Frédéric Mérand (PhD, Berkeley) is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Montreal, where he teaches European politics and political sociology. He sits on the board of the European Community Studies Association-Canada. He was a fellow of the Institute of International Studies and the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, both at the University of California. In 2004-05 he was a policy advisor with the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. The author of several articles on the European security and defence policy, transatlantic relations, and political economy, Mérand currently works on a large research project on the social networks of security and defence actors in Europe, funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council.