Joan DeBardeleben

Distinguished Research Professor; Associate Director, Centre for European Studies

M.A., Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, Madison
Email Joan DeBardeleben

Research Interests Related to European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies

The EU’s European Neighbourhood Policy and Eastern Partnership; EU-Russia relations; politics and society in the Soviet successor states; federalism and multi-level governance in Europe and Russia; Russian elections

Current Research Projects

“The EU and the Ukraine Crisis: Causes and Consequences” (funded by an Insight grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, 2016-2025)
Russian federalism and elections in Russia

Academic Biography

Professor, Institute of European and Russian Studies (EURUS), Carleton University, 1993- 2025 (Associate Professor, 1991-1993)
Professor, Department of Political Science, Carleton University, 1998- 2025
Director, EURUS, Carleton University, 1992-2003, July 2006- June 2007
Founding Director (2000-2016) and Co-Director (2016-2025), Centre for European Studies, Carleton University; Associate Director (2025-present)
Assistant, then Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, McGill University, 1980-1991
Assistant Professor and Lecturer, Department of Political Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 1978-1980
PhD, Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison 1979, minor in Russian Areas Studies

Selected Professional Contributions, Activities, and Awards:

Editor-in-chief, Canadian Journal of European and Russian Studies (CJERS), 2009-February 2026; recipient of a SSHRC Aid to Scholarly Publications Grant, 2022-2026.

Lead, work package on “The Impact of the War in Ukraine on the EU and its Eastern Policy”, Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence , Erasmus+, European Union, (coordinator Achim Hurrelmann), 2024-2026.

Module co-leader, Jean Monnet Network on Transatlantic Trade Politics Erasmus+, European Union, 2020-2024 (coordinator Achim Hurrelmann)

International Advisory Committee, “REDEMOS – Reconfiguring EU Democracy Support towards a sustained Demos in the EU’s Eastern Neighbourhood,” Horizon program of the European Union, 2022- present

Coordinator, Jean Monnet Network in EU-Canada Relations: The EU and Canada in Dialogue, funded by the Erasmus Plus Programme of the European Union, 2017-2020.

Jean Monnet Chair in EU Relations with Russia and the Eastern Neighbourhood, funded by the Erasmus Plus program of the European Union, 2016-2019.

Director, Canada-Europe Transatlantic Dialogue, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, 2008-2017.

President, European Community Studies Association-Canada, 2012-2014.

Selected Recent Publications:

Joan DeBardeleben, “A Respite from Geopolitical Tension? Russian Media Depictions of Cross-Border Cooperation with the EU 2014-2022,” Canadian Journal of European and Russian Studies, 17 (1):80-102. https://doi.org/10.22215/cjers.v17i1.4440.

Joan DeBardeleben, “Geopolitics of the EU,” in European Union Governance and Policy Making: A Canadian Perspective, Amy Verdun, Achim Hurrelmann, and Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly, eds. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2nd edition, 2023).

Joan DeBardeleben and Toms Rostoks, eds., Facing the Russia Challenge: European and Canadian Perspectives, workshop report, Jean Monnet Network on EU-Canada Relations, contributor and main editor, February 2023.

Joan DeBardeleben, “Crisis response, path dependence, and the joint decision trap: the EU’s eastern and Russia policies after the Ukraine crisis,” East European Politics, 36:4 (2020), 564-585, DOI: 10.1080/21599165.2020.1832474. Also published in Conflict and Cooperation between Europe and Russia, Magdalena Dembinska and Frederic Merand, eds. (Routledge, 2022).

Joan DeBardeleben, “Ideas and Normative Competition in EU-Russian Relations,” in Routledge Handbook on EU-Russian Relations: Structures, Actors, Issues, edited by Maxine David and Tatiana Romanova (London: Routledge, 2021), pp.58-68.

Joan DeBardeleben, “The European Union’s Eastern Partnership: Bold Ambitions in a Troubled Region,” Policy Perspectives (Canadian Global Affairs Institute: Ottawa), July 2021.

Arthur Benz, Joan DeBardeleben, Stephan Schott, and Miranda Schreurs, co-editors, “Carbon Politics in Canada and Europe: Coping with Jurisdictional and Interest Diversity,” Special issue, Canadian Journal of European and Russian Studies 14 (2), published April 27, 2021.

Joan DeBardeleben & Dmitry Nechiporuk, “Diverging views of EU-Russian borders: points of congruence and difference in EU and Russian analyses,” Journal of Contemporary European Studies, 27:2 (2019), 196-207, DOI: 10.1080/14782804.2018.1534727

Achim Hurrelmann and Joan DeBardeleben, “ ‘Demoi-cracy’: A Useful Framework for Theorizing the Democratization of Multilevel Governance?” in Configurations, Dynamics, and Mechanisms of Multilevel Governance, Nathalie Behnke, Jörg Broschek, Jared Sonnicksen, eds. (ICham, Switzerland: Palgrave macmillan, 2019), pp. 293-310

Tom Casier and Joan DeBardeleben, eds., EU-Russia Relations in Crisis: Understanding Diverging Perspectives (London and New York: Routledge, 2018)

Joan DeBardeleben, “The Russian Federation,” in Introduction to Comparative Politics, 8^th edition, Mark Kesselmann, Joel Krieger, and William A. Joseph, eds. (Cengage Learning, 2018).

Joan DeBardeleben, “Alternative Paradigms for EU-Russian Neighbourhood Relations,” in EU-Russia Relations in Crisis: Understanding Diverging Perspectives, edited by Tom Casier and Joan DeBardeleben (London and New York: Routledge, 2018), pp. 115-136.

Joan DeBardeleben, “The Enlargement Template and the EU’s Relations with Russia,” in European Enlargement Across Rounds and Beyond Borders, edited by H. A. Ikonomou, A. Andrey, and R. Byberg (London and New York: Routledge, 2017), pp. 166-193.

Joan DeBardeleben, “Backdrop to the Ukraine Crisis: The Revival of Normative Politics in Russia’s Relations with the EU?” in Power, Politics and Confrontation in Eurasia: Foreign Policy in a Contested Area, eds. Matthew Sussex and Roger E. Kanet (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), pp. 161-85.

Joan DeBardeleben, “Otnosheniia Rossii i Evrosoiuza v presse Rossii, Germanii, i Pol’shi,” (Russian, German, and Polish Media Coverage of EU-Russian Relations) (in Russian) Bulletin of St. Petersburg State University, vol. 1, no. 1 (2015).

Harry Nedelcu and Joan DeBardeleben, “Conceptualizing Party Representation of Ethnic Minorities in Central and Eastern Europe”, East European Politics and Societies 30, no. 2 (2015), pp. 381-403.

Joan DeBardeleben and Mikhail Zherebtsov, “The Reinstated Gubernatorial Elections in Russia: A Return to Open Politics?” Region: Regional Studies of Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia 3, no. 1 (2014), pp. 3-36.

Joan DeBardeleben, “New EU-Russian Borders after Enlargement: From Local to Transnational Linkages,” in Shifting Priorities in Russia’s Foreign and Security Policy, Roger E. Kanet and Remi Piet, eds. (Ashgate, 2014).

Joan DeBardeleben “Applying constructivism to understanding EU–Russian relations,” International Politics, 49 (2012), 418–433.

Selected Books

Tom Casier and Joan DeBardeleben, eds., EU-Russia Relations in Crisis: Understanding Diverging Perspectives (London and New York: Routledge, 2018)

Joan DeBardeleben and Crina Viju, eds. Economic Crisis in Europe: What it Means for the European Union and Russia, co-editor and contributory (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), 265 pages. Honorable mention for the Larry Neal Prize for Excellence in EU Scholarship, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, EU Center of Excellence.

Joan DeBardeleben and Achim Hurrelmann, eds. Transnational Europe: Promise, Paradox, Limits (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011).

Joan DeBardeleben and Jon H. Pammett, eds. Activating the Citizen: Dilemmas of Citizen Participation in Europe and Canada, co-editor and contributor (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009).

Joan DeBardeleben, ed. The Boundaries of EU Enlargement: Finding a Place for Neighbours, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008).

Joan DeBardeleben and Achim Hurrelmann, eds., Democratic Dilemmas of Multi-level Governance: Accountability and Legitimacy in the European Union, co-editor and contributor (with Achim Hurrelmann) (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007).