Dr Alexandra Hennessy

Biography

Before joining the Government Department I was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Rochester's Skalny Center, an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Clarkson University (NY), and an Associate Professor with tenure at Seton Hall University (NJ). I am committed to studying some of the most important political and economic problems facing the European Union today, such as the consequences of the euro crisis, the design of macro-economic adjustment programs, trade disputes, and EU-China relations. I have developed a research profile in the area of comparative political economy with work that shows how the EU, in interaction with national governments, played a crucial role in the début of the European market for workplace pensions. My research on the euro crisis compares the formal and informal interactions of governments during the bailout negotiations, and investigates how member states and EU institutions evaluate progress in fighting corruption. More recent works analyse the impact of Russia's war against Ukraine on EU-China relations. Articles have appeared in journals such as International Interactions, Journal of Common Market Studies, Journal of European Public Policy, Journal of Public Policy, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, and Journal of European Integration, among others. My book, titled The Europeanization of Workplace Pensions, was published by Cambridge University Press (2014). I am the recipient of the EUSA Best Dissertation Award, as well as honourable mention for the Best Paper presented at the 2007 EUSA conference. I'm always happy to supervise students whose research falls in the broad fields of European Union Politics and Comparative Political Economy.

Qualifications

• B.A./ M.A. (Diplom) in Social Sciences, Humboldt University Berlin, Germany

• Ph.D. in Political Science, Boston University, Massachusetts

Appointments

University of Essex

• Co-convenor of speaker series, Government, University of Essex (17/9/2017 - present)

• Director of Employability, Government, University of Essex (1/9/2021 - present)