Prof. Dr. Margarita M. Balmaceda
Affiliate Scholar
As a RIFS Affiliate, Margarita Balmaceda will cooperate with the Planetary Geopolitics and Geoengineering RG at three levels. First, at the level of active discussion of RG member’s ongoing work and draft publications through weekly group meetings and one-on-one meetings as appropriate. Second, at the level of participation in the planning and implementation of activities initiated by the RG as a whole or its individual members. Third, at the level of preparation of third party funding applications, such as to the Volkswagen Foundation Transatlantic Bridge Professorship which would support Margarita Balmaceda’s part-time (up to 6 months per year) in-person work at RIFS from 2027 to 2030, as well as related activities in support of early-stage researchers and outreach to the broader community. In addition to her work with the RG, Margarita Balmaceda will continue to support the Institute as a whole in its initiatives related to Ukraine as well as transatlantic collaboration.
- Professor, (Full Professor with Tenure), School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University, Sept. 2010-
- Associate Professor with tenure (1999-2003 Assistant Professor), School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University, 2003-2010
- Assistant Professor 1995-1999 (Instructor, 1993-1995); Department of Political Science and Public Administration, The University of Toledo
- Instructor/Consortium Fellow, Department of Political Science, Vassar College, 1991-1993
- Lecturer, Princeton University, 1990-1991
Research affiliations:
- Associate, Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute (2001-)
Margarita Balmaceda is a political scientist working at the intersection of international relations, the political economy of authoritarianism and democracy, and technology.
Her main field of research are:
- International Political Economy
- Resource Politics
- Ukrainian Studies
- Post-Soviet studies
- Decarbonization of (formerly) centrally-planned economies
- Steel industry
- Chemical industry
Publications at the RIFS
Publications prior to joining the RIFS
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Russian Energy Chains: The Remaking of Technopolitics from Siberia to Ukraine to the European Union (New York: Columbia University Press, 2021)
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Living the High Life in Minsk: Russian Energy Rents, Domestic Populism and Belarus' Impending Crisis (Budapest and New York: Central European University Press, 2014) Reprinted in paperback: (Budapest and New York: Central European University Press, 2023).
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The Politics of Energy Dependency: Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania Between Domestic Oligarchs and Russian Pressure (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013, ppk 2015).
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Energy Dependency, Politics and Corruption in the Former Soviet Union: Russia's Power, Oligarch's Profits and Ukraine's Missing Energy Policy, 1995-2006 (London and New York: Routledge, 2008). Reprinted in paperback: (London and New York: Routledge
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Balmaceda, M., Workshop on Post-Soviet Politics and Economics, ""Steel, industrial carbon and geopolitics (pre-draft of chapter 4 of book-in-progress on The Last Frontier of Decarbonization: Hidden Industrial Carbon between Geopolitics and Climate Change)"," Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States. (April 19, 2024).
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Balmaceda, M., Workshop on the Geopolitics of Cross-border Electricity Grids, "Studying wider Europe's electricity geopolitics : what can a decarbonization gaze add to the research agenda?," Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering, Penn State University, State College, PA, United States. (April 15, 2024).
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Balmaceda, M., Ukrainian Fulbright Circle, "What Chinese Fertilizers Tell Us About Ukraine," Fulbright Program, Online, Kyiv, Ukraine. (March 27, 2024).