Nicole Jackson
Education
Ph.D. London School of Economics, Government
MSc. London School of Economics, Comparative Government
BA.(hons) University of Toronto, Trinity College, Political Science
Areas of Specialization
· Foreign and Security Policy
· Russian Foreign Policy
· International Relations of Eurasia
· Post Soviet Central Asia
· Securitization
· Regional Security Organizations
· Changing Nature of Warfare
· Hybrid Challenges and Disinformation
· Canadian Foreign and Security Policy
Research
Nicole Jackson is Associate Professor of International Studies at SFU. Previously, she was Assistant Professor in the Department of Political and International Studies at The University of Warwick, UK. Her research interests lie at the intersection of foreign policy, domestic politics, and security studies. Her regional focus is the former Soviet space, primarily Russia. She has been conducting research in Russia and in post-Soviet Central Asia since 1994.
For over 20 years, Jackson’s research has primarily addressed the evolution of Russian foreign policy, including the role of ideas and elite perceptions and the processes and results of foreign and security policy making. Most recently, she has written on Canadian and Western government perceptions and policy responses to Russia. Her aim is to contribute to academic debates and contextualized empirical studies, as well as to the practical consideration of existing and alternative policy options for a more secure and peaceful world.
Jackson’s research includes three major lines of inquiry. These address, in various ways, state securitization and the relationship between foreign policy ideas and perceptions, policy output and actions (diplomatic and military). First, she has a longstanding interest in analysing Russia’s state discourse and its military and hybrid (non-military) actions in civil and separatist wars in the former Soviet space. Second, she contributes to academic debates on securitization by examining states and organizations’ rhetorical and practical securitization of various challenges. This work has focused mostly on Russian and other actors in the post-Soviet Central Asian region and contributes to the empirical and theoretical assessment of post-Soviet Central Asian regional security challenges. Third, Jackson adds to intellectual debates about the ‘changing nature of warfare’ through research on Canadian and NATO rhetoric and policies towards Russia (and other) hybrid challenges, including disinformation.
You can read a detailed interview with Dr. Jackson were she touches on her research background here.
Publications
Single Authored Manuscript
Russian Foreign Policy and the CIS; Theories, Debates and Actions, (London and New York: Routledge, 2003).
Refereed Articles
Nicole J Jackson “The Securitization of Foreign Disinformation”, Security and Defence Quarterly, vol. 46, no. 2, 2024 doi: 10.35467/sdq/190799
Nicole Jackson, Deterrence and Disinformation: Communicating Deterrence in a Non-Linear Media Environment, Defence Strategic Communications, vol.13, January 2024, pp.95-130.
The Canadian government’s response to foreign disinformation: Rhetoric, stated policy intentions, and practices International Journal, vol.76, no. 2, February 2022, pp.544-563.
Deterrence, Resilience and Hybrid Wars: The Case of Canada and NATO, The Journal of Military and Strategic Studies, vol.19, no.4, 2019, pp.104-125.
“Canada, NATO and Global Russia”, International Journal, vo.73, no. 2, June 2018.
“Trans-Regional Security Organizations and ‘Statist Multilateralism’ in Eurasia” , Europe-Asia Studies, January 2014.
“The Role of External Factors in Advancing Non-Liberal Democratic Forms of Political Rule: Analysis of Russia’s Support of Authoritarian Regimes in Central Asia”, Contemporary Politics, 16:1, 2010.
“Regional Security Cooperation in Central Asia: The Cases of Narcotic Trafficking and “Terrorism”, Osteuropa, Fall 2007.
“International Organizations, Security Dichotomies and the Trafficking of Persons and Narcotics in Post-Soviet Central Asia”, Security Dialogue, 37 (3), September 2006.
“The Trafficking of Narcotics, Arms and Humans in Post-Soviet Central Asia: (Mis)perspections, policies and realities, Central Asian Survey, 24 (1), March 2005, pp39-52.
Referred Book Chapters
“Canada’s Response to Foreign Disinformation in the Context of the Russia-Ukraine War: Collective Efforts and Performance” in Eds. Shelly Ghai Bajaj and Bessma Momani, Misinformation, Disinformation and Democracy in the Digital Age: A Canadian Perspective, University of Toronto Press, forthcoming 2024.
Nicole Jackson, “Deterrence and Strategic Disinformation” in Eds. Eric Ouellet, Madeline D’Agata and Keith Stewart, Deterrence in the 21st Century: Statecraft in the Information Age, University of Calgary Press, January 2024.
“Russia’s Space Security Policy” in ed Kai-Uwe Schrogl, Handbook of Space Security; Policies, Applications and Programs, Springer, 2020, pp385-389.
“Russia’s Strategic Policy and Outerspace”, in Roger Kanet, Handbook of Russian Security, Routledge, 2019.
“Security”, in Peter Burnell, Vicky Randall, and Lisa Rakner, eds. Politics in the Developing World, 3rd edition, Oxford University Press, 2013.
“Russia and Autocracy Promotion” in Peter Burnell and Oliver Schlumberger, International Politics and National Regimes. Promoting Democracy-Promoting Autocracy, Routledge, 2011.
"Security and Development Studies”, in Peter Burnell and Vicky Randall, eds. Politics in the Developing World,2nd edition, Oxford University Press, 2008.
“Human Trafficking and Labour Migration in Central Asia:”, in Melissa Curley and Sui-lun Wong, ed., Migration and Security in Asia; the dynamics of securitisation Routledge, 2008.
“Security Governance in Central Asia”, Central Asia as a Mosaic of Power, Berlin, Wissenschafts Verlag 2008.
Other Publications
“Russia and Outerspace”, Simons Papers in Security and Development, Simons paper, no. 64, September 2018.
“The State of Knowledge about NATO and Canadian Responses to Russia since its annexation of Crimea in 2014: A synthesis of existing knowledge and identification of knowledge gaps and strengths”, Knowledge Synthesis Grant Report, SSHRC Imagining Canada’s Future Initiative, 2018. (23,254 words)
“NATO’s and Canada’s Responses to Russia since the Crimea Annexation of 2014: A Critical Literature Review”, Simons Papers in Security and Development, no.61, December 2017. 19,696 words.
“Strength and Insecurity: Explaining Russian Involvement in Ukraine 2014”, Commentary, Canadian International Council, June 16, 2014
International Institutions and the Securitisation of Human and Narcotic Trafficking, IDSS Singapore, January 2005.
The Strategies and Tactics of International Institutions in Countering Clandestine Transnational Activities in Post-Soviet Central Asia: Why a Human Security Approach is Needed, Canadian Consortium on Human Security, July 2004.
Canada’s Policy Towards the Trafficking of Narcotics, Arms and People in Central Asia, Canadian Consortium on Human Security, July 2004.
Russia-NATO Relations, International Security Research Outreach Program (ISROP), Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Canada, 2002.
Russia’s Policies and Military Actions towards Tajikistan: Are there Lessons and Warnings for American Involvement in Afghanistan? Norman Paterson School of International Affairs Occasional Papers, no. 27, 2002
Recent Media Contributions
“What are Canada’s Options in Ukraine”, Policy Options, June 6, 2022. (re-printed in The Tyee June 8, 2022)
Three Ways Putin’s War in Ukraine is Affecting the Former Soviet States, The Conversation, May 31, 2022. (re-printed in Asia Times, June 1, 2022)
“ Russia’s actions in post-Soviet wars provide clues to its brutal Ukraine invasion”, The Conversation, March 16, 2022; (reprinted The National Post, March 17, 2022)
“The world can understand Russia through decades of regional conflicts”, Globe and Mail, March 3, 2022.
Recent Recorded Public Talks on Ukraine in 2022
Jackson’s Testimony on Situation in Ukraine, Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence, Senate of Canada, Jun2 20th, 2022.
Co-Organizer and Presenter “Understanding the War in Ukraine: A Panel with SFU Experts” SFU Public Square and SIS 13 April 2022.
“Ramifications of Russia-Ukraine War on the Post Soviet Region and Russia’s Role”, Panel on Global Impact of the War on Ukraine (with Alex Moens and Luca Rati) April 25, 2022 SFU Burnaby.
Courses
This instructor is currently not teaching any courses.
Previous Years
· IS200 Historical Perspectives in Diplomacy, Security and International Law
· IS 304/Pol 349/IS808 Russian Foreign Policy
· IS 409 Global Security Governance
· IS409 Security Studies
· IS 409 Regional Security Organizations
· IS 322/IS909 Post Soviet Central Asia
· IS 412 Central Asia Security and Development
Supervision
Jackson has been supervising undergraduate honours students and graduate students from around the world since 2003. She welcomes students working on international and security issues. She is especially keen to engage with student interested in Russia and Eurasian foreign and security policy, and Canadian foreign policy towards the region. In Canada, her students have gone on to further graduate work and to jobs at Global Affairs, DND, CSIS, NATO, the UN, Canada’s Border Services amongst other government and non-governmental agencies.
Notice: She will be on sabbatical from September 2024-August 2025.