BLOCKADE

Eva Nivard is a PhD candidate and part of the BLOCKADE Amsterdam-based research team. Her research explores how colonial trade and resource interests influenced Dutch blockade policies in the interwar years, with a focus on shipping, raw materials, and financial networks. In doing so, the project will shed light on the complex interconnections between economic interests, foreign relations, neutrality, and colonial power in shaping Dutch foreign policy during the interwar period. Additionally, by analyzing lobbying activities of major Dutch colonial enterprises, the project aims to contribute to wider debates about the role of private economic actors in international policy.

Eva completed the research master in history at the University of Amsterdam, where she researched the intersections between the politics of race and civil rights and U.S. foreign relations during the Cold War. Her thesis focused on public diplomacy from the 1940s through 1960s as a tool for advancing U.S. interests abroad, but also a (potential) catalyst for racial reform at home. Over the past four years, Eva has lived in New York City, where she worked at the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget, the City’s chief financial agency. Here she advised on housing policy and short- and long-term capital investment in affordable housing. This experience sharpened her ability to analyse complex policy and economic frameworks—skills she now applies to historical research.