Deutsch Intern
Institute of Political Science and Sociology

Doctoral and Postdoctoral Projects

Ongoing Doctoral and Postdoctoral (Habilitation) Projects (selected)

Habilitation Projects:

  • Dr. Elena Dück
    EU Foreign Policy Responses to a changing Neighborhood

    The increasing contestation of the liberal order in the European neighborhood as well as in some of its member states challenges the established instruments of EU foreign policy and democracy promotion efforts. The project focuses on the EU’s southern neighborhood, including, but not limited to Turkey and Tunisia. It examines the interplay of changing notions of political order within and outside of the EU, and the role of civil society in these processes. The publication based habilitation project contributes to the literature on EU foreign policy and democracy promotion and to a better understanding of the EU’s responses to changes in the global political order and their impact on the EU and its neighborhood. It also aims to develop policy recommendations.
     
  • Dr. Philipp Gieg
    Contestation in Global Economic Governance by Actors from the Global South (working title)

    The cumulative habilitation project investigates contestation by non-Western actors in global governance. It primarily explores how states from the Global South, but also non-Western international governmental organizations or non-state actors from the Global South challenge international norms. Building on this, the project examines the impact of these contestations on the global normative framework. Utilizing an analytical framework that integrates insights from Global Governance and Norms Research in International Relations, the project conducts sub-projects involving case studies, for example on development cooperation and infrastructure financing as well as on gender norms. This comprehensive approach aims to contribute significantly to our understanding of the dynamics at play in the ever-evolving normative landscape of global governance.


Doctoral Projects:

  • Annika Sophie Müller
    Norm Diffusion of Human Rights through the Paralympic Games: Analyzing the Impact of the Paralympics on the Rights of People with Disabilities (Working Title)

    In his speech at the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games 2024 in Paris, France, Tony Estanguet (Chairman of the Organizing Committee) proclaimed that “[t]here are few events that can truly make the world a better place. The Paralympic Games have this unrivalled power, not only to thrill us but also to transform us.” This dissertation project aims to investigate whether the Paralympic Games are truly an agent of change in regards to the diffusion of human rights norms. To do so, two cases are being analyzed and compared: 1) the impact of hosting the Paralympic Games in 1988 in Seoul and in 2018 in PyeongChang and in how far this has helped to spread and diffuse the human rights norms concerning people with physical disabilities in South Korea and 2) the impact of hosting the Paralympic Games in 1976 in Toronto and in 2010 in Vancouver and in how far this has helped to spread and diffuse the human rights norms concerning people with physical disabilities in Canada. Guided by combined strands of Norm Diffusion Theory and with the usage of a mixed-method approach of expert interviews/questionnaires and unique empirical fieldwork observations, this project seeks to ascertain whether and to what extent the Paralympic Games can help spread human rights norms in countries with different norm environments.

  • Joannis Nizamis
    The Greco-Turkish conflict through a neorealist lense: Testing a Theory (Working Title)

    The Greco-Turkish conflict is currently the most prominent rivalry within the Western alliance. Especially since the 1970s the relationship between both states is increasingly marked by different disputes which often led to militarised crises and impacted the security in the region. Since 2019 one can even observe an exacerbation of this conflict due to increased geopolitical competition between Athens and Ankara. On the other hand, this conflict-dyad is special as both countries are members of NATO. In the current state of research this is often seen as the reason both states have not waged war against each other since 1922 despite all their differences. Especially for the neorealist school of thought of international relations which deals with questions of anarchy and security this current constellation poses a severe challenge. The following thesis hence aims to examine the explanatory and predictive value of neorealism under consideration of the relevant developments between Greece and Turkey from 2019 to 2025. For this neorealist case study four hypotheses will be derived from the theoretical framework of neorealism which will then be tested through a process tracing. For the process tracing media reports will be analysed to reconstruct the developments between both states as well as the reasons behind them and then judge whether these are in line with the neorealist assumptions. Lastly, the results of these tests will be used to derive implications for European security under consideration of the neorealist framework.

  • Nea Solander

    Nea's dissertation focuses on the European Union's democracy promotion (EUDP) in its immediate neighborhood, encompassing 23 countries from Morocco in Northern Africa to Ukraine in Eastern Europe. The neighborhood consists of highly diverse countries marked by variations in governance quality, socio-economic progress, legacies of conflict, geographical positioning and cultural and political values. Furthermore, the neighborhood countries have substantial variations in their processes of democratization. As a common denominator,  these countries share their deep connections with one of the most influential democracy promoting actors in the global arena, the EU. However, despite the EU's efforts to safeguard democracy in its immediate neighborhood, its efforts in wider Europe are commonly regarded as inefficient. While the absence of accession conditionality is frequently cited as a reason for this perceived inefficiency, the EU possesses a range of democracy-promoting tools to influence the cost-benefit calculations faced by states considering democratic practices. This dissertation seeks to explore whether such incentives can entice democratic change in the European neighborhood. Unlike the qualitative methodologies commonly applied in analyzing democracy promotion within the neighborhood, this dissertation departs from various quantitative methods to complement existing literature, aiming to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the EU's role as a democracy-promoting actor and its impact in driving democratic transformations in its neighboring countries.

  • Emma Thorwart

    Against the backdrop of growing geopolitical tensions and increasing systemic risks, Emmas dissertation examines the transformation of global supply chains, with a particular focus on their resilience. It builds on the observation that disruptions to global supply chains rarely occur in isolation but instead manifest as cumulative crisis dynamics, thereby progressively undermining the stability of global value networks. The research focuses on how external shocks affect global supply chains and what factors shape their resilience under evolving geopolitical conditions. From a political science perspective, it analyzes how state and economic actors respond to shifting power constellations and structural vulnerabilities across multiple levels of governance. Particular attention is paid to the restructuring of global supply chains, as well as on strategies such as diversification, friendshoring, and nearshoring. In this context, Emma develops a conceptual and operational monitoring model designed to systematically capture and compare geopolitically induced transformations in supply chains, thereby facilitating early-stage intervention. The dissertation is supervised by the Graduate School of Law, Economics and Society and supported by Mercedes-Benz AG.