Dr Michelsen was awarded his undergraduate degree in International Relations and Philosophy by the University of Sussex, and holds an MA in International Conflict Studies and an MRes in War Studies from King’s College London. He wrote his doctoral thesis in the Department of War Studies, King's College London.

His current research explores changes in international order, with a focus on the rise of reactionary internationalism and on the impacts of climate change. He is Principal Investigator on the ESRC standard grant The International Relations of Tropical Storms in the Caribbean, a research collaboration with the University of the West Indies.

He also writes about strategic communications, military transformations, international political thought, and the history of the discipline of IR.

Research interests:

• International Relations
• International Order
• Climate Change
• Caribbean Region
• Tropical Storms and Hurricanes
• Reactionary Internationalism
• New and Far Right
• Populism
• Strategic Communications and Informational Conflict
• Insurgency, Extremism and Terrorism
• Military affairs
• Twentieth Century European Philosophy

Publications

His most recent books are Unmapping the 21st Century: Between Networks and the State (Bristol University Press) and Global Nationalism: Ideas, Movements and Dynamics in the Twenty-First Century (World Scientific Press).

Some recent articles include:

The Reactionary Internationale: The rise of the new right and the reconstruction of international society (International Relations)

Reactionary Internationalism: The philosophy of the New Right, (Review of International Studies)

What is a minor international theory? On the limits of Critical International Relations (Journal of International Political Theory)

The field of Strategic Communications Professionals: a new research agenda for International Security (European Journal of International Security)

Strategic communications in international relations: Practical traps and ethical puzzles (Defence Strategic Communications)

International Relations Scholarship at 100: Publicism, Truth-Pluralism and the Usefulness Problem. (New Perspectives. Interdisciplinary Journal of Central & East European Politics and International Relations)

Teaching

Dr Michelsen teaches widely on International Relations: including on climate change and international politics, strategic communications, transnational movements, network theory, contemporary International Relations theory, the history of international thought, nationalism, war and international order, contemporary conflicts, terrorism and insurgency.

He has supervised PhD students on a variety of subjects: on values and persuasion, the discourse of loss in IR, the international politics of home, the history and sociology of International Relations, and the online transnational Far Right.

He is currently particularly interested in supervising projects that examine the International Relations of climate change or global reactionary politics. However, he is open to supporting interesting projects on any subject.

Pure Profile: https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/nicholas.michelsen

Research Centres & Groups

• Environmental Security Research Group (ESRG)
• King’s Centre for Strategic Communications (KCSC)
• Research Centre in International Relations (RCIR)