Glenn Diesen

Glenn Diesen is a professor of international relations at the University of South-Eastern Norway and one of the more prominent Western academic voices arguing that NATO’s eastward expansion contributed to the conditions for conflict in Europe. His work spans Eurasian integration, great-power competition, and the structural tensions between Russian and Western conceptions of security architecture. He is the author of several books on Russian foreign policy and the broader reorganization of global order. See his guest page for his full episode history on Groong.

Groong has featured Diesen as a guest to discuss the geopolitical context surrounding the South Caucasus — in particular the role of great-power competition between Russia, the West, and rising powers in shaping the constraints on Armenian foreign policy. His perspective offers a structural-realist lens that complements Groong’s focus on Armenian political agency within a constrained international environment.

Episodes featuring Glenn Diesen address topics including the logic of spheres of influence, the limits of Western security guarantees for small states, and the broader Eurasian order that frames Armenia’s choices between Russian-led and Western-oriented alignments.