Prof. Dr. Patrick Köllner

Director of the GIGA Institute for Asian Studies | Vice President

Prof. Dr. Patrick Köllner

  • Short CV

    • Since 2017: Vice President of the GIGA

    • Since 2011: Director of the GIGA Institute for Asian Studies and Professor in political science (with a particular focus on Asia) at the University of Hamburg

    • 2015 - 2016: Acting Lead Research Fellow of GIGA Research Programme 4 "Global Orders and Foreign Policies"

    • 2010 - 2011: Academic Director (ad interim) Hamburg International Graduate School for the Study of Regional Powers

    • 2007 - 2011: Acting Director, GIGA Institute for Asian Studies

    • 2005 - 2009: Head of GIGA Research Programme 1

    • 2000 - 2007: Senior Research Fellow at the GIGA Institute for Asian Studies, areas of research: Japanese domestic politics, politics and economy in North and South Korea

    • 1996 - 2000: Research Fellow at the GIGA Institute for Asian Affairs

    • Education: Konstanz University, Germany: Diplom, Politics and Management (major: international relations); University of Essex, United Kingdom: MA in the Study of Contemporary Japan; Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany: Ph.D. (Dr. rer. soc.), Political Science; Trier University, Germany: Habilitation, Political Science

    Current Research

    • The Indo-Pacific as a New Strategic Space

    • Comparative Area Studies: Analytical and Organisational Issues

    Countries and Regions

    • Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Island Countries

    • Japan

    • Korean peninsula

    • Indo-Pacific


    Memberships

    • British International Studies Association, Member, 2023 - 2024
    • CrossArea - Verband für Transregionale Studien, Vergleichende Area Studies und Global Studies e.V., Member of the executive board, 2022 - 2025
    • Korea Europe Review, Member of the Editorial Board, 2021 - 2026
    • Hamburger Stiftung Asien-Brücke, Chairman of the board, since 2018
    • Springer, Mitglied des Herausgeberteams der Buchreihe "Ostasien im 21. Jahrhundert. Politik - Gesellschaft- Sicherheit - Regionale Integration", since 2007
    • German Political Science Association, Membership in discipline-specific association or network, 2000 - 2024

    Prof. Dr. Patrick Köllner

    Director of the GIGA Institute for Asian Studies / Vice President

    T. +49 40 428874-17[email protected]

    Edited Volume | Oxford University Press

    Advancing Comparative Area Studies: Analytical Heterogeneity and Organizational Challenges

    This new book on comparative area studies (CAS) focuses on the openness of CAS’ to interpretive approaches and showcases strategies for leveraging CAS for causal analysis. It features efforts to rethink the logic, scale and purpose of comparison and promotes CAS’ role in deepening the interface between comparative politics and IR. Finally, it considers organizational challenges to advancing CAS.

    Ass. Prof. Dr. Ariel I. Ahram

    Prof. Dr. Rudra Sil

    Edited Volume | Oxford University Press

    Advancing Comparative Area Studies: Analytical Heterogeneity and Organizational Challenges

    This new book on comparative area studies (CAS) focuses on the openness of CAS’ to interpretive approaches and showcases strategies for leveraging CAS for causal analysis. It features efforts to rethink the logic, scale and purpose of comparison and promotes CAS’ role in deepening the interface between comparative politics and IR. Finally, it considers organizational challenges to advancing CAS.

    Ass. Prof. Dr. Ariel I. Ahram

    Prof. Dr. Rudra Sil

    Chapter in Edited Volume

    Extending the Horizons of Comparative Area Studies: Analytical Heterogeneity and Organizational Challenges

    This chapter serves as an introduction to the edited volume, the second of two books dedicated to the articulation of comparative area studies (CAS). The chapter reviews the rationale for, and defining elements of, CAS as a distinct variant of cross-regional comparative analysis.

    Prof. Dr. Rudra Sil

    Ass. Prof. Dr. Ariel I. Ahram

    The Sciences Po Series in International Relations and Political Economy | Palgrave Macmillan

    Order and Agency in the Indo-Pacific

    This edited volume is a product of the Franco-German Observatory of the Indo-Pacific. Fourteen scholars based in France, Germany, and the Netherlands examine different conceptions of order in the Indo-Pacific and analyse the agency of small and middle powers in that strategic space.

    Prof. Dr. Delphine Allès

    Dr. Christophe Jaffrelot

    Research Project | 01/06/2023 - 31/05/2026

    HNC³ - Hamburg Network on Compliance in Cooperation with China

    This project bundles the China expertise of universities and non-university research institutes in the Hamburg metropolitan area. Against the background of current opportunities and challenges in cooperating with China, primary goals of the project include the development of instruments for such cooperation in accordance with legal parameters, the establishment of appropriate exchange formats among the consortium members, and the implementation of relevant training programmes.
    BMBF, 2023-2026

    Research Project | 01/01/2022 - 31/12/2022

    Engaging the Indo-Pacific: German and Korean Perspectives on Regional Cooperation

    A policy-oriented research project bringing together the GIGA and the East Asia Institute in Seoul. The project aims at analysing German/EU and Korean strategies for Indo-Pacific engagement and identifying areas for in-depth consultation, coordination and cooperation.
    Korea Foundation, 2022

    Research Project | 01/07/2018 - 31/12/2021

    Recalibrating China Policy: Australia and New Zealand in Comparative Perspective

    Australia and New Zealand (NZ) have in recent years been at the forefront of the growing confrontation between the ‘West’ and China. Despite very close economic ties with China, both countries have substantially changed their approaches to dealing with the People’s Republic. This research project contributes to and seeks to advance relevant academic as well as policy-oriented debates on the topic.
    GIGA, 2018-2021

    Research Project | 01/07/2015 - 01/12/2018

    Understanding the Development of Think Tanks in Asia

    Most research on think tanks has focused on their development, roles, and policy impact in North America, specifically the US. Yet, think tanks exist nowadays in every world region and have experienced particular strong growth in East Asia. Understanding them as a global phenomenon with different local manifestations, the project seeks to overcome the (conceptual and empirical) US bias in think tank research and explores the trajectories and traits of think tank sectors in East Asia and India.
    GIGA, 2015-2018

    Frankfurter Rundschau | Quote | 05/11/2024

    Nordkorea-Soldaten in der Ukraine: Greift Seoul jetzt nach der Atombombe?

    Wie wahrscheinlich ist es, dass nach Nordkorea nun auch Seoul nach Atomwaffen greift? Prof. Dr. Patrick Köllner ordnet ein.  

    Frankfurter Rundschau | Quote | 28/10/2024

    Anti-China-Phalanx: Wie Joe Biden Asien gegen Xi Jinping in Stellung gebracht hat

    Prof. Dr. Patrick Köllner was interviewed on the achievements of the Indo-Pacific policies of the Biden administration and on whether a possible second Trump administration would stay the course.

    Handelsblatt | Expert Comment / Guest Contribution | 26/09/2024

    Wird Deutschlands Sicherheit im Indo-Pazifik verteidigt?

    Diese Gastkolumne, die auch im Tagesspiegel erscheint, fragt danach, ob deutsche Marineeinsätze im Indo-Pazifik sinnvoll und notwendig sind. Sie diskutiert Pro und Contra derartiger Einsätze und regt eine öffentliche Debatte zum Thema an.

    Conference | 27/06/2025 - 29/06/2025

    Otago Foreign Policy School 2025

    Otago Foreign Policy School 2025, University of Otago, Dunedin Prof. Dr. Patrick Köllner (Organiser)

    Patrick Köllner serves as co-director of the 2025 Otago Foreign Policy School at the University of Otago, the GIGA's institutional cooperation partner in New Zealand. This joint venture builds on the successful joint organisation of the 2018 edition of New Zealand's oldest international affairs conference.

    German Institute for Global and Area Studies | 15/11/2024

    Area Studies in Germany and the Advent of Comparative Area Studies

    Organiser: German Institute for Global and Area Studies Prof. Dr. Patrick Köllner (Speaker)

    At an international conference on area studies at Tongji University, Shanghai, Patrick Köllner spoke about recent developments around such studies in Germany and how they contributed to the advent of comparative area studies, the signature approach of the GIGA.

    German Institute for Global and Area Studies | 21/10/2024

    Area Studies and Comparative Area Studies: What They Are, Where They Come From, and What They Do

    Organiser: German Institute for Global and Area Studies Prof. Dr. Patrick Köllner (Speaker)

    Patrick Köllner talked about the characteristics and contours of area studies and comparative area studies at the first doctoral school of the European Area Studies Initiative (EASI).

    Teaching | Department for Political Science, Universität Hamburg | 2024

    Introduction to Political Systems in Australasia

    Department for Political Science, Universität Hamburg Hamburg Germany

    BA intermediate-level seminar introducing students to political systems in Australia and New Zealand

    Teaching | Department for Political Science, Universität Hamburg | 2024

    Tracing and Comparing Indo-Pacific Policies

    In the 2024/2025 winter term, Patrick Köllner teaches a political science seminar at Hamburg University, introducing MA students to process tracing, using the Indo-Pacific policies of various states and regional organisations as empirical reference points.

    Teaching | Department for Political Science, Universität Hamburg | 2023

    Introduction to Political Systems in East Asia

    Department for Political Science, Universität Hamburg Hamburg Germany

    BA intermediate-level seminar introducing students to political systems in Japan, the two Koreas, the PRC, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Mongolia.

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