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An Jacobs

Senior Lecturer

School of Social Sciences

Staff Group(s)
Politics and International Relations

Role

An Jacobs is a Senior Lecturer in International Relations with teaching and leadership responsibilities at undergraduate and postgraduate level. She also supervises PhD students.

An is the Course Leader for the MA International Relations Distance Learning Course, and the Module Leader for various online and taught undergraduate and postgraduate modules. She teaches on subjects related to International Security, Security Studies, Peacebuilding, EU Foreign Policy, and International Relations in Theory and Practice.

Career overview

Before joining the Department in September 2019, An Jacobs held the position of Senior Lecturer in Defence and International Affairs at the Royal Military Academy of Sandhurst for over five years. She has operational experience working as a Political Advisor in the EU Rule of Law Mission EULEX in Kosovo for two years, and has furthermore held positions at the Center for Security Studies (ETH Zurich) and Maastricht University (NL). She has conducted fieldwork in the Balkans, Ukraine, Uganda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and she has taught at military academies in Europe, the Balkans, the Caucasus, the Middle East and South America.

Research areas

An's research interests include operational and institutional aspects of peacebuilding, security sector reform, the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy and Common Security and Defence Policy, African security issues, military education, and education as a peacebuilding tool.

External activity

An is a Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Diplomacy and International Governance (IDIG) at Loughborough University London.

She is also on the editorial board of Parameters, the US Army War College Quarterly.

She is a member of the British International Studies Association (BISA) and University Association of Contemporary European Studies (UACES).

Publications

Academic Articles / Book Chapters (selection)

  • Jacobs, A (2019) ‘Educating British Strategic Lieutenants through Applied Learning’, Parameters, US Army War College Quarterly.
  • Jacobs, A (2016) ‘Teaching IR at Sandhurst: Blended Learning through an Integrated Approach’ in ‘International Relations in Professional Military Education’, Infinity Journal Special Edition, winter 2016, pp. 50-55.
  • Jacobs, A (2012) ‘Explaining Institutional Europeanization in Security and Defence: the German Administration under Schroeder and Merkel’, European Security, 21(3), pp. 414-431.
  • Jacobs, A (2012) ‘Africa’s Sore Spot: Regional Conflicts across the Middle and the Horn’, in Daniel Möckli (ed.), Strategic Trends 2012: Key Developments in Global Affairs, Center for Security Studies, ETH Zurich, pp. 35-54, online available at https://www.ethz.ch/content/dam/ethz/special-interest/gess/cis/center-for-securities-studies/pdfs/Strategic-Trends-2012-Africa.pdf
  • Jacobs, A (2012) ‘EU Crisis Management in Berlin: The Fall of the Ministerial Walls?’, West European Politics, 35(3), pp. 466-490.
  • Vanhoonacker, S. & Jacobs, A. (2010) ‘ESDP and Institutional Change: The Case of Belgium’, Security Dialogue, 41(5), pp. 559-581.

Policy Briefs / Opinion Pieces / Book Review (selection)