Professor S. Neil MacFarlane
Senior Research Fellow
Personal Narrative
Neil MacFarlane was Lester B. Pearson Professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford from 1996 to 2022, with a college fellowship at St. Anne’s. During that period, he was head of the Department of Politics and International Relations for five years, a member of the board of Oxford’s Social Sciences Division for twelve years, and a trustee of the University for four years.
He is now retired and is a senior research fellow at the college.
His research has been wide-ranging, from the conceptual (the meaning of national liberation, intervention in world politics, sovereignty, and security) to the practical (Russia’s relations with its former Soviet neighbours, the domestic politics and foreign policy of the states of the southern Caucasus, the relationship between politics and humanitarian action, and the evolution of European security institutions).
Although now retired, he continues to work on NATO and EU polices towards Russia’s neighbours, Russian foreign policy, and the international relations of the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Selected Publications
“International Engagement and the Governance of Ethnic Diversity in Georgia,” in Jane Boulden and Will Kymlicka, eds., International Approaches to Governing Ethnic Diversity (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015)
“The United Nations and Human Security,” Asian Journal of Peacebuilding 2:2 (November 2014).
“Sovereignty and Self-Determination: Where Are We?”, International Journal 68:4 (2013), pp.609-627.
“Georgia and the Political Economy of Statebuilding,” in Mats Berdal and Dominik Zaum, ads., The Political Economy of Statebuilding: Power after Peace (London: Palgrave, 2013), pp. 306-323.
Georgia: National Security Concept versus National Security (London: Chatham House, 2012).
Find more at the Department of Politics and International Relations.