Postdoctoral Fellowships in Statecraft and Strategic Communication

The Center for Statecraft and Strategic Communication (CSSC), located at the Department for Marketing and Strategy at the Stockholm School of Economics (SSE), is pleased to announce fellowships for three two-year postdoctoral fellows wishing to pursue historically informed research about strategic communication in statecraft. In addition to being part of SSE, the postdoctoral fellows join an international consortium, the Ax:son Johnson Institute for Statecraft and Diplomacy (AJI).

Incoming postdoctoral fellows will work closely with the affiliates of CSSC as well as being given opportunities to participate in the Center’s activities and the broader intellectual community of SSE. They will also collaborate with faculty, affiliates, students, and fellows from the other institutes in the consortium, creating a multi-institutional, multi-national intellectual community that spans the Atlantic, as well as have publishing opportunities through Engelsberg Ideas.

Research topics

CSSC’s research profile combines history, statecraft, and strategic communication. Our concern with history means that we are interested in past events, but also that we seek to situate current events historically, aiming to apply historical lessons to contemporary phenomena and to understand them as parts of long-term processes. The focus on statecraft means that we are interested in international affairs, and how political leaders navigate the security challenges facing their countries. With strategic communication, we refer to the use of information or disinformation by states and other political actors to achieve strategic objectives. This can entail rhetoric, public diplomacy, propaganda, disinformation, diplomacy, intelligence, strategic narratives, and similar phenomena.

The ideal research project should be situated at the intersection of these three areas, but we are also open to projects with links to one of two of them, as long as the overall orientation fits our overarching concern with statecraft and diplomacy. Ultimately, we seek to attract high-calibre candidates pursuing research that fits our research profile.

Our research is firmly grounded in the classic humanities and the history of international affairs. We favor writing in a plain style and support efforts to disseminate research findings to the general public.
Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

● Studies of how the role of strategic communication in statecraft (international affairs, warfare, diplomacy, etc.) has evolved historically.

● Historical case studies of relevant empirical examples of strategic communication in statecraft.

● Studies of the use of history in strategic communication in statecraft.

● Case studies with an applied history-design, seeking to draw lessons from relevant historical precedents.

● Other interesting historically-oriented projects about statecraft.

Requirements

Candidates must, at the time of assuming the position, hold a Ph.D. in a relevant discipline such as history, political science, economics, business administration or communication studies. CSSC’s postdoctoral researchers are expected to complete a two-year research project. This can be two or more peer-reviewed articles or a book project. Postdoctoral scholarships can be prolonged if the recipients conduct work for CSSC or AJI, for instance as lecturers or as project managers. Knowledge of Swedish is a merit.

Application

Expressions of interest must have been received no later than 1 February 2024. Suitable candidates will be interviewed. The following documents are to be attached:

1. A cover letter articulating the candidate’s qualifications and fit with the position, including research interests and a statement of research plans. The letter should describe how your work fits within CSSC and AJI.

2. A curriculum vitae (including previous and present employment and academic background)

3. A separate document listing published articles, books, or book chapters (if any), articles submitted to journals, and working papers (with status indication). Papers enclosed with the application should be marked with an asterisk (*).

4. Copies of representative research (PDF).

5. Degrees and diplomas, certificates, or other documents (copy of degree certificates, etc.)

6. Names and contact information for three persons willing to provide references.

Postdoctoral positions are in general intended for recent PhD graduates. We primarily look for candidates with a degree from the last three years; we will of course consider extended timelines due to circumstances such as military duty, parental leave or similar.