I am a political scientist in the Department of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Witten/Herdecke University and I am affiliated with the Identity & Conflict Lab at the University of Pennsylvania. Previously, I have held positions at the University of Essex and University of Exeter.
My research focuses on the causes of elite cooperation and violent conflict. I investigate, for example, why political elites form multi-ethnic coalitions, how economic inequality between ethnic groups develops over time, and what effects international intervention has on the stability of ethnic power sharing.
I was recently awarded an ERC Starting Grant for the project Democracy, Anger, and Elite Responses (DANGER). In the next five years, I will investigate if and how political elites’ coalition choices can fend off threats to European democracies between 1919 and 1939, and how applicable these lessons are for today.
PhD in Political Science, 2014
ETH Zürich
Visiting PhD Researcher, 2012
University of Pittsburgh
MA in Political Science, 2010
ETH Zürich
Below you find a selection of courses I have taught in recent years. I also frequently teach workshops on the statistical programming language R with a focus on data management, graphics, and geographic information systems (GIS). Get in touch if you would like me to teach such a workshop.