Fitxa persona

Dr Clara PORTELA teaches Political Science at the Law School of the University of Valencia, having previously served as a professor at Singapore Management University and as a research fellow with the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) in Paris. Her research focuses on multilateral sanctions, arms control and EU foreign policy. She holds a PhD from the European University Institute in Florence and an MA from the Free University of Berlin. She is the recipient of the THESEUS Award for Promising Research on European Integration, and her article with M. Onderco on 'External Drivers of Differentiated Co-operation' in EU foreign policy was shortlisted for the 2024 Bernard Brodie Prize. Clara Portela was the inaugural Konrad Adenauer Visiting Scholar at Carleton University's Centre for European Studies in Ottawa, Canada. Previously, she was a Visiting Professor at the College of Europe, the OSCE Academy in Bishkek, SciencesPo Grenoble, SciencesPo Lyon, SciencesPo Paris, Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo and the University of Innsbruck. She has consulted for the European Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Spain, the Office of the Prime Minister of Finland, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry of Japan, and has advised the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the European Parliament as well as civil society organisations like Transparency International, Democracy Reporting, Civil Forum for Asset Recovery and Small Arms Survey. She has been a trainer in the executive programmes offered by the Graduate Institute in Geneva, the School of Transnational Governance in Florence, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam.  

Recent publications include: 

Portela, C., The war over Ukraine and the transformation of EU governance, European Papers, 8(3), (2023), 1125-30, https://www.europeanpapers.eu/en/system/files/pdf_version/EP_EF_2023_I_035_Clara_Portela_00706.pdf

Portela, C./ J.S. Mora-Sanguinetti, Sanctions effectiveness, development and regime type. Are aid suspensions and economic sanctions alike?, World Development 172, (2023), https://authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S0305-750X(23)00188-2

Borzyskowski, I./ C. Portela, Global Governance from Below. Regional sanctions as drivers of UN sanctions, Journal of Conflict Resolution, 67(10) (2023), 1930-58, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00220027231153565

Portela, C./ A. Charron, The evolution of databases in the age of targeted sanctions, International Studies Review, 25(1), (2023), https://academic.oup.com/isr/article-abstract/25/1/viac061/6987069?redirectedFrom=fulltext

Onderco, M./ C. Portela, External drivers of EU differentiated cooperation: How change in the nuclear nonproliferation regime affects member states alignment, Contemporary Security Policy, 44(1) (2023), 150-75. [shortlisted for 2024 Bernard Brodie Prize], https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13523260.2022.2146336?tab=permissions&scroll=top

Portela, C., Are EU GSP withdrawals and CFSP sanctions becoming alike?, European Foreign Affairs Review, 28 (2023), 35-52, https://kluwerlawonline.com/journalarticle/European+Foreign+Affairs+Review/28.Special%20%20[pre-publication]/EERR2023013

Portela, C., The changing nature of CFSP sanctions, in A. Kellerhals, T. Baumgartner and C. Reber (eds) European Integration Perspectives in Times of Global Crises, Europa Institut, Zurich (2023), pp. 73-87. https://eizpublishing.ch/publikationen/european-integration-perspectives-in-times-of-global-crises/

Charron, A./ C. Portela (eds.) Multilateral Sanctions Revisited, Montreal: McGill Queens University Press, 2022.

Portela, C./ JL. Romanet Perroux, UN Sanctions and Mediation in Libya: Synergy or obstruction?, Global Governance 28(2) (2022), 228-250. https://brill.com/view/journals/gg/28/2/article-p228_5.xml

Portela, C./ T. Van Laer, The design and impact of individual sanctions: Evidence from elites in Côte d’Ivoire and Zimbabwe, Politics and Governance, 10(1) (2022), 26–35. https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/4745

Portela, C., EU-Sanktionen gegen Russland: Ein Überblick über Evaluierungspraxis, Osteuropa 71 (10-12) (2022), 103-113.

Portela, C./ P. Pospieszna/ J. Skrzypczyńska/ D. Walentek, Consensus against all odds: Explaining the persistence of EU sanctions on Russia, Journal of European Integration, 43(6) (2021), 683-99. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07036337.2020.1803854

Portela, C., The EU’s human rights sanctions regime: Unfinished business?, Revista General de Derecho Europeo, 54 (2021), 19-44.

Jones, L./ C. Portela, Evaluating the success of international sanctions: A new research agenda, Afers Internacionals, 125 (2020), 39-60. https://www.raco.cat/index.php/RevistaCIDOB/article/download/374655/468688/