Professor Rick Fawn is a specialist on international security, with a geographic concentration on the former communist space.  He has published 15 books, most recently with Georgetown University Press.

He has conducted research in and published on Central Europe, the Balkans, Russia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia.  He has also made numerous invited contributions to governments and media and given many papers and invited lectures and keynote addresses in the UK and overseas. 

Dr Fawn has received research grants from various bodies, including the British Academy, the Nuffield Foundation, the Russell Trust, and the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland; and was a coordinator of the 8-University £4,700,000 ESRC/AHRC-funded Centre of Excellence, the Centre for Russian and Central and East European Studies (CRCEES). 

He was the recipient of a European Union Marie Curie ITN grant valued at 580,000Euro for St Andrews.

Having previous been Director of the University's Centre for Russia and East European Studies, he is currently Director of the Institute for the Middle East, Caucasus and Central Asia Studies.

Member of the Middle East, Caucasus and Central Asia Studies Institute; Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies; and the Centre for Russian, Soviet and Central and Eastern European Studies at the University of St Andrews.

BOOKS

1. Castle on a Hill: The Visegrad Group, Regionalism, and the Remaking of Europe (Georgetown University Press, 2024), 344pp  

   "This book's significant analysis of Central Europe's return to wider Europe peacefully—reinforced over post–Cold War decades by Visegrad's efforts—offers crucial insights into the heart of Europe about path-breaking triumphs amid continuing challenges."—Joshua Spero, professor of political science, Fitchburg State University, former strategist, Joint Chiefs of Staff (NATO Division)

   "Rick Fawn's masterful analysis of the Visegrad Group enhances our understanding of a successful regional initiative that helped facilitate the entry of four Central European countries into NATO and the EU. Russia's war against Ukraine has challenged the coherence of the V4 Group, with divergent responses among the four governments. The outcome of the war will play a major role in determining the group's future."—Janusz Bugajski, Jamestown Foundation, author of Pivotal Poland: Europe's Rising Strategic Player

   "Castle on a Hill recounts the history of the Visegrad Group—consisting of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland—from its inception in the wake of the collapse of the communist political order to the present. Based on research in multiple languages as well as on-site interviews with appropriate persons, this book makes a significant contribution to understanding not just the Visegrad Group as such but the entire Central European region in the years since 1989. Fawn's prose is elegant, his insights rich, and his arguments persuasive."—Sabrina P. Ramet, author, East Central Europe and Communism: Politics, Culture, and Society, 1943–1991

   "Rick Fawn is one of those rare scholars who has the ability to transcend the conventional approach, and those who read Castle on a Hill will be richly rewarded. He uses history, personalities, and crises as building blocks in a work that weaves insights with inspiration. Fawn makes his points realistically and modestly, highlighting the interplay of domestic policy, political dissent, and international crises. Fawn's superb analysis also spotlights the potential for Visegrad to offer a laboratory for testing ideas that have implications far beyond the four members and the immediate region. That is a remarkable achievement and students, scholars, and policymakers should certainly pay attention to this splendid work."—Aurel Braun, professor of international relations and political science, University of Toronto, associate of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University

2. EU–Central Asian Interactions: Perceptions, Interests and Practices (Routledge, 2024, edited with Karolina Kluczewska and Oleg Korneev)

3. Managing Security Threats along the EU’s Eastern Flanks (as editor, Palgrave, 2020), 275pp.

4. International Organizations and Internal Conditionality: Making Norms Matter (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), 328pp.
5. Georgia: Revolution and War (as editor, Routledge, 2013)
6. Historical Dictionary of the Czech State (co-authored with Jiri Hochman; 2010), 440pp.
7. Globalising the Regional, Regionalising the Global (Cambridge University Press, 2009; as editor), 261pp. 
8. The Iraq War: Causes and Consequences (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2006; co-edited with Raymond Hinnebusch), 357pp.
9. Ideology and National Identity in Post-communist Foreign Policies (Routledge, 2003, as editor), 241pp.
10. Global Responses to Terrorism: 9/11, Afghanistan and Beyond (Routledge, 2003; co-edited with Mary Buckley), 334 pp.
11. Realignments in Russian Foreign Policy (Routledge, as editor, 2003).
12. Russia after Communism (Routledge, 2002, as co-editor with Stephen White).
13. The Changing Geopolitics of Eastern Europe (Routledge, 2001; as co-editor with Andrew Dawson).
14. The Czech Republic: A Nation of Velvet (Routledge, 2000).
15. International Society after the Cold War: Anarchy and Order Reconsidered (Macmillan, 1996, as co-editor with Jeremy Larkins), 302 pp.

* The author also of some four dozen refereed articles and book chapters as well as numerous policy-related, media and other written submissions.

International security; foreign policy decision-making; the politics, society and international relations of Central and Eastern Europe; NATO and EU enlargement.

Member of the Centre for Russian, Soviet and Central and Eastern European Studies at the University of St Andrews.

- post-communist regional cooperation initiatives

- conflict zones in the post-Soviet space and the roles of intergovernmental organizations

Various briefings given to governmental agencies and NGOs.