German Institute for Global and Area Studies | Leibniz-Institut für Globale und Regionale Studien

German Institute for Global and Area Studies | Leibniz-Institut für Globale und Regionale Studien

DEEN

Dr. Charlotte Heyl

Associate

Dr. Charlotte Heyl

  • Short CV

    • 03/2019 - 04/2021: Speaker of the Research Team “Democratic Institutions”, RP1 “Accountability and Participation”

    • Since 2017: Research Fellow at the GIGA Institute of African Affairs in the project “The (In)stability of Presidential Term Limits in Africa and Latin America: Assessing the Impact of Tenure-Rule Reforms on the Political Regime”

    • 2015 - 2016: Research Fellow at the GIGA Institute of African Affairs in the project “The Local Arena of Power Sharing: Patterns of Adaptation or Continued Disorder”

    • 06/2014 - 04/2015: Research Fellow at the Institute of Political Science, University of Duisburg-Essen

    • 2011 - 2015: Research Fellow at the GIGA Institute of African Affairs in the project "Judicial (In)dependence in New Democracies"

    • 2006 - 2010: Internships at GTZ, Misereor/Ecumenical Network Central Africa and Jumelage Rhénanie-Palatinat-Rwanda (Cooperation Rhineland-Palatinate)

    • Education: PhD at the University of Duisburg-Essen „The Contribution of Constitutional Courts to the Democratic Quality of Elections in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Comparative Case Study of Madagascar and Senegal“, Postgraduate Training Programme for Development Cooperation at the Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik/German Development Institute (DIE), M.A. in Political Science, Japanese Studies and Geography at the University of Trier

    Current Research

    • Democratization

    • Political Institutions

    • Constitutional Courts

    • Elections

    Countries and Regions

    • Madagaskar

    • Senegal

    Memberships

    • Bertelsmann Transformation Index, Bertelsmann Stiftung, BTI Regional Coordinator West and Central Africa, since 2018

    Dissertation

    • The Contribution of Constitutional Courts to the Democratic Quality of Elections in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Comparative Case Study of Madagascar and Senegal

    Dr. Charlotte Heyl

    Associate

    [email protected]

    Publications

    Edited Volume | Routledge | 2023

    Contested, Violated but Persistent: Presidential Term Limits in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa

    This book generates new empirical and theoretical insights by bringing together the scholarship on Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa, providing context-bound intraregional research as well as long-term perspectives for the study of term-limit change. The chapters were originally published as a special issue of Democratization.

    Prof. Dr. Mariana Llanos

    Lead Research Fellow / Co-Leader of the GIGA Institute for Latin American Studies (ad interim)

    Dr. Charlotte Heyl

    Associate

    Democratization | 2022

    Contested, Violated but Persistent: Presidential Term Limits in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa: Introduction to Special Issue

    The term limits of presidents as a crucial institutional feature to safeguard democracy have often been contested by incumbents. The authors of this article argue that bringing together knowledge on Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa provides new empirical and theoretical insights.

    Prof. Dr. Mariana Llanos

    Lead Research Fellow / Co-Leader of the GIGA Institute for Latin American Studies (ad interim)

    Dr. Charlotte Heyl

    Associate

    Democratization | 2022

    Sequences of Presidential-Term-Limit Reforms: Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa

    In this article the authors take a longitudinal view on presidential-term-limit reforms in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa since the third wave of democratization. Many countries (re)introduced the measure as a democratic safeguard against abuse of power; since then, it has been repeatedly challenged.

    Dr. Charlotte Heyl

    Associate

    Prof. Dr. Mariana Llanos

    Lead Research Fellow / Co-Leader of the GIGA Institute for Latin American Studies (ad interim)

    Democratization | Taylor and Francis | 2022

    Special Issue: Contested, Violated but Persistent: Presidential Term Limits in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa

    The term limits of presidents as a crucial institutional feature to safeguard democracy have often been contested by incumbents. The authors of this special issue argue that bringing together knowledge on Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa provides new empirical and theoretical insights.

    Prof. Dr. Mariana Llanos

    Lead Research Fellow / Co-Leader of the GIGA Institute for Latin American Studies (ad interim)

    Dr. Charlotte Heyl

    Associate

    Africa Spectrum | 02/2021

    The Study of Term Limits in Sub-Saharan Africa: Lessons on Democratisation and Autocratisation

    Studies on term limits in Africa have proliferated over the past two decades. This introduction to the special issue outlines how term limits can be theorised as part of the institutional landscape in authoritarian regimes and how third-term bids can be understood as a tool of autocratisation.

    Dr. Julia Grauvogel

    Senior Research Fellow / Research Team Spokesperson

    Dr. Charlotte Heyl

    Associate

    Research Projects

    Research Project | 01/06/2020 - 28/02/2021

    Population Growth and Security in Africa

    As recent projections estimate, population growth will remain a challenge throughout Africa, although growth rates have slowed over recent decades. Africa’s population will continue to grow strongly over the next few decades, especially in sub-regions such as the Sahel. Many observers and practitioners have started to warn that population growth may escalate distributional conflicts and could increase related challenges such as uncontrolled migration.
    FFO, 2020-2021

    Research Project | 01/01/2019 - 31/12/2021

    Presidents Who Die Too Soon and Presidents Who Live Too Long. Term Limits and Succession in Presidential and Semi-Presidential Regimes

    This cooperation project researches two important rules defining the presidential mandates, i.e. presidential term limits and succession rules, and their intersection in the presidential regimes of Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa.
    DAAD/PPP, 2019-2021

    Research Project | 01/08/2017 - 31/07/2021

    The (In)stability of Presidential Term Limits in Africa and Latin America: Assessing the Impact of Tenure-Rule Reforms on the Political Regime

    Many countries in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa (re-)introduced term limits during the third wave of democratization as a democratic safeguard against personal rule and power abuses. Since then, term limits have been contested by a plethora of reform attempts. In this project, we take a longitudinal view on these sometimes recurrent reforms and analyse their repercussions for institutionalization, democratization and autocratization.
    DFG, 2017-2021

    Research Project | 01/01/2011 - 31/12/2016

    Judicial (In)dependence in New Democracies. Courts, Presidents and Legislatures in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa

    The study of judicial independence shows the interaction among the three branches of government and concentrates, especially, on the ways in which the two elected branches – the executive and the legislature – interfere with the judicial branch. The project stresses the difficult balance between judicial independence and judicial accountability, a classical topic in political science, and analyses it in new democracies of the developing world.
    Leibniz Association, 2011-2016

    Media Contributions

    Bayern 2, radioWelt | Interview | 20/08/2020

    Die Lage nach dem Putschversuch in Mali

    change - Das Magazin der Bertelsmann Stiftung | Expert Comment / Guest Contribution | 16/01/2020

    Gambia: Demokratie, die Zweite

    Deutsche Welle | Other | 26/11/2018

    Is Africa's democracy dying?

    Lectures

    GIGA Event | 12/10/2020 - 13/10/2020

    Contested, Violated, but Persistent: Presidential Term Limits in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa

    Contested, Violated, but Persistent: Presidential Term Limits in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa, Online event, Hamburg Organisers: German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA) Dr. Charlotte Heyl (Organiser), Prof. Dr. Mariana Llanos (Organiser)


    Dr. Charlotte Heyl

    Associate

    Prof. Dr. Mariana Llanos

    Lead Research Fellow / Co-Leader of the GIGA Institute for Latin American Studies (ad interim)

    GIGA Event | 12/10/2020 - 13/10/2020

    Presidential Term Limit Reform Attempts: A Sequence Analysis

    Contested, Violated, but Persistent: Presidential Term Limits in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa, Online event, Hamburg Organisers: German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA) Dr. Charlotte Heyl (Speaker), Prof. Dr. Mariana Llanos (Speaker)

    Dr. Charlotte Heyl

    Associate

    Prof. Dr. Mariana Llanos

    Lead Research Fellow / Co-Leader of the GIGA Institute for Latin American Studies (ad interim)

    GIGA Talk | 23/01/2020

    Stopping the President: Why Conflicts Over Presidential Term Limits in Africa and Latin America Are so Explosive

    Stopping the President: Why Conflicts Over Presidential Term Limits in Africa and Latin America Are so Explosive, GIGA Berlin, Berlin Organisers: German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA) Dr. Charlotte Heyl (Panelist), Prof. Dr. Mariana Llanos (Panelist), Prof. Dr. Bert Hoffmann (Moderator), Dr. Peter Woeste (Discussant), Ottmar von Holtz (Discussant)

    Dr. Charlotte Heyl

    Prof. Dr. Mariana Llanos

    Prof. Dr. Bert Hoffmann

    Dr. Peter Woeste

    Ottmar von Holtz

    Teaching

    Teaching | University of Duisburg-Essen | 2014

    Democracy and democracy promotion in Africa

    University of Duisburg-Essen Duisburg Germany

    Teaching | University of Duisburg-Essen | 2014

    Introduction to Peace and Conflict Studies: Conflict Dynamics in Africa

    University of Duisburg-Essen Duisburg Germany

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