Our scholars have different social science backgrounds – Political Science, Economics, and related disciplines – and are experts on our study regions of the Global South. Below we introduce them and their respective areas of specialisation.
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Current Research
Countries and Regions
Democracy and Democratisation in Africa
(In-)Formal Political Institutions in Emerging Democracies
Political Representation
Parliaments in Africa
Personalization of Executive Power in Africa
Intra/inter-party competition
Sub-Sahara Africa
Ghana
South Africa
Socioeconomic impact of mining Global value chains and human rights risks
Zambia
International Sanctions
Foreign Policy Analysis
Political Psychology
Leadership Trait Analysis
International Security
Sub-Saharan Africa
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
Lebanon
Iran
Civil-Military Relations in the Middle East and North Africa
Military Coups and Civilian Control of Armies
Authoritarian Regimes, Authoritarian Institutions
Regime Stability and Destabilization
Party Systems and Cleavages in the Middle East and North Africa
German Military Deployments in the MENA-Region and Sahel
Middle East
North Africa
Sudan
Sahel
Large-scale land acquisitions
Africa
Latin America
Asia
Youth politics
Social movements
Transnational activism
Civil society
East Asia (especially Taiwan and Hong Kong)
Southeast Asia (especially Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia)
Executive Personalization in Latin America
Policy-making processes in democratic and authoritarian regimes
Power relations and rule of law
Ecuador
El Salvador
Latin America and the Caribbean
Economic statecraft
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
Regional Explanations for Authoritarianism
Statethood and Political Domination in the Middle East (with a focus on Jordan and Syria)
The War in Syria
Regional Politics and the Relationship between Arabism and Islamism
Jordan
Syria
Palestine/Israel
Turkey (Near East Politics)
Resources conflicts
Religion and violent conflict
Civil–military relations
Political institutions
Sub-Saharan Africa
Mali
Niger
Chad
Botswana
Peacebuilding
Intergroup Relations
Religion
Sub-Saharan Africa
Togo
Sierra Leone
Gender and Policy
Latin American Politics
Comparative Politics
Families and socio-economic inequalities
Politics and policy
Latin America
Geopolitics of Energy Transition
Indian Foreign Policy
Emerging Powers
India
Asia
Legitimacy in global governance
Science, experts, and politics
Nationalism and ethnicity in China
Global IR
China
East Asia
Civil-military relations
Democratization
Authoritarianism
East Asia
Chinese investments in Latin America
Foreign Direct Investment in China
German investments in Brazil
The political economy of energy transition
South-South and South-North relations
China
Latin America
Brazil
Amazon region
Development policy
Microfinance, cash transfers and mobile money
Economic inequality
Democratisation and social cohesion
Elite social media use
Institutional trust
Cambodia
Kenya
World Order Narratives of the Maghreb’s Leftist Movements
States and Authoritarianism
North African Politics
Maghreb region
Morocco
Tunisia
Turkish foreign policy (toward Africa)
Turkey
African continent (external actors)
Tanzania (refugee policy)
Identity and identity threat
Prejudice and intolerance toward minorities
Political ideology, especially right-wing extremism, ethnocentrism, and nationalism
Human mobility within and from the Global South
Forced migration governance
Climate-related mobility
Syria
Jordan
Lebanon
Israel/Palestine
Turkey (refugee policy)
The Political Economy of AKP's Foreign Aid: A Regional Assessment of Middle East and North Africa
Middle East
North Africa
China
China
Asia
International sanctions
Persistence and change of authoritarian regimes
Legitimation of authoritarian regimes
Simbabwe
Burundi
Chinese foreign policy
connectivity & infrastructure politics
narratives in world politics
authoritarian politics
China
Fiscal Federalism
Asia
Peace Agreements and War Termination
Complexity of Conflict Issues
Violence and Social Change
Elite-level and individual-level Conflict Resolution
Quantitative and Qualitative Measurement of Conflict Issues
Southeast Asia
Indonesia
Saudi Foreign Policy towards Sub-Saharan Africa
Political Opposition in Authoritarian Regimes
Political Islam
International Relations of the Persian Gulf
Yemen
Saudi Arabia
Sub-Saharan Africa
Negotiations and stakeholder dialogue, conflict management
Transformation to sustainability, governance of sustainability transitions
Care and human flourishing
Knowledge cooperation, knowledge/science diplomacy
Scenario-building and futures scenarios
Sustainable energy, Urban mobility, Food security
Climate change, climate governance, environmental and climate justice
Asia and Pacific: Philippines, Indonesia, India, Japan
Latin America and the Caribbean: Mexico, Brazil, Jamaica
Southern Africa: South Africa
Cuba's Transformation: Crisis, Continuity and Change in Socialist Cuba
Latin America
Caribbean
Cuba
Authoritarian Rule in the Middle East and North Africa
Authoritarian learning
Legitimation of authoritarian regimes
Repression of protest movements
Algeria
Jordan
Tunisia
Democratisation (especially Sub-Saharan Africa)
Historical Institutionalism (especially Michael Mann)
Cold War Studies
Sub-Saharan Africa
DRC
Kenya
Ghana
Benin
Impacts on inter-gender relations in Libya
Libya
MENA regions
Extremism and Radicalisation
Individual Attitudes towards Punishment and Punitivity
Germany
Religion
Social Identities and Social Psychology
Moral Foundations Theory
Reconciliation
Post-Conflict Societies
Africa
The Agency of Small Powers in the Indo-Pacific
Textbook on Political Systems in Australia and New Zealand
Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Island Countries
Japan
Korean peninsula
Indo-Pacific
Migration and Refugee Studies
Critical Citizenship Studies
Border Regimes
Political Agency
Civil Society Organisations
Latin America
Central America
Mexico
Economic and social impacts of land-use change and global land acquisitions
Smallholder farming systems in developing countries
Development and Agricultural Economics
Indonesia
Civil-military relations
Democratization
Authoritarianism
Research methods
Taiwan
South Korea
Postwar Societies
Violence and Social change
Youth
Central America
Colombia
Venezuela
Informal entrepreneurship in developing countries
Structural change and its poverty and distributional implications
Natural resources, economic development and conflict
Africa
Political institutions in Latin America
Presidentialism
Latin American congresses
Latin American courts
President-Congress relations; president-court relations
Latin America
Argentina
Brazil
Violent conflicts
Germany
Central and Western Europe
Sub-Saharan Africa
Geopolitics of Tech
Digital Politics
Digital Authoritarianism
Disinformation and Counter-Disinformation
Hybrid Threats, Information Warfare, Cyber Resilience
AI and Internet Governance
South and Southeast Asia
India
Bangladesh
Indonesia
Singapore
Party systems
Sub-National Elections
Local Politics
Federalism
Democracy
Latin America, particularly Argentina and Brazil
Justice
Security
Community-building
Latin America
Brazil
Religion and National Identity
Marginalization and Social Inequality
Borderlands
Transitional Justice
Kinship and Ambiguous Loss
Middle East
Tunisia
Modern Iranian and Persian Gulf history
Foreign policy and diplomacy in the Cold War era
Iran-Saudi relations and regional order formation
Security in the Persian Gulf
Feminist Foreign Policy
Persian Gulf
Iran and Saudi Arabia
Economic Sanctions
Defense Alliances
Social Network Analysis
International Security
Geoeconomics
Russia's foreign and security policy towards the MENA region
Great power competition
Strategic culture
Middle East and North Africa
Russian Federation
Ukraine
Social protection mechanisms in Latin America, Asia and the Middle East during the COVID-19 pandemic
Policies on violence against women in Latin America during the COVID-19 pandemic
Policy efforts to eliminate child labor in Latin America
Latin America
Peru
Bolivia
Multipolarity, Rising Powers, and International Politics
Legitimacy and International Institutions
Populism and Foreign Policy
India
South Asia
Regional and emerging powers
Global and regional environmental politics
Global climate regime
India
BRICS
State Repression
Violent Democracies
Social Protest
Legitimisation of state-driven violence
Regime Change
Security Sector Reforms
Discursive Politics
Nicaragua
El Salvador
Central America
Latin America
Geoeconomics of the energy transition
Supply chains and climate change
Climate-conflict Nexus
Climate policy and international affairs
Executive Personalization
Global Political Economy
Structural Adjustment and Sectoral Transformation
Institutional and Material Determinants of Authoritarian Rule
Shrinking Civic Spaces
Small Gulf Monarchies
Middle East and North Africa
Autocratization, Law & Civil Resistance
Nicaragua
Central America
International Criminal Court.
Africa's International Relations and agency.
South African politics and international relations.
Transitional and transformative justice.
Reparations.
African members of the International Criminal Court.
South Africa
Foreign direct investments
Training and job creation
Africa
Digital Repression
Digital Governance
Digital Policy
Cybersecurity
Civil Society
Middle East
East Asia
Political economy
International trade
Environmental policy
Applied econometrics
Latin America (esp. Brazil)
China
Civic activism, social movements, digital activism
Digital repression in autocracies
Computational propaganda
Politics of civil society
Civil resistance
Thailand
South East Asia
International trade, global value chains, foreign direct investment
Corporate responsibility, social and environmental effects of globalization
Applied econometrics
Sub-Saharan Africa
India
Social movements and mobilization
Social (in)justice and marginalization
Islamist radicalization and political violence
Political transformation and regime change
Tunisia
Maghreb
Development Economics, Labour Markets, FDI, Trade, and Structural Change
Digitalization, Technology, Venture Capital, and Entrepreneurship
Global South, in particular Africa
Geopolitics and History of International Relations in the Middle East
Iran's foreign policy
External actors in the African continent
Political and Electoral Behaviour
Populism (attitudes and discourse)
Far-right politics
Democratic Backsliding
Attitudes
Latin America
Brazil
United States
Democratization
Civil-Military Relations
Political Islam
Identity Politics in the Middle East
Power and Resistance
Turkey
Egypt
Democratisation in Indonesia and Malaysia
Anti-Fake News Laws in Indonesia and Malaysia
Political parties in Southeast Asia
Populism in Southeast Asia
Civil society in Indonesia and Malaysia
Foreign policy of Indonesia
Political Islam in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Indonesia
Malaysia
Drug Policy
Cannabis Legalization
Policy Processes
Judicial Politics
Morality Policies
Qualitative Research Methods
Drug Trafficking
Latin America
Mexico
Uruguay
Chile
International sanctions and interventions
Authoritarian regimes
Legitimation of political regimes
Foreign policy and development policy
Southern Africa and East Africa
South Africa
Botswana
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Kenya
The politics of the People‘s Republic of China
Digital governance
Public participation
Central-local relations
PR China
Innovation processes and networks in Japanese and Korean economy, science and society in international comparison
Digital Transformation and AI Governance in Asia in global comparison
Japan
Contemporary history of Iraq (1979-2003)
Political Economy of the Middle East
Energy and food security
Euro-Mediterranean Cooperation
Gulf region
Iraq
Egypt
Syria
Contact
Current Research
Countries and Regions
Leftist politics
Democratisation in Indonesia and Southeast Asia
Civil society
Capitalist development
Authoritarian turn and illiberal legalism
Sociology of violence
Southeast Asia
Indonesia
Fiscal Federalism: Theory and Practice
Distributive Fiscal Politics
Multi-level Politics and Party System Change
Foreign Relations of Subnational Units
Federalism and Disaster Management
India
South Asia
Identity politics Political behavior Campaigns and elections Social networks and social influence
Southeast Asia Indonesia Middle East and North Africa North America