Projects per year
Personal profile
Research interests
Timo Kivimäki is Professor of International Relations at the University of Bath (UK) and Senior Non-Resident Fellow at the Sejong Institute (Seoul, Republic of Korea). Professor Kivimäki joined the University of Bath in January 2015. Previously he has held professorships at the University of Helsinki, University of Lapland, and at the University of Copenhagen. Professor Kivimäki has also been director of the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (Copenhagen) and the Institute of Development Studies of the University of Helsinki.
In addition to purely academic work Professor Kivimäki has been a frequent consultant to the Finnish, Danish, Dutch, Russian, Malaysian, Indonesian and Swedish governments, as well as to several UN and EU organizations on conflict and terrorism. Professor Kivimäki has been advisor to Finland’s former President, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Martti Ahtisaari in peace processes in Indonesia’s Aceh and Papua, and in Myanmar. President Ahtisaari has publicly praised that Professor Kivimäki’s advises in Aceh Peace Talks were “vital for the success of the process” and that his help in peace processes in Indonesia and Myanmar were “worth gold.”
In his new books Protecting the Global Civilian from Violence: UN discourses and practices in fragile states (London, Routledge 2021) and Failure to Protect. The Path to and Consequences of Humanitarian Interventionism (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019) Professor Kivimäki revealed new patterns in contemporary warfare, and made sense of them by looking at political discourses and cases of unilateral humanitarian intervention and UN peacekeeping. His conclusions on unilateral pattern of humanitarian intervention are damning: humanitarian interventions contribute to the increase in the number of fatalities among civilians and to the weakening of state capacity to contain violence. At the same time UN peacekeeping is much more successful. UN's respect for local solutions, interest in facilitating dialogue rather than enforcement of its own solutions, and the focus on the poverty-related threats to human security have all been associated with the reduction of fatalities of organized violence and the strengthening of state's ability to regulate political and economic competition and contain violence. In his forthcoming project he looks at the success and failure of regional actors in their intervention into organised violence in their own region.
Kivimäki's book Paradigms of Peace (London: Imperial College Press, 2016) assesses the contribution of various social scientific paradigms to peace research and peace and sets an agenda for constructivist pragmatist peace research. The Long Peace of East Asia by Kivimäki (Abingdon: Routledge, 2014) offers a constructivist understanding of the relative peace of East Asia since 1979. Kivimäki's book, Can Peace Research Make Peace. Lessons in Academic Diplomacy (Abingdon: Routledge, 2012), was nominated for the prestigious Best Book Prize by the Conflict Research Society in year 2014. Kivimäki's recent articles on peace and conflict topics were published in Geopolitics, the Chinese Journal of International Relations, Pacific Focus, the Pacific Review, Social Sciences, Journal of Refugee Studies, Global Society, Journal of International Peacekeeping, International Relations of the Asia Pacific, Journal of Peace Research, Journal of International Relations and Development, Asian Security and the Middle East Policy.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
External positions
Professor of World Politics, University of Helsinki
1 Jul 2014 → 31 Dec 2014
University Lecturer in World Politics
1 Feb 2013 → 30 Jun 2014
Professor of International Relations, University of Copenhagen
1 Jan 2010 → 31 Jan 2013
Acting Director, Nordic Institute of Asian Studies
1 Sept 2001 → 31 Dec 2001
Senior Researcher, Nordic Institute of Asian Studies
1 Jul 1999 → 31 Dec 2009
Professor of International Politics, University of Helsinki
1 Jul 1996 → 30 Jun 1999
Professor of International Relations, University of Lapland
1 Sept 1995 → 30 Jun 1996
Acting Director, Institute of Development Studies, University of Helsinki
1 Mar 1995 → 31 Jul 1995
Senior Assistant Professor, University of Turku
1 Jan 1995 → 31 May 1995
Assistant Professor
1 Jul 1992 → 31 Dec 1994
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Projects
- 3 Finished
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Conflict and peace-building in the MENA region: is social protection the missing link?
Aslam, W. (PI) & Kivimaki, T. (CoI)
Arts and Humanities Research Council
1/04/20 → 31/03/25
Project: Research council
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(Development Award) Social protection and sustainable peace in the Middle East and North Africa Region: Building a new welfare-centred politics
Jawad, R. (PI), Aslam, W. (CoI), Kivimaki, T. (CoI) & Walton, O. (CoI)
Arts and Humanities Research Council
1/07/19 → 31/03/22
Project: Research council
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Terror, Authoritarian Violence and Cosmopolitan Protection
Kivimaki, T. (PI)
1/09/15 → 30/06/21
Project: Other
Research output
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Conflict
Kivimäki, T., 15 Mar 2025, Elgar Encyclopedia of International Relations. Jahn , B. & Schindler, S. (eds.). Cheltenham, U. K.: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, p. 54-55 2 p. (Elgar Encyclopedias in the Social Sciences series).Research output: Chapter or section in a book/report/conference proceeding › Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary
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Coups and refugee flows in autocracies and democracies
Rivera Celestino, M. R., Lee, S. W. & Kivimäki, T., 31 Jan 2025, In: Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. 51, 1, p. 159-178 20 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Does Peace Research Need Knowledge on Social Policy?
Kivimäki, T., 13 Jun 2025, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Global Social Policy.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile1 Downloads (Pure) -
Is Securitisation a Natural and Useful Response to Existential Threats? Introducing the Idea of Peacification
Kivimäki, T., 31 Jan 2025, In: Social Sciences. 14, 1, 43.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
North Korea and Russia: A Reckless Alliance Shifting Ukraine’s Battlefield
Kivimäki, T., 6 Feb 2025, 19FortyFive.Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Article
Datasets
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Dataset on the association between unilateral and UN operations and the number of fatalities of organised violence
Kivimäki, T. (Creator), University of Bath, 25 Oct 2023
DOI: 10.15125/BATH-01293
Dataset
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Data on the Effects of Hegemonic Masculinity in US Presidential Speech Acts on Fatalities of Organised Violence in US Wars
Kivimäki, T. (Creator), University of Bath, 1 Nov 2023
DOI: 10.15125/BATH-01342
Dataset
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Coding of US Presidential discourse on protection
Kivimäki, T. (Creator), University of Bath, 25 Jan 2019
DOI: 10.15125/BATH-00535
Dataset
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Data on the Fragility-Grievances-Conflict Triangle
Kivimäki, T. (Creator), University of Bath, 27 Mar 2021
DOI: 10.15125/BATH-00951
Dataset
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Data on the securitization of ideologies in US presidential speech
Kivimäki, T. (Creator), University of Bath, 7 Apr 2022
DOI: 10.15125/BATH-01127
Dataset
Activities
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How two rounds of leaders' talks highlight challenges to a Ukraine ceasefire
Kivimaki, T. (Interviewee)
20 Mar 2025Activity: Media article or participation, blog › Media article or participation
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East Asia Forum Quarterly (Journal)
Kivimaki, T. (Peer reviewer)
3 Feb 2025Activity: Publication peer-review and editorial roles › Publication peer review
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End-of-Project Conference: Social Protection, Security and Welfare in MENA
Kivimaki, T. (Speaker)
27 Nov 2024Activity: Academic conferences and events (excluding conference publications) › Conference presentation / attendance
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Peace
Kivimaki, T. (Interviewee)
12 Jun 2025Activity: Media article or participation, blog › Media article or participation
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Behind Ukraine’s readiness to accept a US-proposed ceasefire with Russia
Kivimaki, T. (Interviewee)
12 Mar 2025Activity: Media article or participation, blog › Media article or participation