Prof. Dr. MARIA J. DEBRE

About Me
I am Full Professor at Zeppelin University Friedrichshafen (Germany) where I hold the Chair for International Relations.
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Previously, I was lecturer at the Faculty for Economic and Social Sciences at Potsdam University (Germany) and post-doctoral researcher in the ERC project "Decline and Death of International Organizations" at Maastricht University (Netherlands). ​I hold a PhD in International Relations from Free University Berlin (Germany) where I was a research fellow at the KFG Research Group "The Transformative Power of Europe", and have been a Fox International Fellow at the Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale University (USA) and a visiting researcher at Stockholm University (Sweden).
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In my research, I focus on the role of regime type in global governance and challenges and transformations to multilateral organizations. I am particularly interested in the regional and international cooperation of authoritarian regimes, the lifecycle of international organizations, as well as international sanction politics. ​​I work predominantly with quantitative and mix-methods research designs and also specialise in the politics of the Global South. My work has been published in the Review of International Organizations, the European Journal of International Relations, Democratization, and Contemporary Politics. I have received the Frank Cass Price 2021 for the best Article by a Young Scholar in Democratization.
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For more information on my research and teaching, please explore my website, download my full CV here, or follow my Bluesky account.
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Book

How Regional Organizations Sustain Authoritarian Rule: The Dictators' Club
Authoritarian Regional Organizations - the dictators' club - have experienced a remarkable rise in numbers and importance. My book explores the role of dictator clubs in world politics. It examines how and why incumbent regimes join dictator clubs, compares their activities over time and across world regions, and analyses their effects on domestic survival politics. With a combination of statistical analysis and case studies, the book reveals how dictators clubs have helped to defend autocratic regimes from pro-democratic protestors, co-opt political elites, legitimize flawed elections, regulate behaviour among member states, and shield regimes against the fallout from international sanctions.
While regionalism has long been associated with the aspiration of states to promote democracy and human rights, the book illustrates that dictator clubs bolster authoritarian rule worldwide.
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Publications
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Are International Organizations in Decline? An Absolute and Relative Perspective on Institutional Change. Global Policy, forthcoming (with Hylke Dijkstra).
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The Death of Major International Organizations: When Institutional Stickiness is not Enough. Global Studies Quarterly, 2022: 2(4), 1-13 (with Hylke Dijkstra).
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Clubs of Autocrats: Regional Organizations and Authoritarian Survival, The Review of International Organizations, 2022: 17(3), 485-511.
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Covid-19 policy responses by international organizations: Crisis of liberal international order or window of opportunity. Global Policy, 2021: 12(4), 443-454 (with Hylke Dijkstra).
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Institutional design for a post-liberal order: Why some International Organizations live longer than others. European Journal of International Relations, 2021: 27(1):311-339 (with Hylke Dijkstra).
Winner of the Frank Cass Price 2021 for best Article by a Young Scholar in Democratization.
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Die „digitale IO“: Chancen und Risiken von Online-Daten für die Forschung zu Internationalen Organisationen. [The “digital IO“: Chances and Risks of Online Data for Research on International Relations.] ZIB Zeitschrift für Internationale Beziehungen, 2018: 25(1) (with Sebastian Knecht).
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Out of the Shadows: Authoritarian Regimes, Flawed Elections and International Legitimation, Contemporary Politics, 2017: 23(3), 328-247 (with Lee Morgenbesser).
Work in Progress
The Dictators' Club: How Regional Organizations sustain authoritarian rule. Unpublished Book Manuscript.
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Weathering the Storm? The Third Wave of Autocratization and International Organizations (with Thomas Sommerer).
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Authoritarianism gone Global: How Autocratic Coalitions Undermine Liberal International Norms (with Daniëlle Flonk).
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Autocracies as International Lawmakers (with Nina Reiners).
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Community norms and crisis: changing role conceptions of regional organizations during the Covid-19 crisis (with Laura von Allwörden).
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Governance abhors a vacuum: The afterlives of major international organizations (with Hylke Dijkstra & Tim Heinkelmann-Wild).
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Peer-Reviewed Publications
Weathering the Storm? The Third Wave of Autocratization and International Organizations, University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation Working Paper, November 17, 2023, available at: https://ucigcc.org/publication/the-third-wave-of-autocratization-and-international-organization-membership/
(with Thomas Sommerer)
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Governance abhors a Vacuum: The Afterlives of Major International Organizations. The British Journal for Politics and International Relations, 2023: online first (with Hylke Dijkstra and Tim Heinkelmann-Wild).
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Are International Organizations in Decline? An Absolute and Relative Perspective on Institutional Change. Global Policy, 2023: 14(1), 16-30 (with Hylke Dijkstra).
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The Death of Major International Organizations: When Institutional Stickiness is not Enough. Global Studies Quarterly, 2022: 2(4), 1-13 (with Hylke Dijkstra).
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Clubs of Autocrats: Regional Organizations and Authoritarian Survival, The Review of International Organizations, 2022: 17(3), 485-511.
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Covid-19 policy responses by international organizations: Crisis of liberal international order or window of opportunity. Global Policy, 2021: 12(4), 443-454 (with Hylke Dijkstra).
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Institutional design for a post-liberal order: Why some International Organizations live longer than others. European Journal of International Relations, 2021: 27(1):311-339 (with Hylke Dijkstra).
Winner of the Frank Cass Price 2021 for best Article by a Young Scholar in Democratization.
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Die „digitale IO“: Chancen und Risiken von Online-Daten für die Forschung zu Internationalen Organisationen. [The “digital IO“: Chances and Risks of Online Data for Research on International Relations.] ZIB Zeitschrift für Internationale Beziehungen, 2018: 25(1) (with Sebastian Knecht).
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Out of the Shadows: Authoritarian Regimes, Flawed Elections and International Legitimation, Contemporary Politics, 2017: 23(3), 328-247 (with Lee Morgenbesser).
Book Chapters and Book Reviews
Alternative zum Krieg? Sanktionen als Instrument der internationalen Politik. APuZ 50-51/2024.
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Community Norms and Crisis: Changing Roles of Regional Organizations during the COVID-19 Pandemic, in: Diana Panke and Gordon Friedrichs (Eds.), International Organizations Amid Global Crises​, 2024: Bristol University Press (with Laura von Allwörden).
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Regional Organizations, in: Anne Wolf (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Authoritarian Politics, 2024: Oxford University Press.
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„The Closure of the International System: How Institutions Create Political Equalities and Hierarchies, by Lora Anne Viola.“ 2020. H-Diplo Roundtable XXIII-49
Public Affairs Commentary
Interview. E-International Relations, (December 16, 2022).
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Diagnosing Threats to Democracy. University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation Forum (June 18, 2022).
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Immune to COVID? The Striking Resilience of International Organisations, LSE COVID-19 Blog, (July 13, 2021)
(with Hylke Dijkstra)
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Trump's 'America First' Approach has Targeted International Institutions - But they've proved to be resilient. The Loop, (November 25, 2020) (with Hylke Dijkstra)
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How Global Efforts to Promote Regional Organizations Can Strengthen Authoritarian Regimes. Scholars Strategy Network, (June 4, 2018).
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Fatma gegen Goliath. Frauen erlangen das Wahlrecht in Saudi-Arabien. [Fatma vs Goliath. Women gain the Right to Vote in Saudi Arabia.] Mediterranes 1/2016, 40-41.
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Der Club der Monarchien – Saudi-Arabiens Kampf um den Erhalt der sunnitisch-royalen Vormachtstellung im Nahen Osten. [The Club of Monarchies. Saudi Arabia’s Fight for Sunni-Royal Hegemony in the Middle East] Alsharq Blog, (Aug. 22, 2015).
Omans ungewisse Zukunft – dem Sultanat droht eine Nachfolgekrise. [Oman’s Uncertain Future - Is the Sultanate Threatened by a Succession Crisis?] Alsharq Blog, (Nov. 11, 2014).
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Autocratization and the Performance of International Organizations (with Thomas Sommerer).
​​In this project, we analyse if autocratization leads to changes in the performance of International Organizations (IOs). Autocratizers face a double dilemma: they are often dependent on membership in multilateral organizations such as the EU or the WTO, and cannot leave these organizations without consequences. At the same time, they fear the negative impact of sanctions from these organizations in response to their democratic setbacks. The project explores how states like Hungary and Poland try to resolve these conflicting objectives in various policy areas (migration, human rights, climate), and how their behaviour affects the performance of IOs to provide effective policy solutions.
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Draft paper "Autocratization and Preferences towards the Liberal International Order", presented @DVPW Kongress 2024, under review
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Working paper "The Third Wave of Autocratization and IO Membership" published with IGCC University of California/San Diego, under review
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Hollow Multilateralism (with Daniëlle Flonk and Tomoko Takahashi).
​This project, funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) (2026-2028), examines the role of autocracies as international norm entrepreneurs. We explore how autocracies attempt to influence discourses within international organizations to gain more legitimacy for autocratic practices and thereby undermine liberal values. We focus on dynamics in two policy areas: the regulation of the internet as a new dynamic policy field and the international human rights regime, with particular attention to minority rights protection as a well-established policy field using case studies, machine learning, and document analysis.
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Draft paper "Hollow Multilateralism", R&R International Affairs ​
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Draft paper "Autocracies as International Norm Entrepreneurs", under review
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Drat paper with ongoing data collection on internet governance norms, to be presented @ECPR General Conference 2025​​
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Bad Neighbours, Good Company? (with Daniëlle Flonk)
​This project, funded by a Thyssen Foundation grant (2025-2027), investigates how regional organizations (ROs) contribute to democratic decline, particularly in the Global South. While ROs are often seen as stabilizers, this project introduces the concept of hybrid regional organization—ROs where democracies and autocracies coexist—showing how they spread authoritarian practices to members—and beyond. Focusing on the fights over content control, free speech and the role of the state in the digital realm, we examine how these organizations facilitate autocratization by legitimizing digital sovereignty practices. Using a mixed-methods approach, including statistical analysis, discourse network mapping, and case studies of Zambia and India, this research sheds new light on the role of ROs in shaping political regimes and the future of digital governance.​​
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Draft paper "Bad Neighbours, Good Company" (with Daniëlle Flonk) presented @LMU Workshop International Organizations in Turbulent Times 2024
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Draft paper "Regional Organizations as Learning Rooms" (with Stephen Hall), R&R Contemporary Security Studies
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Autocracies as International Lawmakers (with Nina Reiners).
​This research project funded by UiO:Democracy (Oslo University) (2024-2025) is situated at the intersection of international relations and international law. Building on the widespread concern about the development of "authoritarian international law" expressed by prominent international legal scholars, our collaborative research examines the behavior of autocracies within the United Nations (UN). To do so, we have created a data and text corpus to investigate when and on which topics autocracies submit resolutions in the Sixth Committee (Legal Committee) of the UN, which resolutions they support as sponsors, and which resolutions they block.​
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Draft paper "Autocracies as International Lawmakers" presented @ECPR General Conference 2022, DVPW-IB 2023
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Workshop in Oslo (hosted by the Faculty of Law and the Norwegian Nobel Institute), 2-4 June 2025
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Dataset "Lawmaking in the UN 6th Committee" with data on resolution sponsorship, topicality, regime type of main sponsor, voting record
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Autocracies and Informality in Global Governance Institutions
​​This project focuses on the role of informality for the politics of authoritarian regimes in global governance with a number of papers examining informal groups, networking, subversion strategies, and non-state actors in IOs.
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Draft Paper "​Critical, co-opted or coerced? Union Voting Behaviour in the International Labor Association" (with Faradj Koliev) focusing on reactions to autocratization of IO member states with original data on union engagement in the ILO between 1970-2023.
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​Draft Paper "Formal Design, Informality and Autocratization of IOs" (with Thomas Sommerer, Karl Vikberg, Karin Sundström) presented @DemCoop Workshop 2025 Stockholm University
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Draft Paper "Authoritarian Informal Coalitions in Global Governance – The Like-Minded Group in the United Nations Human Rights Council" presented @ECPR Joint Sessions 2023, ZU Workshop "Relational Governance" 2024, DVPW Kongress 2024
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Draft Paper "Authoritarian Capture of Civic Space: How authoritarian regimes infiltrate civil society in IOs", presented @ECPR General Conference 2025
Courses
Overview of Course Portfolio
Zeppelin University
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Introduction to International Relations (Undergraduate)
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Global Governance (Undergraduate/Graduate)
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International Politics of Sanctions (Graduate)
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Regime Type and International Relations (Graduate)
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Zeppelin Projects
Potsdam University
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Politics of International Sanctions (Undergraduate)
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Comparative Regionalism (Undergraduate)
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Introduction to Research Design (Undergraduate)
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Global Governance in Crisis (Graduate)
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Global Public Policy (Graduate)
Free University Berlin
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EU Foreign Policy in the Middle East (Undergraduate)
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Introduction to Research Design (Graduate)
Maastricht University
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International Relations: Actors, Structures, Practices (Undergraduate)
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​Introduction to Academic Research (Undergraduate)
Yale University
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Sex, Markets, and Power (Undergraduate/Teaching Assistant Prof. McCall Rosenbluth)
Conferences & Workshops

Conferences
American Political Science Association (APSA) Annual Meeting, 2021 [virtual], 2023
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German Political Science Association (DVPW) 28th Congress, 2021 [virtual], 2024
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International Studies Association (ISA) Annual Conventions – 2017-2021 [2020 canceled due to Covid], 2024
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ECPR Joint Sessions of Workshops – 2016, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
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ECPR General Conference – 2016, 2019-2020 [2020 online], 2022
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EISA Pec Pan European Conference on International Relations – 2023
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German Political Science Association (DVPW) International Relations Section Conference, 2020 [online], 2023
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Annual Meeting of the Political Science Section of the German Association for American Studies, Heidelberg, 2019
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5th Joint Nordic Conference on Development Research, Copenhagen Business School, 2019
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Fox International Fellowship Conference, Yale University, 2018
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German Political Science Association (DVPW) 3-Länder Tagung, University of Heidelberg, 2016
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German Association for the Middle East (DAVO) Annual Congress, University of Bochum, 2015
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German Political Science Association (DVPW) Comparative Political Science Section Conference, GIGA Hamburg, 2015
Workshops
"Decrypting Digital Authoritarianism" Workshop, European University Institute, 2024
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Workshop "International Organizations „International Cooperation in Turbulent Times: Internal and External Challenges for IOs“, LMU Munich, 2024
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Global Transformations and Governance Challenges Workshop 'Authoritarian States and International Organizations', Leiden University, The Hague, 2023
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ERC Workshop 'International Cooperation in Challenging Times', University of Zurich, 2022.
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UC Institute on Global Conflict Workshop ‘The Authoritarian Turn in International Relations: The Institutional Dimension’, University of California San Diego (2022)
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ERC Workshop "International Institutions: Backlash and Resilience", University of Zurich, 2021
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ECR Workshop ‘The Contestation of Liberal Democracy’, Scripts Cluster & Instituto de Ciencia Política Chile, 2021 [virtual]
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Politics and Culter (PCE) Research Cluster Meeting 'Europe and the Crisis of Rule-Based Order', January 2021 [online]
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Politicologenetmaal, Workshop “Global Order in Crisis?”, Radboud University, Nijmegen, 2020 (Co-organizer) [workshop canceled due to Covid]
ERC Workshop ‘Decline and Death of International Organizations’, Brussels Campus, Maastricht University, 2020 (Co-organizer)
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Maastricht-York Workshop, ‘Europe and the future of global rules and multilateralism’, Maastricht University, 2019
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ISA Venture Research Workshop ‘International Organization Dissolution’, University of Zurich, 2019
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Authoritarian Politics and International Relations (APIR) Seminar, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin (WZB), 2019
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Author’s Workshop ‘Regional Democracy Protection and Sanctions’, Stockholm University, 2019
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7th International Joint Ph.D. Workshop of the Berlin Graduate School for Transnational Studies (BTS) and the Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 2017
Authoritarianism in a Global Age Project Meeting, University of Amsterdam, 2017
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Invited Talks and Interviews
Panel "Der Ukrainekrieg und die Sicherheitslage in Europa nach der USA-Wahl", Sicherheitspolitischer Jahresrückblick, Tutzing, Akademie für politische Bildung, 2024
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Public Lecture "Internationale Kooperation in Zeiten von Autokratie und Populismus“, Lecture Series 'Populismus, Rechtsextremismus und Demokratie' Zeppelin Universität, 2024
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Panel "Geostrategische Herausforderungen für Deutschland", Friedrichshafen, Bodensee Business Forum, 2024
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Interview on election monitoring in Azerbaijan, forbidden stories, https://forbiddenstories.org/azerbaijans-business-of-election-observation/
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