University of Gothenburg
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Malin Hasselskog

SENIOR LECTURER

School of Global
Studies
Telephone
+46 31-786 43 12
Mail
malin.hasselskog@globalstudies.gu.se
Fax
+46 31-786 49 10
Visiting address
Konstepidemins väg 2
41314 Göteborg
Room number
E505b
Postal address
Box 700
40530 Göteborg

About Malin Hasselskog

I work as a Senior Lecturer at the School of Global Studies. Apart from the work as a researcher and teacher, I am also the Director of Studies at the school.

I started my undergraduate studies in International Relations and Global Development Studies in 1991, and got a doctoral degree in Peace and Development Research in 2009. I also hold a degree in Journalism from the University of Gothenburg and a degree in Education from Linköping University, and have in addition studied History and Political Science.

Between 1997 and 2000, I worked for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Cambodia, and since 2014 I do occasional assignments as a short-term election observer for OSCE.

Areas of interest My research focuses on international development cooperation, more specifically on the relations and dynamics that emerge between local, national and international actors as different kinds of development interventions are formulated and implemented. I focus mainly on Cambodia and Rwanda, but am also involved in studies on Zambia and Ethiopia.

My doctoral thesis, based on three ethnographic case studies, deals with international cooperation aimed at good governance. I examine central assumptions and rationales among external actors that motivate and shape international intervention, as well as experiences, perceptions and behaviour among the population related to the interventions, and analyse the interplay between external intervention and local conditions.

As a follow-up to the Cambodia study, in 2010 I initiated a research project on national development policy in Rwanda, the role of international development cooperation, and local dynamics as policies are implemented. Starting out from a number of poverty alleviation measures, and based on empirical studies in a couple of local communities, I analyse Rwandan policy, the relation to international actors, and experiences, perceptions and behaviour among the population.

In conjunction with the Rwanda study, I was involved in further research on political reform and decentralisation in Cambodia.

Current research Since 2014 I work, together with Isabell Schierenbeck, on a project on policy formulation in aid recipient countries, with case studies of Rwanda, Ethiopia and Zambia. We examine national and external actors’ experiences of the process of formulating and revising development related national programmes – what common and what opposing interests there are, how potential disagreements are handled, how this has possibly changed over time, and how this relates to the ideal of ‘national ownership’.

In parallel with the policy study, I formulated a research project, that I will conduct together with Joakim Öjendal, on development and aid politics in Cambodia and Rwanda. Based on case studies of a number of externally funded development programmes in each of the countries, we will analyse the prevalence and quality of ‘national ownership’ and ‘local participation’ respectively and, above all, the relation between the two.

Teaching and tutoring I supervise and teach at the PhD education in Peace and Development Research, and supervise and examine bachelor and master theses. Before becoming the Director of Studies, I was the Subject Coordinator for Global Development Studies. I have been the Course coordinator of the bachelor thesis writing courses in Global Development Studies and International Relations, and of the first BA-course in Global Development Studies, and have been lecturing and holding seminars also at other courses.