Ongoing research projects

JOINT: Understanding and Strengthening EU Foreign and Security Policy in a Complex and Contested World (Funding: EU Horizon 2020)

Recent completed research projects

"RSF-Hub" - Research and Advisory Center for the Promotion of the Rule of Law. (Funding: Federal Foreign Office; 2017-2023)

Research interests

• International relations
• Peace and conflict research
• Foreign policy analysis
• German foreign policy, especially in the areas of crisis prevention, stabilization and peacebuilding
• International development policy
• Regional focus: Africa (Sub-Saharan Africa)

2025
Discussion event "Hope instead of hate" with representatives of the Israeli-Palestinian organization "Combatants for Peace", Mainz, 12.10.2025 -- Organization & moderation

Discussion event "Hope instead of hate" with representatives of the Israeli-Palestinian organization "Combatants for Peace", Kaiserslautern, 11.10.2025 -- Organization & moderation

Panel discussion "Security without nuclear weapons - (How) can this succeed?", at RPTU Kaiserslautern, 28.06.2025 -- Organization and moderation

Commemorative event "In the shadow of the mushroom cloud" on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japanese Garden Kaiserslautern, 27.06.2025 - Organization and moderation

Lecture event "Back to the Future. International Interventions from the Cold War to Today" in cooperation with CampusKultur at RPTU, Kaiserslautern, 12.06.2025 -- Lecture

Panel discussion "Frieden und Versöhnung / Paix et réconciliation / Peace and Reconciliation" as part of the 2nd German-French Dialogue for Peace and Justice, Trier, 23-24.06.2025 - Organization and moderation

Panel discussion "Right-wing Christians - Religion and right-wing extremism in the USA, Germany and Poland" in cooperation with the Leibniz Institute of European History (IEG), the Protestant Academy of the Palatinate, the Peace and Environment Office of the Protestant Church of the Palatinate and the Protestant Academy Frankfurt. Mainz, 12.05.2025 -- Organization and moderation

Lecture event "Training for reconciliation in the midst of conflict: Reflections on peace education for the Great Lakes region in Africa", Kaiserslautern, 02.04.2025 - Organization and moderation

Lecture event "From Enemies to Sisters: The Women's Path to Reconciliation in Post-Genocide Rwanda", Mainz, 01.04.2025 -- Organization & Moderation

Online event "Majorities at any price? Prospects for German democracy after the 2025 Bundestag elections", Landau, 10.03.2025 -- Organization & moderation

Workshop "The Palatinate and the world. The contribution of church and civil society networks to peace and understanding", Landau, 24-25.01.2025 -- Organization & moderation

Lecture event "The New Politics of Development", at RPTU, Kaiserslautern, 15.01.2025 -- Lecture

2024
Online event "Development Policy in Polarized Times" for the Rhineland-Palatinate Development Policy Network (ELAN), Mainz, 05.11.2024 -- Lecture

Online event "Rethinking development - an African perspective" in cooperation with the State Chancellery of Rhineland-Palatinate, the Rhineland-Palatinate Development Policy Network (ELAN), the Rhineland-Palatinate Community Foundation and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Mainz, 28.10.2024 -- Lecture

Panel discussion "Die Zukunft der Versöhnung / L'avenir de la réconciliation", 68th VDFG/FAFA Annual Congress, Landau, 06.10.2024 -- Organization & Moderation - Recording available (LINK: www.youtube.com/watch)

Discussion event "Hope instead of hate" with representatives of the Israeli-Palestinian organization "Combatants for Peace", Landau, 15.07.2024 -- Organization & moderation

City tour format "Landau in War and Peace"; development on the occasion of the 750th anniversary of the city of Landau, June 2024 - development, implementation and training

Discussion event "Learning peace. Peace education in times of war rhetoric.", Landau, 25.06.2024 -- Organization & moderation

Discussion event "Democracy under pressure - What does this mean for prosperity, peace and intergenerational justice?", Rülzheim, 09.04.2024 -- Panel participation

Artistic performance: "Future Democracy", an oracle of democracy, at the "Lautrer Demokratieladen", Kaiserslautern 16-17.03.2024 -- Curation and organization

2023
Discussion event "Peace Perspective Middle East", at RPTU, 21 November 2023 -- Organization and moderation -- Recording available (LINK: www.youtube.com/watch)

- Foreign policy analysis: American foreign policy

- Foreign policy analysis: German foreign policy

- Introduction to International Relations

- Introduction to peace and conflict research

- Theories of inter-democratic peace

- Research Methods for International Relations

- Globalization and Global Governance

- Governance in Areas of Limited Statehood

- Fundamentals of the theory of science

- International Institutions

- Theories of Cooperation

- Internet Governance

- Project Design and Management for Development Projects

- The "First Image": The Role of Individuals in Internat. Affairs

- The Politics of Development Policy

- The Politics of Foreign Policy

Essays; Journal Articles

2024: Unlocking EU Foreign and Security Potential: Measures to Mitigate Internal Contestation, Regional Fragmentation and Multipolar Competition, JOINT Research Papers No. 24, Rome: February 2024 (with Sarah Bentum)

2023: Limited Effectiveness. The sobering experience of Afghanistan provides lessons for action in areas of limited statehood. Germany should heed them especially in Ukraine, in: Internationale Politik, Jan/Feb 2023, pp. 81-85 (with Thomas Risse).

2022: Reflexive use of instruments, in: Kötter, Matthias/Röder, Tilmann/Deppe, Jens/Trappe, Julie/Schneider, Tillmann: Rechtsstaatsförderung. Handbuch für Forschung und Praxis; Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, pp. 318-323 (with Johannes Socher).

2022: Politikwissenschaftliche Kontextanalyse, in: Kötter, Matthias/Röder, Tilmann/Deppe, Jens/Trappe, Julie/Schneider, Tillmann: Rechtsstaatsförderung. Handbook for Research and Practice; Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, pp. 300-305 (with Gregor Reisch).

2019: Fragile Staatlichkeit, in: Schuppert, Gunnar Folke (ed.): Von Staat zu Staatlichkeit Beiträge zu einer multidisziplinären Staatlichkeitswissenschaft, Nomos: Baden-Baden.

2018: Escaping the Isomorphic Bias: Towards a Legitimacy-Centered Approach to State-Building, in: Schmelzle, Cord/Stollenwerk, Eric (Ed.): Governance Effectiveness and Legitimacy in Areas of Limited Statehood: Virtuous or Vicious Circle? Special Issue of the Journal of Intervention and State-Building, forthcoming (with D. Remmert).

2018: Implications - Policy, in: Risse, Thomas/Börzel, Tanja A. /Draude, Anke: Oxford Handbook of Governance and Limited Statehood, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 584-604 (with L. Brozus and Ch. Jetzelsperger).

2014: Taking the State (Back) Out? Statehood and the Delivery of Collective Goods, in: Governance. An International Journal of Policy, Administration, and Institutions, Vol. 28, No. 4, pp. 634-654 (w. Melissa Lee and John Wiesel).

2011: Democracy and Representation Beyond the Nation State, in: Keane, John/Merkel, Wolfgang/Beyme, Klaus von: The Future of Representative Democracy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 258-281 (with M. Zürn).

2009: Model pupil with flaws. In the anniversary year 2009, the European project is also under scrutiny, in: Internationale Politik, 02/2009, pp. 88-95 (with Th. Risse), also published as: An Imperfect Model Student. On the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, the European Project Faces a new Test, IP Global Edition, Vol. 10, No. 1, Spring 2009, pp. 70-76.

2008: Internet Crime - A Dark Side of Globalization, Study, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, SWP Study S16, June 2008, Berlin: Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik.

2006: Schools of power? - Governance Schools in Germany, in: Bogumil, Jörg/Jann, Werner/Nullmeier, Frank (Hg): Politik und Verwaltung, PVS Sonderheft, pp. 539-563. (with Ch. Bertram/M. Zürn), also published as Working Paper No.1, Hertie School of Governance, Berlin, (with Ch. Bertram/M. Zürn) September 2006.

2005: Conceptual Considerations: Analytical Framework, Design and Methodology, in: Zürn, Michael/Walter, Gregor (Eds): Globalizing Interests. Pressure Groups and Denationalization, Albany: State University of New York Press, pp. 39-63 (with M. Beisheim/S. Dreher).

2005: Internet Politics: Responses to Illegal Content and Cryptography in Germany and Canada, in: Zürn, Michael/Walter, Gregor (Eds): Globalizing Interests. Pressure Groups and Denationalization, Albany: State University of New York Press, pp. 65-124.

2005: Conclusions: The Politics of Denationalization, in: Zürn, Michael/Walter, Gregor (Eds): Globalizing Interests. Pressure Groups and Denationalization, Albany: State University of New York Press, pp. 257-306 (with M. Zürn).

2003: Into the Methodological Void. Researching Systemic Consequences of International Regimes, in: Young, Oran/Underdal, Arild (Ed.): Regime Consequences: Methodological Challenges and Research Strategies, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 307-344 (with M. Zürn).

2000: Postnational Politics? Über den politischen Umgang mit den Denatio¬nalisierungs-herausforderungen Internet, Klimawandel und Migration, in: Zeitschrift für Internationale Beziehungen Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 297-329; pre-published as Working Paper 18/00, Institute for Intercultural and International Studies (InIIS), University of Bremen (with M. Beisheim/S. Dreher/M. Zürn).

2000: Globalisierung - Begriffe, Prozesse, Konsequenzen, in: Böttger, Gottfried/Götz, Klaus/Hesse, Wolfgang/Hug, Markus (eds.): Globalisierung und Nachhaltigkeit. Wandel als Chance, Managementkonzepte, Vol. 18, Munich: Rainer Hampp Verlag, pp. 9-24.

1999: Globalization Processes in the G-7, in: Global Society, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 229-255 (with M. Beisheim/S. Dreher).

1999: The broom and the sorcerer's apprentice? The process of globalization and its protagonists, Ev. Akademie Bad Boll, Protokolldienst 21/99, pp. 43-54.

1998: On the thesis of the erosion of the nation state, in: Steger, Ulrich (ed.): Auf dem Weg zur Europäischen Unternehmensführung. A Handbook for Managers and Europeans, Munich (C.H.Beck), pp. 41-63 (with M. Zürn).

1998: Globalisierung - Begriffe, Prozesse, Konsequenzen, in: Landeszentrale für politische Bildung: Globalisierung als Chance, Dokumentation, 7th Forum Haus auf der Alb, Bad Urach/Stuttgart, pp. 7-15.

1997: Globalization Processes in the OECD World, Working Paper 4-5/97, Institute for Intercultural and International Studies (InIIS), University of Bremen (with M. Beisheim/S. Dreher).

1997: Globalization - Rhetoric or Reality? Zum Stand der Denationalisierung in der G-7 und der Bundesrepublik, in: Fricke, Werner (ed.): Jahrbuch Arbeit und Technik, Bonn, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, pp. 96-180 (with M. Beisheim/S. Dreher/M. Zürn).

1997: Globalisierung - "Kinderkrankheiten" eines Konzeptes, in: Zeitschrift für Internationale Beziehungen Vol. 4: No. 1, pp. 153-180 (with M. Beisheim).

1996: Governance beyond the nation state. Opportunities and dangers for small and large states, in: Armingeon, Klaus (ed.): Der Nationalstaat am Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts, Bern (Haupt), pp. 149-179 (with M. Zürn).

Books / Editorships

2017: Non-State Social Protection Actors and Services in Africa: Governance Below the State, New York: Routledge (ed. w. Nicholas Awortwi).

2013: Bits and Atoms. Information and Communication Technology in Areas of Limited Statehood, New York: Oxford University Press (ed. w. Steven Livingston).

2005: Global network and global politics? Political responses to globalization using the example of the Internet, Baden-Baden: Nomos.

2005: Globalizing Interests. Pressure Groups and Denationalization, Albany: State University of New York Press Series on Global Politics (ed. W. M. Zürn).

1999: In the Age of Globalization? Theses and Data on Social and Political Denationalization, Baden-Baden: Nomos (with M. Beisheim/S. Dreher/B. Zangl/M. Zürn).

Other (blog/newspaper)

2022: The Russian invasion of Ukraine as a contestation of the liberal script? - № 11: Systemic Antagonism? The (Neo-) Liberal Order, Russia, and the West, Blog of the Cluster of Excellence "Contestations of the Liberal Script (SCRIPTS)"; No. 48/2022; www.scripts-berlin.eu/publications/blog/Blog-48-Ukraine-No_11/index.html.

2021: Gamestop and Democracy: The Game is On; Blog of the Cluster of Excellence "Contestations of the Liberal Script (SCRIPTS)"; № 23/2021; www.scripts-berlin.eu/publications/blog/Blog-23-Gamestop-and-Democracy_-The-Game-is-On/index.html (with Steven Livingston).

2019: The best way to protect the climate is to stay childless, 58.6 tons of CO₂ per year can be saved, they say. What nonsense!, in: Die Zeit from 21.03.2019, p. 35.

2015: Taking the State (Back) Out? A Reply to Peters and Pierre, in: Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration, and Institutions, Vol. 28, No. 3, pp. 397-399.

2012: Why Aruna Chatterjee was vaccinated. Care can be better in weak states than in strong ones - but under what circumstances?, in: Der Tagesspiegel, 17.12.2012, p. 14

2011: Footnotes are not just academic decoration, in: Süddeutsche Zeitung, 19.02.2011, p. 2.

2009: Europe disappointed. Poverty, weak civil societies, hesitant foreign policy: The deficits of the European Union cannot be overlooked - despite all its successes, in: Der Tagesspiegel 11.02.2009, p. 12 (with Th. Risse).

2004: Pourquoi l'Allemange paraît-elle si déprimée?, La Croix, 21 Octobre 2004, p. 19.

2002: La nouveauté n'est pas qu'économique, La Croix, May 13, 2002, p. 13.

2000: Review: Busch, Andreas/Plümper, Thomas (eds.) 1999: Nationaler Staat und internationale Wirtschaft: Anmerkungen zum Thema Globalisierung, Baden-Baden: Nomos, in: Swiss Journal of Political Science, Vol. 6: No. 4, pp. 107-110.

1998: "Globalization", "Trade Policy", "Trade Barriers", "Verification" in: Nohlen, Dieter / Schultze, Rainer-Olaf / Schüttemeyer, Suzanne: Lexikon der Politik, Vol. 7: Politische Begriffe, Munich (C.H. Beck), pp. 233f, 243-245, 682.

1995: Review: Wagner, Jürgen: Policy-Analyse: Grenzenlos Fernsehen in der EG, in: Der Bürger im Staat, 45. Jg., Heft 4, Nov. 95, S. 214-215.