Barbara Kunz

Barbara Kunz

Dr Barbara Kunz is a Senior Researcher and Director of the SIPRI European Security Programme.

Prior to joining SIPRI in October 2023, she inter alia worked for the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy (IFSH) in Hamburg and the Institut français des relations internationales (Ifri) in Paris.

In 2023, Barbara Kunz spent five months in Washington, D.C. as a Helmut Schmidt Fellow with the German Marshall Fund.
In 2021-22, she was seconded to the German Federal Foreign Office’s policy planning unit as an external expert.
Her research focuses on European security, both within the framework of relevant organizations such as NATO, the EU and the OSCE, and in the wider Euro-Atlantic context.

She is particularly interested in European and transatlantic debates about the future European security architecture.
The US/NATO-Russia strategic context and its implications for Europe are also part of her research interests, including aspects of strategic stability and arms control.

Recent publications

  • Kunz, B., Europe in the U.S.-Russian Security Dilemma: Is There a Way Out?, in Græger, N., Heurlin, B., Wæver, O., Wivel, A. (eds) Polarity in International Relations. Governance, Security and Development. Governance, Security and Development. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. (Aug 2022)
  • Kunz, B., There is no “Europe”: Disagreements Within NATO Are Not Solely Transatlantic and Pertain to the Fundamentals of European Security, pp. 157-176 in: Jason Blessing, Katherine Kjellström Elgin, Nele Marianne Ewers-Peters (eds.), NATO 2030: Towards a New Strategic Concept and Beyond, Foreign Policy Institute/Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs, SAIS (2021)
  • Kunz, B., Switching Umbrellas in Berlin? The Implications of Franco-German Nuclear Cooperation, The Washington Quarterly, 43:3, 63-77 (Sep 2020)
  • Kunz, B., Europe’s defense debate is all about America, War on the Rocks (March 2020)