Team GIGA

• Democracy and Democratisation in Africa

• (In-)Formal Political Institutions in Emerging Democracies

• Political Representation

• Parliaments in Africa

• Personalization of Executive Power in Africa

• Intra/inter-party competition

• Sub-Sahara Africa

• Ghana

• South Africa

• Civil-Military Relations in the Middle East and North Africa

• Military Professionalism

• Regime Change, Regime Stability, Democratization

• Authoritarian Regimes, Authoritarian Institutions

• Party Systems and Cleavages

• Research Methods

• Middle East

• North Africa

• Sudan

• Armed forces' reform in post-conflict societies

• Iraq

• Lebanon

• International sanctions

• International organisations (U.N Studies)

• Authoritarian regimes

• Quantitative methods

• Middle East and North Africa (MENA)

• Regional Explanations for Authoritarianism

• Statethood and Political Domination in the Middle East (with a focus on Jordan and Syria)

• The War in Syria

• Regional Politics and the Relationship between Arabism and Islamism

• Jordan

• Syria

• Palestine/Israel

• Turkey (Near East Politics)

• Resources conflicts

• Religion and violent conflict

• Civil–military relations

• Political institutions

• International Political Economy

• Energy Economics

• Iran

• GCC

• Gender and Policy

• Latin American Politics

• Comparative Politics

• Families and socio-economic inequalities

• Politics and policy

• Latin America

• Regionalism in Latin America and Southeast Asia

• Discourse Analysis and International Relations

• Foreign Policy of Colombia

• Latin America

• Colombia

• Citizenship policy

• Migration and development

• Gender and labour migration

• Asia

• Legitimacy in global governance

• Science, experts, and politics

• Nationalism and ethnicity in China

• Global IR

• China

• East Asia

• Social policies

• Poverty and welfare

• Comparative political institutions

• Legislative powers in Latin America

• New democracies

• Brazil

• Mexico

• Latin America

• Fintech and mobile money

• Microfinance

• Crowdfunding

• Blockchain

• Finance and moral philosophy

• Cambodia

• Kenya

• World Order Narratives of the Maghreb’s Leftist Movements

• States and Authoritarianism

• North African Politics

International relations, comparative politics, comparative foreign policy, global governance, international human rights, propaganda, China-Russia-EU relations

• China

• Russia

• East Asia

• Central Asia

• Africa

• Religion and The Cyberspace (Religion Online)

• Religious Authority and Knowledge Production

• Moroccan Diaspora in Europe

• Middle East and North Africa

• MOTRA-Monitoring System and Transfer Platform Radicalization: Investigating international sources of domestic radicalization of right-, left-, and Islamist extremist groups

• Radicalization and Terrorism

• Quantitative Methods

• Social Protection Systems and Labour Markets

• Latin America

• Mexico

• Brazil

• Geoeconomics (infrastructure-security nexus)

• Middle East-China Relations

• China’s Belt and Road Initiative (aka “The New Silk Road”)

• Cybersecurity (“Digital Silk Road”, China 2025, etc.)

• The Middle East (Iran and GCC)

• East Asia (China)

Christiane Fröhlich researches human mobility within and from the Global South at the GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies in Hamburg. She is particularly interested in understandings of migration/mobility as ‘critical’ in different socio-political contexts and in the interactions between people on the move and actors trying to control such movement. She  approaches her respective research questions from a critical, post/decolonial perspective. Her regional focus is mainly on the Middle East (Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel/Palestine, Turkey), where she has conducted extensive field research, but she is also engaged in cross-regional comparative projects, including the EU-funded consortium “Migration Governance and Asylum Crises (MAGYC)“, in which she leads a work package on “Comparing Crises. Lessons from «migration crises» in North Africa, the Middle East and the Greater Horn of Africa.” Fröhlich holds a PhD from the Center for Conflict Studies at Marburg University, a Master in Peace and Security Studies from Hamburg University, and an M.A. in English language, literature and culture, contemporary history and psychology from Hamburg and Warwick Universities.

• Energy Policy

• Climate Policy

• Infrastructure Studies

• Natural Resources & Resource Conflicts

• (Neo)Gramscian Approaches and Hegemony Analysis

• Critical Political Economy

• Indonesia / Southeast Asia

• Brazil / South America

• The Political Economy of AKP's Foreign Aid: A Regional Assessment of Middle East and North Africa

• Middle East

• North Africa

• Large-scale land investments

• Rural development

• Socioeconomic inequalities and institutions

• Crime and Education

• Africa

• Asia

• The Security Paradox

• The Security Arena

• Local Security Studies

• Restoration of State Authority

• Central African Republic

• Lebanon

• Somalia/Somaliland

• Conflict actors and dynamics

• Social and political mobilization

• Post-conflict societies

• State repression

• Latin America

• International sanctions

• Persistence and change of authoritarian regimes

• Legitimation of authoritarian regimes

• Simbabwe

• Burundi

• Energy, environmental and development economics

• Effects of energy price increases on welfare and the performance of micro- and small enterprises in Mexico

• International productivity differences

• Socio-economic transitions

• Asia

• Fiscal Federalism

• Asia

• Family economics, social norms and marriage

• Fertility and religion

• Health and religion

• Political representation, public policies and gender

• Political integration of social groups

• Electoral behavior

• Democratic values

• Social conflicts

• Latin America

• Caribbean

• Bolivia

• Guyana

• Suriname

• Migration Policy of EU

• Persistence of Authoritarian Regimes

• Militarisation

• Diasporas and sanctions

• Peace and conflict studies

• Eritrea

• Ethiopia

• Djibouti

• Transnational Migration Politics and Diaspora Policies

• Executive Board member of the research network desiguALdades.net

• Cuba's Transformation: Crisis, Continuity and Change in Socialist Cuba

• Latin America

• Cuba

• The politics of the People‘s Republic of China

• Ideology and political legitimation

• State-society relations in the Chinese reform period

• Protection of weak groups and interests in China and Japan

• Comparative research into authoritarianism

• Asia-related area studies

• VR China

• SVR Hongkong

• Kurdish Studies

• Democratization and Decentralization

• Post-conflict reconstruction

• Survey data harmonization

• Middle East

• Authoritarian Rule in the Middle East and North Africa

• Authoritarian learning

• Legitimation of authoritarian regimes

• Repression of protest movements

• Algeria

• Jordan

• Impacts on inter-gender relations in Libya

• Libya

• MENA regions

• Cyber-Mediation / Digital Mediation / E-Mediation in international conflicts

• International conflict resolution

• Mediation in inter-state and intra-state conflicts

• Regional patterns and variations of mediation

• Regional security architecture of the Middle East

• Peace and conflict research

• Middle East

• Emerging Powers

• International Climate Policy

• Brazil

• India

• China

• Religion

• Social Identities and Social Psychology

• Moral Foundations Theory

• Reconciliation

• Post-Conflict Societies

• Africa

• Foreign-policy Signalling in the Indo-Pacific

• Comparative Area Studies: Methodology and Empirical Applications

• Australia, New Zealand, and South Pacific

• Japan

• Korean peninsula

• Indo-Pacific

• Terrorism as tactical consideration of social movement organisations and collective actors in contentious politics

• Religious Minorities: Discrimination, Grievances and Conflict

• African Union (AU)

• AU Peace and Security Council (PSC)

• Multilateral Diplomacy

• Regional Security in Africa

• Legitimation of Regional Organisations

• Africa

• Migration and Refugee Studies

• Critical Citizenship Studies

• Border Regimes

• Political Agency

• Civil Society Organisations

• Latin America

• Central America

• Mexico

• Economic and social impacts of land-use change and global land acquisitions

• Smallholder farming systems in developing countries

• Development and Agricultural Economics

• Civil-military relations

• Democratization

• Authoritarianism

• Research methods

• Taiwan

• South Korea

• Postwar Societies

• Violence and Social change

• Youth

• Central America

• Colombia

• Responses to the Belt and Road Initiative

• Digital networks

• Weaponized interdependence

• EU trade policy

• Gender and Entrepreneurship

• Innovation, Technology Use and Adaptation in Micro and Small Enterprises

• Africa

• Uganda

• Informal entrepreneurship in developing countries

• Structural change and its poverty and distributional implications

• Natural resources, economic development and conflict

• Africa

• Experimental political economics: social preferences, norm-oriented behaviour, and social incentives of political decision makers

• Political accountability

• Corruption and abuse of power

• Civic engagement and voter behaviour

• Policy innovation and experimentation

• Africa

• Political institutions in Latin America

• Presidentialism

• Latin American congresses

• Latin American courts

• President-Congress relations; president-court relations

• Latin America

• Argentina

• Brazil

• Political parties and party systems

• Elections

• Local politics

• Voting behaviour

• Electoral geography

• Political trust and democracy

• Latin America, particularly Brazil and Argentina

• Justice, security and community-building

• Indian foreign policy

• Role of identities in international relations

• Media and politics

• India

• South Asia

• Health and health systems

• Antimicrobial resistance

• Religion and National Identity

• Marginalization and Social Inequality

• Borderlands

• Transitional Justice

• Kinship and Ambiguous Loss

• Middle East

• Tunisia

• Persian Gulf politics

• Geopolitics

• Security in the Persian Gulf

• Foreign policy strategies

• Persian Gulf

• Iran and Saudi Arabia

• The Politics of COVID-19 Vaccination in Central America

• Latin America

Since 10/2021: Doctoral researcher at the GIGA Institute for Latin American Studies

• Latin America

• Multipolarity, rising powers, and International Politics

• Legitimacy and International Institutions

• Populism and Foreign Policy

• India

• South Asia

• Mozambique

• Regional and emerging powers

• Global and regional environmental politics

• Global climate regime

• India

• BRICS

• Security Sector Reforms

• State Repression

• Violent Democracies

• Social Protest

• Discursive Politics

• Central America

• Latin America

• Global Political Economy

• Structural Adjustment and Sectoral Transformation

• Institutional and Material Determinants of Authoritarian Rule

• Executive Personalization

• Shrinking Civic Spaces

• Small Gulf states

• Middle East and North Africa

• Large-scale land acquisitions

• Rural Development

• Land conflicts

• Land policy in Colombia

• Colombia

• Social protection mechanisms in Latin America, Asia and the Middle East during the COVID-19 pandemic

• Democratisation Studies

• Comparative Politics

• Political Party Development

• State Transformation

• Religious Conflict

• Myanmar

• Southeast Asia

• South Africa

• Inclusion of smallholder farmers in more modern and high-value markets, and the resulting effects on e.g. household welfare and productivity

• Socioeconomic- and ecological trade-offs of small- and large-scale producers in Indonesia

• Regional Organisations

• League of Arab States & African Union

• Legitimacy and Legitimation Strategies

• Critical Security Studies

• WMD Disarmament and non-proliferation.

• Middle East

• North Africa

• Regional Organisation

• Legitimacy and Legitimation Strategies

• Human Rights

• Tunisia

• Lebanon

• League of Arab States

• Legitimacy and legitimation of international organizations

• Politicization of international institutions

• Change and Empowerment of International Organiztions

• Foreign direct investments

• Training and job creation

• Africa

• Comparing innovation systems and policies in China, India and Southeast Asia

• Research Cooperation between Europe and Southeast Asia

• Chinese Outward Foreign Direct Investments

• High-Skilled Labour Migration: Brain Ciruculation between Asia and Europe

• China’s Economic Transition

• PR China

• SAR Hong Kong

• International Security

• Securitization Theory

• Discourse Analysis and Speech Act Theory

• Collective action and Contentious Politics

• Political Psychology and Identity

• War-to-peace transitions

• Ceasefires

• Political order

• Local rebel governance

• Legal systems

• Syria

• Legitimacy of state and non-state actors

• Politics and religion

• (Limited) statehood

• Local security perceptions

• Terrorism

• Sahel region

• Nigeria

• Liberia

• Libya

• Legitimation and stability of authoritarian regimes

• Foreign policy of authoritarian states

• Chinese foreign and security policy

• Natural resources and religion in intra-state conflicts

• China

• Latin America

• Structural Change

• Globalisation and Development

• Africa

• Uganda

• Political psychology in peace processes

• Political leadership and decision-making

• Emotions in Peace and Conflict Studies

• Africa (mainly South Africa)

• Latin America (mainly Colombia)

• Democratization

• Civil-Military Relations

• Political Islam

• Identity Politics in the Middle East

• Power and Resistance

• The role of courts in the political system

• Judicial legitimacy

• Courts and the public

• Judicial independence in new democracies, especially Latin America

• Development of democracy in Paraguay

• Latin America

• Paraguay

• Democratization

• Islamization

• Political parties

• Weak states and political violence

• Regional integration

• Indonesia

• East Timor

• Malaysia

• Philippines

• ASEAN

• Political Institutions in Latin America

• Social Movements

• Latin America

• Brazil

• International sanctions and interventions

• Authoritarian regimes

• Foreign policy and development policy

• Informal institutions / corruption and their effects on political regimes

• Statehood

• Southern Africa and East Africa

• South Africa

• Botswana

• Zambia

• Zimbabwe

• Kenya

• Narratives and local order in counterinsurgency/ceasefires

• Armed Order-Making in Northeast India

• Comparing Order and Knowledge across Counterinsurgencies

• Rebel Ordering and Governance

• India

• Northeast India

• South Asia

• The politics of the People‘s Republic of China

• E-government & e-participation

• Ideology and political legitimation

• Central-local relations

• PR China

• Innovation processes and networks in Japanese economy, science and society in international comparison

• Japan

Dr. Christian Wirth is Research Fellow at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies' Institute for Asian Studies (GIGA). He previously worked for the Swiss Federal Government and taught at Sophia, Tohoku and Leiden Universities. His research focuses on social and political change in Northeast Asia, and on maritime politics in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. He is author of Danger, Development and Legitimacy in East Asian Maritime Politics: Securing the Seas, Securing the State (Routledge Asia’s Transformations, 2017), and co-editor with Sebastian Maslow of Crisis Narratives, Institutional Change, and the Transformation of the Japanese State (SUNY, 2021).

• China

• Japan

• Korea

• East Asia

• Australia

• Contemporary history of Iraq (1979-2003)

• Political Economy of the Middle East

• Energy and food security

• Euro-Mediterranean Cooperation

• Gulf region

• Iraq

• Egypt

• Syria