Marta Driessen Cormenzana is a fellow at the Elcano Royal Institute and an associate lecturer at Rey Juan Carlos University (URJC).
She is a member of the Advisory Council of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the Spain–Africa Strategy 2025–2028 and contributes to the Thematic Panel on Global and Geopolitical Factors within the European Commission’s Knowledge Hub for the prevention of radicalisation.
She has recently participated in projects funded by the United Nations Development Programme and the Open Society Foundation on responses to violent extremism in the Sahel and the implications of regional instability for Euro-African cooperation.
With an academic background in political science and international relations, she has also worked on the Radicalisation Awareness Network project (2021–2024), focusing on the phenomenon of affective polarization and its links to the far right in Europe and Spain.
Research areas
Her work focuses on peace, security, and governance in Africa. Her main research lines address the expansion of terrorism in West Africa, processes of (de)democratization and regional integration, as well as the political and security dynamics shaping relations between Africa and Europe.
Selected publications
- Intensificación y expansión de la amenaza yihadista en el Sahel: implicaciones para España y la Unión Europea, ARI, Real Instituto Elcano, 2025.
- The Nexus between Security and Development in the Sahel: West African Perspectives on EU Interventions, European Think Tanks Group (ETTG), 2025.
- Conclusions Paper: The Impact of Polarising Free Speech and Activism on the European Union Political Values, with Álvaro Vicente and Carola García-Calvo, RAN Policy Support, 2024.
- The shifting role of women in extremist and terrorist groups: implications for prosecution and rehabilitation, with Carola García-Calvo, RAN Policy Support, 2024.
- Conflict and Unconstitutional Change of Government in Africa: Is there still a role for the EU-AU Partnership, European Think Tanks Group (ETTG), 2024.
- Quarterly Research Review: New trends in Jihadism, RAN Policy Support, 2024.
Other contact information: Marta Driessen Cormenzana on LinkedIn.