Dr Radu Cinpoes SFHEA

Associate Professor in Politics and International Relations

Radu Cinpoes is Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations and Academic Portfolio Lead for Politics and International Relations. Radu joined the University of Greenwich in September 2023, having been Head of the Department of Politics and International Relations at Kingston University since 2014. Prior to that, he taught at Kingston University and the University of Westminster. Radu studied Language and Literature in Romania and was completed a postgraduate degree in Comparative Literature there, before he was awarded his PhD in Political Science at Kingston University in 2006.

Radu’s teaching and research interests include global political issues, right wing politics, human rights and social justice, and migration and refugee issues. Growing out of his interest in nationalism and the politics of exclusion, his research has recently focused on two complementary directions: issues concerning right-wing populism and extremism, discrimination and intolerance, on the one hand, and migration, mobility and refugee issues on the other. He has published on the extreme right, nationalism, European identity and Romanian politics. His current research project investigates agential reflexive mediation of structural conditionings and the role of social networks in the context of transnational mobility.

International relations

Responsibilities within the university
  • Academic Portfolio Lead for Politics and International relations
  • Undergraduate teaching: Global Issues (L4), Introduction to International Relations (L4), Applied Politics and International Relations (L5)
  • Undergraduate dissertation supervision
  • PhD supervision

Recognition
  • Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
  • Member of the Political Studies Association
  • Academic Chair of the International Network of Universities Summer Seminar (2019 – 2023)
  • External examiner: Edge Hill University (2021-ongoing)
  • Ad-hoc reviewer for Post-Communist Studies, Identities, East European Politics Societies and Cultures, Journal of Comparative Politics, Palgrave, Routledge

Research / Scholarly interests
Radu is a political scientist interested in nationalism and identity politics, with a focus on radical right, extremism and intolerance on the one hand, and on human rights and freedoms on the other, and linked to that on migration.

Current work can be summarised under three different strands:

  • building on my expertise in right-wing populism and illiberal politics in a number of areas to do with extremism and intolerance on the one hand, and social and racial justice on the other;
  • developing work on education by engaging with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on democratic values and resilience, and with teaching human rights teaching in the context current narratives on migration and refugees;
  • expanding on my work relating to human rights through a current collaborative project with Justice and Care (justiceandcare.org) on the prevention of child trafficking in Romania. The project engages with governmental and non-governmental stakeholders in the country, and investigates mechanisms and frameworks that aim at combatting the trafficking of minors, and the challenges associated with them.
Radu welcomes doctoral students interested in right-wing populism and extremism, nationalism, Central and East-European politics, human rights and migration, discrimination and intolerance.

Key funded projects

  • 2021 Kingston University: policy and community engagement-focused research on racism, and education inequalities in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic (£1440)
  • 2020 Kingston University: combatting right-wing extremism, impactful research (£1830)
  • 2018 – 2019 Public Health Wales: Implementation of the Wellbeing for the Future Generation Act (principal investigator in team project - £27045)

Media activity
  • 2016 - 2020 - Digi TV Romania (large privately owned news channel in Romania) – various online live interviews
  • January 2019 – interview for the BBC4 documentary ‘The Romanian Wave’
  • July 2018 – live guest on radio talk show on Romania seen from outside, for Radio France International/Romania (RFI Romania)
  • June 2016 – phone interview with BBC Russia on the Brexit referendum and the rise of xenophobia
  • June 2016 – phone interview with Agencia EFE (the largest Spanish language news agency) on the Brexit results and the rise of xenophobia
  • June 2016 – phone interview with Huffington Post on the Brexit referendum
  • June 2016 – interview on the Brexit referendum for the Romanian online platform Ziare.com
  • June 2016 – Radio London interview on the Brexit referendum

Recent publications

Books:

  • Cinpoes, R. (2010), Nationalism and Identity in Romania: a History of Extreme Political Movements from the Birth of the State to EU Accession, I. B. Tauris.

Chapters in edited books:

  • Cinpoes, R. (2023), ‘Beyond Radical Right Politics: LGBT+ Rights in Hungary and Romania’, in James T. Koranyi and Emily Hanscam (eds), Digging Politics: the Ancient Past and Contested Present in East-Central Europe, De Gruyter, pp. 217-240.
  • Cinpoes, R. (2021), ‘Meta-reflexivity and Social Mobilisation in Action: Greta Thunberg and the        School Strike for Climate Movement’, in Pascale Cohen-Avenel and Lucia Quaquarelli (eds.), Thinking in Common: Community in the Global Era, Peter Lang, pp. 35-61.
  • Cinpoes, R. (2020), ‘The Christian Orthodox Church and Illiberal Politics in Romania’, in Anja Hennig and Mirjam Weiberg-Salzmann (eds.) Illiberal Politics and Religion in Europe and Beyond: Concepts, Actors and Identity Narratives, Campus Publishing House, pp. 407-431.
  • Cinpoes, R. and Norocel, O.C. (2020), ‘Nostalgic Nationalism, Welfare Chauvinism, and Migration Anxieties in Central and Eastern Europe’, in Ov Cristian Norocel, Anders Hellström and Martin Bak Jörgensen (eds) Nostalgia and Hope: Intersections between Politics of Culture, Welfare, and Migration in Europe, Springer, pp. 51-65.
  • Cinpoes, R. (2015), ‘Political Culture and Participation: between Enthusiasm and Indifference?’, in Stan, L. and Vancea, D. (eds.) Post-Communist Romania at 25: Linking Past, Present and Future, Lanham, Maryland Rowman & Littlefield (Romanian translation published in 2017), pp.107-126.
  • Cinpoes, R. (2015), ‘“Righting it Up”: an Interplay-based Model for Analyzing Extreme Right Dynamics in Romania’, in Minkenberg, M. (ed.) Transforming the Transformation? The Radical Right in the Political Process in East Central Europe, Routledge, pp.278-298.
  • Cinpoes, R. (2013), ‘Right-wing Extremism in Romania’, in Melzer, R. and Serafin, S. (eds.) Right-Wing Extremism in Europe: Country Analyses, Counter-strategies and Labor-market Oriented Exit Strategies, Berlin: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, pp.169-197.
  • Cinpoes, R. (2013), ‘Rechtsetremismus in Rumänien’, in Melzer, R. and Serafin, S. (eds.) Rechtsextremismus in Europa: Länderanalysen, Gegenstrategien und arbeitsmarktorientierte Ausstiegsarbeit, Berlin: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, (German edition), pp.180-212 (Greek translation also available).

Articles:

  • Cinpoes, R. (2015), ‘The Dilemmas of Political (Mis)Representation: Political Cruising in Romania’, Southeast Europe. Journal of Politics and Society (Südosteuropa. Zeitschrift für Politik und Gesellschaft), vol. 63 (1), pp.95-113.
  • Cinpoes, R. (2013) ‘Extremism in Disguise: Casual Intolerance and Political Cruising in Romania’, Holocaust. Study and Research/Studii şi Cercetări, vol.6, pp.228-251.
  • Cinpoes, R. (2008) ‘From National Identity to European Identity’, in Journal of Migration and Identity Studies, (online), vol. 2 (1), pp.3-14.
  • Cinpoes, R. (2007), ‘Paradigms in the Study of Nationalism: Self-Other and Centre-Periphery Relations’ in Acta Iassyentia Comparationis, no. 5, pp.60-68.

Other:

  • Cinpoes, R. (2020), ‘Romania’, in Finn, Peter (ed.) Covid-19 and Democracy, First Cut Policy Analyses: Country Case Studies, open access policy report, 2020, Kingston University.
  • Hands, V., Cinpoes, R. et al. (2019), ‘Implementing the Sustainable Development Principles’, Public Health Wales.
  • Cinpoes, R. (2012), ‘The Extreme Right in Contemporary Romania’, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, pp.1-15.

Presentations
  • Post-Ideological Politics: How to Revive Ideology?, Academia in Dialogue, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung South-east Europe, invited speaker, online webinar, September 2020.
  • Insurgent Conservatism Report, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Bucharest, invited discussant, online webinar, June 2020.
  • LGBT+ and Constitutional Provisions in Hungary and Romania, ‘Digging Politics: the Ancient Past and Political Present in East-Central Europe’ Workshop, Durham, June 2019.
  • Beyond Radical Right Politics: LGBT+ Rights in Hungary and Romania, ECPR Annual Conference, Hamburg, August 2018.
  • Invited speaker at the workshop Back to the National Roots? The Role and Impact of the Radical Right in Eastern Europe Today (led by Prof Michael Minkenberg), Slubice, Poland, 30 June – 1 July 2017.
  • Transnational Mobility, Social Mobility and Subjectivity: EU Migrants in the UK, PSA Annual International Conference, Glasgow, 10-12 April 2017.
  • Co-Chair of the section ‘European (Dis)integration and the Migration Challenge’, Chair of the panel ‘(Un-)Doing Migration Governance in Times of Crisis’ and paper presenter with From the Pulpit to Political Decisions: the Refugee Crisis, Religion and the Politics of Exclusion in Romania at the ECPR Annual Conference, Prague, 7-10 September 2016.
  • Whose Human Rights? Illiberal Democracies and Public Support in Central and Eastern Europe, keynote speaker, ‘Diaspora and Its Friends’ conference, Timisoara, 25-28 April, 2016.
  • Discussant for the panel ‘East European Conflict in Comparative Perspective’, paper presenter with Political Culture and Participation: Between Enthusiasm and Indifference and invited speaker at the roundtable ‘Post-Communist Romania at 25’, the Society for Romanian Studies general conference, Bucharest, 17-19 June, 2015.
  • “Righting it Up”: an Interplay-based Model for Analyzing Extreme Right Dynamics in Romania, IPSA general conference, Montreal, 19-24 July, 2014.
  • Traditional Right-wing Extremism - Eastern Europe as a Trouble Spot, ‘Right turn for Europe? Right-wing Populism, Extremism, and the European Elections’ (invited speaker in expert panel), The Federal Agency for Civic Education, Germany, Cologne, 17-18 March 2014.
  • The Extreme Right in Contemporary Romania – a Case of Casual Intolerance?, Right-wing Extremism in Romania and Europe. Trends, Structures, Counter-strategies, (invited speaker), Bucharest, 10 October 2013.