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Dr Koen Slootmaeckers

Senior Lecturer in International Politics

School of Arts and Social Sciences Department of International Politics

Contact details

Address

Dr Koen Slootmaeckers D510, Rhind Building
City, University of London
Northampton Square
London EC1V 0HB
United Kingdom

Personal links

About

Overview

Koen Slootmaeckers is a Senior Lecturer in International Politics at the Department of International Politics at City, University of London. He has a multidisciplinary background and combines insights from sociology and political science into his work.

His research focusses on gender and sexuality politics in Europe and is particularly interested in analysing hierarchies within the international system. More specifically, Koen has studied the EU accession of Serbia and how this process affects LGBT politics and activism. And his more recent project is interested in the transnational politics of LGBT Pride Parades.

His work has been widely published, including a (co-)edited volume ‘EU Enlargement and Gay Politics’ (Palgrave 2016; with Heleen Touquet and Peter Vermeersch), and articles in, amongst others, East European Politics, Politics, Contemporary Southeastern Europe, Journal of Homosexuality, and Europe-Asia Studies

Qualifications

  1. PhD in Political Science, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom, 2018
  2. MSc in Sociology, Ghent Univeristy, Belgium, 2011
  3. BSc in Sociology, Ghent University, Belgium, 2010

Visiting appointments

  1. Research Associate, KU Leuven – University of Leuven, May 2013 – present

Languages

Dutch; Flemish (can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review) and English (can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review).

Expertise

Geographic Areas

  • Europe
  • Europe - Eastern

Research

Research interests

Koen is interested in sexuality politics in Europe. He particularly focusses on the promotion of and resistance to LGBT equality as part of the EU accession process. Having completed a thesis on the LGBT rights in Serbia, Koen is looking to analyse the boom of Pride events in the Western Balkan region. He seeks to explore the different tactical choices made by activists in organising these events, which affect their aesthetics and their politics. He is furthermore also interested in exploring how transnational links influence these decisions.

Research and PhD Supervision

- Gender and Sexuality Politics
- Transnational social movements (Gender and Sexuality)
- LGBTI+ Rights
- Homophobia

Research students

Timo Koch

Attendance: Sep 2021 – present, full-time

Role: 1st Supervisor

Publications

Publications by category

Book

  1. Slootmaeckers, K., Touquet, H. and Vermeersch, P. (Eds.), (2016). The EU Enlargement and Gay Politics: The Impact of Eastern Enlargement on Rights, Activism and Prejudice. London: Palgrave.

Chapters (5)

  1. Slootmaeckers, K. (2021). The Europeanization and Politicisation of LGBT Rights in Serbia. In Fábián, K., Johnson, J.E. and Lazda, M. (Eds.), The Routledge International Handbook to Gender in Central-Eastern Europe and Eurasia (pp. 387–394). London: Routledge.
  2. Cooper, S. and Slootmaeckers, K. (2020). Welcome to the ‘Family’: Integration, Identity, and Inclusivity in European Studies. In Jones, E. (Ed.), European Studies: Past, Present, and Future (pp. 32–35). Newcastle upon Tyne: Agenda Publishing Limited.
  3. Slootmaeckers, K., Touquet, H. and Vermeersch, P. (2016). Introduction: EU Enlargement and LGBT Rights—Beyond Symbolism? The EU Enlargement and Gay Politics (pp. 1–16). Palgrave Macmillan UK. ISBN 978-1-137-48092-7.
  4. Slootmaeckers, K., Touquet, H. and Vermeersch, P. (2016). The Co-evolution of EU’s Eastern Enlargement and LGBT Politics: An Ever Gayer Union? The EU Enlargement and Gay Politics (pp. 19–44). Palgrave Macmillan UK. ISBN 978-1-137-48092-7.
  5. (2015). Religion, Homosexuality and Nationalism in the Western Balkans: The Role of Religious Institutions in Defining the Nation. In Religious and Sexual Nationalisms in Central and Eastern Europe (pp. 154–180). BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-29747-0.

Internet publications (6)

  1. Ammaturo, F.R. and Slootmaeckers, K. (2020). The Politics of Rainbow Maps. LSE Engenderings.
  2. Cooper, S. and Slootmaeckers, K. (2020). Me Who? The Audibility of a Social Movement. Council for European Studies.
  3. Slootmaeckers, K. (2017). Tactical Europeanisation: Why Serbia’s decision to appoint an openly gay PM is no great leap forward for LGBT rights. LSE EUROPP European Politics and Policy Blog.
  4. Slootmaeckers, K. (2017). Serbia’s New Lesbian Prime Minister: A Symbolic Step Forward? Balkanist.
  5. Slootmaeckers, K. (2014). Belgrade Pride 2014: Where There Is a Need, There Is Tolerance? Balkanist.
  6. Slootmaeckers, K. (2014). Belgrade Pride 2014: Another blow to the head or will it go ahead? LSEE Research on SEE Blog.

Journal articles (14)

  1. Slootmaeckers, K. (2020). Unpacking Normative Resonance: The Attitudinal Panopticon and the Implementation Gap of LGBT Rights in Serbia. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society. doi:10.1093/sp/jxaa037.
  2. Slootmaeckers, K. (2020). LGBTI Rights in Turkey: Sexuality and the State in the Middle East. By Fait Muedini. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. 274p. $105.00 cloth, $27.99 paper. Perspectives on Politics, 18(1), pp. 302–304. doi:10.1017/s1537592719004286.
  3. Slootmaeckers, K. (2020). Constructing European Union Identity through LGBT Equality Promotion: Crises and Shifting Othering Processes in the European Union Enlargement. Political Studies Review, 18(3), pp. 346–361. doi:10.1177/1478929919877624.
  4. Slootmaeckers, K. (2019). Book Review: Marek Mikuš. Frontiers of Civil Society: Government and Hegemony in Serbia. (New York: Berghahn, 2018). ISBN 9781785338908. Southeastern Europe, 43(3).
  5. Meuleman, B., Abts, K., Slootmaeckers, K. and Meeusen, C. (2019). Differentiated Threat and the Genesis of Prejudice: Group-Specific Antecedents of Homonegativity, Islamophobia, Anti-Semitism, and Anti-Immigrant Attitudes. Social Problems, 66(2), pp. 222–244. doi:10.1093/socpro/spy002.
  6. Slootmaeckers, K. (2019). Nationalism as competing masculinities: Homophobia as a technology of othering for hetero- and homonationalism. Theory and Society, 48(2), pp. 239–265. doi:10.1007/s11186-019-09346-4.
  7. Slootmaeckers, K. and O'Dwyer, C. (2018). Europeanization of Attitudes Towards Homosexuality: Exploring the Role of Education in the Transnational Diffusion of Values. Innovation / Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research, 31(4), pp. 406–428. doi:10.1080/13511610.2018.1536969.
  8. Slootmaeckers, K. and Sircar, I. (2018). Marrying European and Domestic Politics? The Marriage Referendum in Croatia and Value-Based Euroscepticism. Europe-Asia Studies, 70(3), pp. 321–344. doi:10.1080/09668136.2018.1457136.
  9. Slootmaeckers, K. (2017). The litmus test of pride: analysing the emergence of the Belgrade “Ghost” pride in the context of EU accession. East European Politics, 33(4), pp. 517–535. doi:10.1080/21599165.2017.1367290.

    [publisher’s website]

  10. Meuleman, B., Abts, K., Slootmaeckers, K. and Meeusen, C. (2017). Gedifferentieerde dreiging en de verklaring van vooroordelen: Anti-immigranten attitudes, islamofobie, antisemitisme en homonegativiteit vergeleken. Sociologos, 38(1-2), pp. 49–77.
  11. Adriaensen, J., Kerremans, B. and Slootmaeckers, K. (2015). Editors’ Introduction to the Thematic Issue: Mad about Methods? Teaching Research Methods in Political Science. Journal of Political Science Education, 11(1), pp. 1–10. doi:10.1080/15512169.2014.985017.
  12. Ulbricht, A., Sircar, I. and Slootmaeckers, K. (2015). Queer to be kind: Exploring Western media discourses about the “Eastern bloc” during the 2007 and 2014 Eurovision Song Contests. Contemporary Southeastern Europe, 2, pp. 155–172.

    [publisher’s website]

  13. Slootmaeckers, K. and Lievens, J. (2014). Cultural Capital and Attitudes Toward Homosexuals: Exploring the Relation Between Lifestyles and Homonegativity. Journal of Homosexuality, 61(7), pp. 962–979. doi:10.1080/00918369.2014.870848.
  14. Slootmaeckers, K., Kerremans, B. and Adriaensen, J. (2014). Too Afraid to Learn: Attitudes towards Statistics as a Barrier to Learning Statistics and to Acquiring Quantitative Skills. Politics, 34(2), pp. 191–200. doi:10.1111/1467-9256.12042.

Thesis/dissertation

  1. Slootmaeckers, K. From 'Strategic Accession' to 'Tactical Europeanisation'? The Promotion of and Resistance to LGBT Equality in Serbia’s European Integration Process. (PhD Thesis)