Political science prof, Fulbright scholar speaks at European security conference

Dr. Melanie H. Ram studied French and Italian in high school and got her first international experience in 11th grade when she spent a summer living in Italy. Then, a Russian history class in high school really got her interested in international politics.

Ram, a political science professor at Fresno State since 2006, would later add Russian to her language repertoire and go on to study international relations with a minor in Russian area studies as an undergraduate in college. She focused on central and Eastern Europe, including Russia, in graduate school and as she worked on her doctoral degree.

“The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. Wars began in the Balkans the same year as countries declared independence from the former Yugoslavia. Across Central and Eastern Europe, countries were trying to transition to a market economy and democracy,” Ram said. “It was an interesting time to observe this region, to have all these new research questions and opportunities to study in these countries.”

Since then, Ram has focused her work on the influence of international organizations, like the European Union, on domestic politics in Central and Eastern Europe and the influence of domestic actors on international policymaking.

As a Fulbright U.S. Scholar grantee in 2022, Ram researched the subregional intergovernmental organizations that emerged in Europe since the end of the Cold War, many of which were established to support European integration, security and stability. In December, she was invited to share her research at the 2024 Conference on Security Challenges for Europe hosted by the RACVIAC Centre for Security Cooperation in Zagreb, Croatia.

Ram was one of only two American presenters at the conference, the other being the U.S. Ambassador to Croatia.

“It was exciting to return to Croatia to share some of my findings with an audience of government and international organization representatives from across Europe as well as some scholars from the region,” Ram said. “As an outside observer, it was interesting to be a part of the conversation about addressing current and future challenges. I was also able to meet more people involved in regional cooperation efforts in Southeastern Europe in the late 1990s up to today.”

The annual conference, now in its 12th year, brings together countries in Central and Southeastern Europe concerned about ongoing security challenges in the region. This includes countries that have recently joined the EU and NATO and others — like the Western Balkans — that are still hoping to join one or both organizations. RACVIAC and other regional organizations are working to support regional stability and cooperation and help countries prepare and qualify for EU and NATO membership.

RACVIAC is one of the organizations that Ram was studying as part of her Fulbright Schuman fellowship, to understand its role in supporting security and stability in the region and how these organizations change over time. The agency was also one of her host institutions while she conducted her research.

Ram is currently working on a book about her research to be published by Routledge that she hopes to finish this summer.