Dr Domitilla Sagramoso is an expert on Russian foreign and security policy, with a particular focus on the post-Soviet space. Her work covers a variety of topics – violent conflicts, military cooperation, energy trade, commercial relations, and international institutions. Her analysis is carried out within the framework of ‘Hegemony’ and ‘Neo-Empire’ theories of International Relations.

She is currently working on book on the complex Russian/Ukrainian relationship since 1991, with a specific focus on the outbreak of war in 2014.

She is also an expert on Islamist-jihadist violence in the Russian North Caucasus, and has written extensively on the topic. Her research examines the dynamics of terrorist violence in the North Caucasus region and Central Asia.

She joined the Department in 2005, having previously been the Principal Researcher at the Caucasus Policy Institute (International Policy Institute, KCL), which she helped to establish together with Ambassador Denis Corboy. From 1999 to 2004 she was a Research Fellow at the Centre for Defence Studies, at King's College London. At the Centre she advised the UK government on its Global Conflict Prevention Pool policy towards Russia and the former Soviet Union.

Domitilla obtained a PhD at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London in 1999. Her PhD examined Russia’s geopolitical orientation in the former Soviet space after the end of the USSR.

Qualifications:

PhD in International Relations, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London.

MA in War Studies, King’s College London

BA in International Relations, American University Paris.

 

Research Interests

• Russian foreign and security policy with a focus on the former Soviet space.
• Conflict, security and development in Russia and Eurasia
• Terrorism and Islamist violence in the North Caucasus and Central Asia
• Russia's relations with the European Union and NATO

Domitilla’s research falls under three broad themes: Russian foreign and security policy; conflict, security and development in Russia and Eurasia; violence and Islamist terrorism in the North Caucasus and Central Asia

 

Publications

Please refer to the Research Portal for a list of publications. A selected list is below:

Academic Books – Peer Reviewed:

• Russian Imperialism Revisited: From Disengagement to Hegemony. Milton Park, Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2020. 368pp. ISBN 9780415562270

Book Chapters – Peer Reviewed:

• ‘Jihadist violence in the North Caucasus: political, social and economic factors’, (with Akhmet Yarlykapov). The Routledge Handbook of the Caucasus.Yemelianova, G. M. & Broers, L. (eds.). London & New York: Routledge, 2020. pp. 273-287. ISBN: 9781351055604
• ‘Caucasian Crescent: Russia’s Islamic Policies and its Responses to Radicalization,’ (with Akhmet Yarlykapov) in The Fire Below: How the Caucasus Shaped Russia. Robert Bruce Ware (ed.). New York & London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2013. pp.51-94. ISBN: 9781441160867
• ‘Islam and ethno-nationalism in the north-western Caucasus.’ (with Galina Yemelianova). in Radical Islam in the Former Soviet Union, Galina Yemelianova (ed.). London: Routledge, 2009. pp.112-145. ISBN: 9780415673778

Journal Articles – Peer Reviewed:

• The Impact of Foreign Salafi-Jihadists on Islamic Developments in Chechnya and Dagestan. Journal of International Analytics. (MGIMO, Moscow). 12(4). December 2021, pp. 28-49. ISSN: 2587-8476 (Print); ISSN 2541-9633 (Online) 
• ‘The COVID-19 pandemic: Global socio-economic and geopolitical implications.’ New Perspectives (Institute of International Relations, Prague). 28(4). September 2020. pp.462-473. ISSN: 2336825X
• ‘What Drove Young Dagestani Muslims to Join ISIS? A Study Based on Social Movement Theory and Collective Framing. ’ (with Akhmet Yarlykapov). Perspectives on Terrorism. 14(2). April 2020. pp.42-56. ISSN: 2334-3745. 
• ‘The Radicalisation of Islamic Salafi Jamaats in the North Caucasus: Moving Closer to the Global Jihadist Movement?’, Europe-Asia Studies, 64(3), May 2012. pp. 561-595. ISSN: 09668136
• ‘Violence and Conflict in the Russian North Caucasus’. International Affairs. 83(4) July 2007. pp. 681-705. ISSN: 0020-5850

Articles in Non-Academic Journals:

• Who ‘Defeated’ ISIS? An Analysis of US and Russian Contributions. Russia Matters, Harvard Kennedy School, Belfer Center for Science and International Relations. 6 May 2020.

For a full list of publications please refer to the KCL Research Portal.

 

Teaching

• 7SSWN140 Security & Development
• 7SSWN229 Conflict in Russia and the Post-Soviet Space
• 6SSW3013 The War on Terror

Domitilla Supervises PhD projects in the following areas:

• Conflict, Security and Development issues in Latin America
• Violence, terrorism and conflict in the Russian North Caucasus
• Russian foreign and security policy, with a special focus on the former Soviet space
• Energy questions in the former Soviet space
• Separatist conflicts in Eurasia
• Russia and EU/NATO relations

 

Please note office hours are held Online, please email: domitilla.sagramoso@kcl.ac.uk