Senior Director for Strategy and Transformation
Senior Policy Fellow
EU foreign policy; climate and energy; cohesion and politics in the EU; migration
English and French
Susi Dennison is a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. Her topics of focus include strategy, politics and cohesion in European foreign policy; climate and energy, migration, and the toolkit for Europe as a global actor.
At ECFR, Dennison acts as chief of staff to the Director and leads the European Power programme as well as the organisational growth and transformation process. She has been with ECFR since 2010 in a range of roles including developing ECFR’s work with public opinion data on foreign policy, leading ECFR’s foreign policy scorecard project for five years, working on North Africa in the early years of the MENA programme, and exploring how the EU can pursue a values-based foreign policy which supports human rights and democracy in a contested world. Before joining ECFR, Dennison worked for Amnesty International and HM Treasury in the United Kingdom.
If the EU wants to be a credible promoter of democracy, it needs to highlight the achievement of holding elections in Afghanistan, rather than dwell too long on the undoubted imperfections. Many Afghans are taking part in the elections despite the danger of violence and concerns about corruption, and the polls are not just being imposed by the outside world.
The economic crisis has unquestionably dented the credibility of the liberal international order and caused a Europe-wide identity crisis. But, Susi Dennison argues, it would be a dangerous time for the EU to abandon its values, principles and approach to international relations. The economic crisis is already big enough; the last thing Europe needs is an existential one too.
The EU’s position on Cuba will be discussed at the upcoming Foreign Affairs Council, and the debate is likely to be heated. But beyond the arguments the EU can learn lessons from its relations with Cuba: strong-arm tactics don’t work, realism is important, and the EU’s approach is out of date.
The EU’s common position on Burma is up for renegotiation. Sanctions might not be effective, but are they the only option the EU has?
Attention turns once again to Sri Lanka this week as the country gears up for its parliamentary elections. The EU recently decided to stop treating Sri Lanka as a preferential trading partner. What does this mean for Sri Lanka, and does it affect the EU?s clout in standing up for human rights around the world?
Kevin Cunningham, Simon Hix, Susi Dennison and Imogen Learmonth on the forecast for the 2024 European elections
Kevin Cunningham, Susi Dennison, Simon Hix and Imogen Learmonth on the forecast for the 2024 European elections
Kevin Cunningham, Susi Dennison, Simon Hix and Imogen Learmonth on the forecast for the 2024 European elections
Kevin Cunningham, Susi Dennison, Simon Hix and Imogen Learmonth on the forecast for the 2024 European elections
Anti-European populists are likely to top the polls in nine member states […] and come second or third in a further nine countries
Kevin Cunningham, Susi Dennison, Simon Hix and Imogen Learmonth on the forecast for the 2024 European elections
