Aline Sierp awarded NWO SSH XS grant

Aline Sierp received €50,000 in the NWO SSH XS funding scheme for the project ‘When the Past Determines the Future: The Role of Memory in Foreign Policy Decisions’. In the project, Aline will explore how political decisions are shaped by history.

Political actors often resort to history to make sense of the present. Yet little is known about how the interpretation of the past shapes actors perceptions of current events and finally frames contemporary political decisions. My project will study how actors in the European Parliament and the Council used contested memories of war and conflict during the Ukraine crisis. By analysing the triangular interplay between the interpretation of past events, political mobilization and legitimacy in decision making, it studies the cultural heritage of war and conflict as enabler or constrainer of foreign policy choices.

Also read

  • Language policy in European higher education

    The increased Englishization of higher education is under discussion in several European countries. What does a balanced language policy look like that does justice to both the increasingly international character of higher education and a country's language-related cultural identity? At an...

    Colourful image of faces in a text balloon
  • Most prestigious European grant to two UM scientists

    Two Maastricht University professors are to receive the most prestigious European research grant for individual researchers: an ERC Advanced Grant, worth over €2.5 million. They are Lorenzo Moroni (MERLN) and Alexander Sack (FPN).

    Placeholder DRUPAL_do NOT touch