My research is located at the intersection of IR, Comparative Politics, and Legislative Studies. As a trained foreign policy analyst, I am interested in the link between domestic and international politics and the sociopolitical foundations of foreign policy. I am curious about parties’ and parliaments’ role and behavior in foreign policy-making and how they are shaped by ideology, identity, and (strategic) culture. With this research, I want to contribute to a better understanding of dynamics underlying the contested and politicized international politics of our times and their effects on international cooperation, organizations, and conflict.
Topics and Areas
- party politics of foreign policy: ideological contestation and the politics of military interventions and oversight of the armed forces
- populism and foreign policy
- French and German foreign, security, and defense policies
- NATO
- foreign policy identity and national strategic cultures
- qualitative research methods and methodology
Theories and Methods
My research is located in comparative, interpretive, and critical traditions of political analysis. I work with a large variety of theories, e.g., constructivism, discourse theories, institutionalism, liberalism, practice theory, or realism.
Current Publication Projects
- Foreign Policy Politicization: Patterns and Variation Across the World (Special Issue project with Benjamin Martill and Sibel Oktay, nearing submission)
- Parties, Parliaments, and Foreign Policy in Times of Increasing Politicization (Habilitation/ second book project)
- Foreign Policy Politicization and Party System Transformation: Issues, Cleavages, Strategies (article with Angelos Chryssogelos)
- Canada, Germany, and Ambivalent Support to Ukraine (with Justin Massie and Nicolas-François Perron, currently prepared for resubmission to Cooperation & Conflict);
- Narratives in Times of Uncertainty (Special Issue with Hilde van Meegdenburg in the Journal of International Relations and Development)
Resting Projects
Parliamentary Deployment Votes Database (PDVD) [2018 – ~]
- project leader (with Wolfgang Wagner)
- links
- project homepage
- Harvard Dataverse
- reference article: “Introducing the Parliamentary Deployment Votes Database,” published in the Journal of Peace Research
Completed Projects
NATO Dossier [2024-2025]
- academic counselor, figure creation
- Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (bpb, German Federal Agency for Civic Education)
- further information: https://www.bpb.de/themen/internationale-organisationen/nato/
International Treaty Ratification Votes Database [2019-2021]
- project leader (with Wolfgang Wagner)
- funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation
- further information:
- project homepage
- Harvard Dataverse
- reference article: “Introducing the International Treaty Ratification Votes Database,” published in Foreign Policy Analysis
Making Identity Count: National Identity Database [2018-2019]
- project leader Germany
- hosted by the National University Singapore (NUS)
- further information: project homepage
Networks
I have collaborated with people from all over the world in various capacities – as co-authors, editors, on boards, or through regular academic exchange.
Together with Anna Herranz Surrallés, Juliet Kaarbo, and Wolfgang Wagner, I have established a network of people who have contributed to building the Parliamentary Deployment Votes Database and the International Treaty Ratification Votes Database. Although the project itself is currently resting, individual collaborations between people on topics related to the databases continue.
I am currently member of the following networks:
