Prof. Dr. Christian von Soest

In a historic election, the African National Congress lost its absolute majority for the first time since the democratic transition in 1994. Amid a profound domestic crisis and significant international challenges, South Africa’s political landscape will fundamentally change.

All authoritarian regimes seek to substantiate their right to rule. In this chapter, we differentiate legitimation—understood as the process of claiming popular support—from legitimacy itself, which refers to the extent to which a regime is perceived as legitimate by its citizens.

Autocratic regimes influence actors and processes in other political systems. Conversely, they are affected by “outside” developments. This chapter presents the current state-of-the-art with respect to international actors and autocratization based on analytical differentiation between a general environment and purposeful, specific actions to support autocratic processes abroad.

How Authoritarian Regimes Counter International Sanctions Pressure: By far the most targets of sanctions are authoritarian. Why are they so effective in withstanding outside pressure?

Geheimdienste werten verstärkt offene Quellen aus, wie zum Beispiel Posts aus sozialen Medien. Unser Kolumnist erklärt ihr Vorgehen.

Nach 58 Jahren verliert die Regierungspartei in Botswana ihre Macht – Folge einer Wirtschaftskrise in der ältesten Demokratie Afrikas. Der scheidende Präsident zieht sich klaglos aufs Altenteil zurück.

Organiser: Free University of Amsterdam Prof. Dr. Christian von Soest (Speaker)

Presentation at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, LLM Program “Law and Politics of International Security”

South African Perspectives: The Domestic and International Implications of South Africa’s 2024 Elections, GIGA Berlin Office, Friedrichstraße 206, 10969 Berlin, and online Organisers: German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA), Deutsche Afrika Stiftung e.V. Dr. Maxine Rubin (Panelist), Prof. Dr. Christian von Soest (Panelist)

The GIGA and the German Africa Foundation co-hosted an event on 6 June 2024 to provide analysis of the implications of the landmark 29 May elections in South Africa.

In the 21st century, sanctions have become one of the most commonly used foreign policy tools to address armed conflict, restrictions on democracy, human rights abuses, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and terrorism. The seminar aims to discuss in depth the current research on international sanctions.

University of Göttingen Göttingen Germany

Seminar at Department of Political Science