German Institute for Global and Area Studies | Leibniz-Institut für Globale und Regionale Studien

German Institute for Global and Area Studies | Leibniz-Institut für Globale und Regionale Studien

DEEN

Prof. Dr. Bert Hoffmann

Lead Research Fellow | Co-Leader of the GIGA Institute for Latin American Studies (ad interim) Head GIGA Berlin Office

Prof. Dr. Bert Hoffmann

  • Short CV

    • Since 08/2023: Co-Director of the GIGA Institute of Latin American Studies (ad interim)

    • Since 05/2015: Head of the GIGA Berlin Office

    • 2014: Appointed as Honorary Professor at Freie Universität Berlin

    • 11/2011 - 10/2014: Acting Director of the GIGA Institute of Latin American Studies

    • 2007/2008: Guest Lecturer at the Freie Universität Berlin, SFB 700 "Governance in Areas of Limited Statehood"

    • 2007: Visiting Scholar at Nuffield College, Oxford University

    • Since 2006: Deputy to the Director, Institute of Latin American Studies

    • Since 2003: Senior Researcher at the GIGA Institute of Latin American Studies

    • 2003: Doctorate (Dr. rer. pol., summa cum laude) at the Political Science department of the Freie Universität Berlin; Doctoral Thesis on "The Politics of the Internet in Third World Development"

    • 1998 - 2003: Lecturer at the Latin American Institute of the Freie Universität Berlin

    • 1998: Research Scholarship by the Instituto Rio Branco (Brasilia)

    • 1993 - 1998: Researcher at the Institute for Ibero-American Studies, Hamburg

    • Study of Political Science at the Freie Universität Berlin

    Current Research

    • 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

    Countries and Regions

    • Latin America

    • Cuba

    Memberships

    • Heidelberg Center for Ibero-American Studies, Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Heidelberg Center for Ibero-American Studies (HCIAS) of Heidelberg University, 2023 - 2026
    • Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies, The University of the West Indies, Honorary Research Fellow at The University of the West Indies, Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES), Mona Campus (Jamaica)., 2023 - 2025
    • European Council for Social Research on Latin America, Presidency of CEISAL - Consejo Europeo de Investigaciones Sociales de América Latina, 2022 - 2025

    Prof. Dr. Bert Hoffmann

    Lead Research Fellow / Co-Leader of the GIGA Institute for Latin American Studies (ad interim) Head GIGA Berlin Office

    bert.hoffmann@giga-hamburg.de

    Publications

    Internationale Politik | 03/2023

    Prekärer Alltag in Kuba

    High out-migration, food shortages and precarious everyday-life mark socialist Cuba as the country is heading for the National Assembly elections on 26 March 2023. While the single-party system secures government candidates' victory, abstentions and blank votes may reach a new high.

    Prof. Dr. Bert Hoffmann

    Lead Research Fellow / Co-Leader of the GIGA Institute for Latin American Studies (ad interim) Head GIGA Berlin Office

    Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte | 09/2022

    Erschöpfte Revolution: Kuba 60 Jahre nach der Raketenkrise

    60 years after the Cuban missile crisis brought the world to the brink of nuclear war, the Caribbean island remains under Communist Party rule, but is plagued by a severe economic and social crisis.

    Prof. Dr. Bert Hoffmann

    Lead Research Fellow / Co-Leader of the GIGA Institute for Latin American Studies (ad interim) Head GIGA Berlin Office

    Foro Europa~Cuba Policy Brief | 06/2022

    Institutional Reform and Social Policies in Post-Covid Cuba: An Agenda for Cooperation

    Cuba and the European signed a Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement (PDCA) in December 2016. In the light of the changes in the domestic and international environment since then, the paper assesses current policy options.

    Prof. Dr. Bert Hoffmann

    Lead Research Fellow / Co-Leader of the GIGA Institute for Latin American Studies (ad interim) Head GIGA Berlin Office

    Chapter in Edited Volume | 04/2022

    Cuba in the Post-Castro Era. A New Political Culture in the Making?

    More than six decades after the Cuban Revolution, both Fidel and Raúl Castro no longer hold the reins of power. Despite the continuity of Communist Party rule, in the post-Castro era the island’s political culture is in flux – through changes from above as well as through changes from below.

    Prof. Dr. Bert Hoffmann

    Lead Research Fellow / Co-Leader of the GIGA Institute for Latin American Studies (ad interim) Head GIGA Berlin Office

    Monografías CIDOB | 03/2022

    After the Protests and the Pandemic: Reassessing the International Profile of Post-Castro Cuba

    This book chapter reviews the external difficulties that interact with and reinforce Cuba’s domestic issues. Looking beyond the immediate situation it reflects on underlying international pressures and constraints that will shape the options for the Cuban nation over the next decade.

    Prof. Dr. Bert Hoffmann

    Lead Research Fellow / Co-Leader of the GIGA Institute for Latin American Studies (ad interim) Head GIGA Berlin Office

    Prof. Dr. Laurence Whitehead

    Associate

    Research Projects

    Research Project | 01/05/2021 - 31/12/2025

    German-Latin American Centre of Infection & Epidemiology Research and Training (GLACIER)

    The COVID-19 pandemic is showing that infectious diseases can only be solved by global efforts; and that medical and social approaches must go hand in hand in order to provide solutions. Based on this understanding, the GIGA has become part of the new multi-disciplinary DAAD-funded „German-Latin American Centre of Infection & Epidemiology Research and Training“ – GLACIER and will work on a comparative study of vaccination policies in Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean. DAAD, 2021-2025

    Research Project | 01/01/2018 - 30/11/2022

    Europe-Cuba Forum Network

    The EU and Cuba signed a Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement (PDCA) in 2016 to open a new stage of constructive engagement. The Europe-Cuba Forum is a Jean Monnet network project shich brings together leading scholars from Europe and Cuba to analyse the prospects, possibilities and limitations for such cooperation, highlighting the economic reform agenda, social policies and governance questions.
    EC, Erasmus+, 2018-2022

    Research Project | 01/01/2016 - 31/08/2021

    The Return of Race-based Inequalities in Contemporary Cuba: Analysing the Impact of Past Migration and Current Reforms

    Few political transformations have attacked social inequalities more thoroughly than the 1959 Cuban Revolution. The research project addresses to what extent and through what mechanisms structural inequalities have been returning in recent years which echo Cuba’s pre-revolutionary socio-ethnic hierarchies. To this end, a unique nationwide survey with more than one thousand respondents is carried out. As access to hard currency becomes key, racialized migration patterns of the past make for highly unequal access to family remittances, and also the gradual opening of private business disfavors Afro-Cubans.
    DFG, 2016-2021

    Research Project | 01/07/2014 - 30/06/2019

    International Diffusion and Cooperation of Authoritarian Regimes - IDCAR-Network

    In politics and political science alike, the increasing international influence of authoritarian regimes has become a central concern around the globe. From 2014-2019, the IDCAR network brought together some of the most renowned scholars in the field to produce high-level research and, based on this, policy advice and public outreach.
    Leibniz Association, 2014-2019

    Media Contributions

    Travelbook | Quote | 27/04/2022

    Kennen Sie den Unterschied zwischen Südamerika und Lateinamerika?

    Short article explaining the difference between the terms "South America" and "Latin America"

    DIE ZEIT | Article | 27/10/2021

    Mit Moskitos an die Macht

    Deutschland.de | Mention | 12/08/2021

    Together against pandemics New GLACIER research centre connects scientists from Germany and Latin America

    Lectures

    German Institute for Global and Area Studies | 14/06/2022

    Bio-tech for development: The case of Cuba‘s anti-COVID vaccines

    Organiser: German Institute for Global and Area Studies Prof. Dr. Bert Hoffmann (Speaker)

    Cuba developed its own COVID vaccines. Medically they have been effective in bringing the pandemic under control. Given the difficulties in exporting them, however, their impact on the island’s cash-strapped economy remains limited.

    Prof. Dr. Bert Hoffmann

    Lead Research Fellow / Co-Leader of the GIGA Institute for Latin American Studies (ad interim) Head GIGA Berlin Office

    Conference | 05/05/2022 - 08/05/2022

    Biotech from Cuba: A Fidelista Project in Post-Castro Times

    LASA 2022 Latin American Studies Association's Virtual Congress, Online Event Organisers: Latin American Studies Association Prof. Dr. Bert Hoffmann (Speaker)

    Analysis of the development prospects related to the Cuban bio-tech sector in light of the development of Cuban COVID-19 vaccines

    Prof. Dr. Bert Hoffmann

    Lead Research Fellow / Co-Leader of the GIGA Institute for Latin American Studies (ad interim) Head GIGA Berlin Office

    GIGA Talk | 04/05/2022

    Climate Responsibilities of the “Great Powers”: Are they doing enough?

    Climate Responsibilities of the “Great Powers”: Are they doing enough?, Online event Organisers: German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA) Ass. Prof. Dr. Robert Falkner (Speaker), Prof. Dr. Kathryn Hochstetler (Speaker), Ass. Prof. Dr. Katja Biedenkopf (Speaker), Dr. Miriam Prys-Hansen (Consultant), Dr. Franziska Brantner (Consultant), Prof. Dr. Bert Hoffmann (Moderator)

    The world is still not on track to meet the 1.5°C maximum warming target. The United States, China, the European Union, India, and Brazil – these “great powers” play a crucial role in fighting climate change. This GIGA Talk will address what has been achieved (or not) and how the “great powers” justify their respective actions or inaction.

    Ass. Prof. Dr. Robert Falkner

    Prof. Dr. Kathryn Hochstetler

    Ass. Prof. Dr. Katja Biedenkopf

    Dr. Miriam Prys-Hansen

    Dr. Franziska Brantner

    Prof. Dr. Bert Hoffmann

    Teaching

    Teaching | Freie Universität Berlin | 2021

    Lateinamerika als Labor der Moderne

    Freie Universität Berlin Berlin Germany

    with Barbara Fritz and Renata Motta

    Teaching | Freie Universität Berlin | 2016

    Transatlantic Caribbean: Political, Social and Cultural Interconnections

    Freie Universität Berlin Berlin Germany

    Teaching | Freie Universität Berlin | 2014

    Old and new inequalities in Cuba

    Freie Universität Berlin Berlin Germany

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