Verlag, 2024, p. 55-82
● “A People’s Army: Civil Society as a Security Actor in Post-Maidan Ukraine”, in Revue d’études comparatives Est-Ouest, No. 2018/2, p. 205-234
● “Institutional Failure and Civic Activism: The Potential for Democratic Control in Post-Maidan Ukraine”, in Aurel Croissant and David Kühn (eds), Reforming Civil-Military Relations in New Democracies. Democratic Control and Military Effectiveness in Comparative Perspectives, Cham, Springer, 2017, p. 41-61
● “From Veto Players to Potential Change Agents: Economic Elite’s Shifting Interests and Ukraine’s Orientation to the West”, in Elena Baracani (ed.), Democratization and Hybrid Regimes. International Anchoring and Domestic Dynamics in European post-Soviet States, Florence, European Press Academic Publishing, 2010, p. 269-298
● “A Window to the World? Oligarchs and Foreign Policy in Ukraine”, in Sabine Fischer (ed.), “Ukraine: Quo Vadis?”, in Chaillot Papers, No. 108 (February 2008), p. 55-86
● “A Leap Forward to Europe. The Impact of the Orange Revolution on EU-Ukraine Relations”, in David Brown and Alistair J.K. Shepherd (eds), The Security Dimension of EU Enlargement. Wider Europe, Weaker Europe?, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2007, p. 144-156
● “The ‘Normalisation’ of Russian Foreign Policy: The Role of Pragmatic Nationalism and Big Business”, in Graeme P. Herd and Jennifer D.P. Moroney (eds), Security Dynamics in the Former Soviet Bloc, London/New York, RoutledgeCurzon, 2003, p. 63-79
● “Clashing Agendas? Economic Interests, Elite Coalitions and Perspectives of Cooperation Between Russia and Ukraine”, in Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 55, No. 6 (2003), p. 827-845
● “The Rise of the Ukrainian Oligarchy”, in Democratization, Vol. 10, No. 3 (2003), p. 99-123
