Staff profile

BA History (Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris, France);

MRes International Relations (Sciences Po, Paris)

My PhD project is looking at pro-active policy towards the Arctic region promoted by Scottish leaders, pointing at cultural affinities and historical links with Nordic countries. This is what I propose to term the ‘Northern Turn’ of the Scottish Government’s external policy.

This research will focus on the accompanying cultural transformation, asking how Scotland is promoting a renewed, Northern identity, and how this is perceived by the Scottish people. In answering these questions, I will be addressing whether there really is a ‘Northern Turn’ and, if so, whether this turning point in Scottish external policy extends and affects the Scottish identity. These questions ultimately speak to broader questions about the relation between policy and identity.

Using a theoretical framework at the intersection of Critical Geopolitics (CG) and Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA), this research will mainly be conducted using a mixed-methods approach applying quantitative and qualitative tools to data derived from a variety of sources including texts (including newspapers, maps and policy documents), interviews with leaders and politicians, and surveys administered at cultural events celebrating Scotland’s northern linkages.

Publications

- ‘China, Circumpolar Indigenous Peoples and the colonial past of the Arctic.’ The Arctic Institute, 1 November 2022.- ‘Chine : Zhai Mo en Arctique, les revendications de Pékin à pas feutrés ?’ Asialyst, 25 September 2021.- ‘La première circumnavigation continue chinoise de l’Arctique donne lieu à des tensions diplomatiques entre la Chine et le Canada’. Le Grand Continent, 19 September 2021.- Canova, Émilie, Camille Escudé, Joaquim Gaignard, Pauline Pic, Léa Tourdot, and Florian Vidal. ‘Russian Chairmanship of the Arctic Council: The Awakening of a Giant - Groupe d’études Géopolitiques’. Working Paper. Paris, France: Groupe d’études géopolitiques, May 2021. - Gaignard, Joaquim, Léa Tourdot, and Nicolas Verrier. ‘Projet minier au Groenland : entre géopolitique de l’énergie et marketing territorial’. Le Grand Continent, 25 May 2021.- Gaignard, Joaquim. ‘Laponie finlandaise et Chine : Arctique, mondialisation et grandes puissances’. Le Grand Continent, 3 May 2021.- ‘La Chine et les régions polaires (7/7) : la question des autochtones de l’Arctique’. Asialyst, 27 March 2021. - ‘La Chine et les régions polaires (3/7) : en Antarctique, Pékin s’affirme en grande puissance polaire’. Asialyst, 18 May 2020.- ‘La Chine maritime et navale (6/7) : pêche et prospection, l’avant-poste de la puissance’. Asialyst, 10 October 2019.

   

 

 

• Critical Geopolitics; Foreign Policy Analysis; Arctic politics; Scottish and UK politics; nationalism and nations; national and collective identity