Research Interests

Comparative environmental and trade politics, institutional foundations of policy choices, regulatory harmonization, performance of new environmental policy instruments, and transatlantic politics.

Education

University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA 1998 – 2008

M.A. in Political Science December 2003

Ph.D. in Political Science January 2008

Dissertation: Greening Export Promotion – A Comparative Study of Environmental Standard-Setting for Export Credit Agencies

This dissertation analyzes the development and harmonization of environmental regulations of export credit agencies in the United States and Germany. I argue that the international harmonization of these policies was protracted and difficult, due to poor institutional compatibility of proposed rules with continental European regulatory frameworks and regulatory cultures.

Committee: Miranda A. Schreurs (chair); Ken Conca; Virginia Haufler; Bartlomiej Kaminski; Matthias Ruth.

 

Fields of concentration: Comparative politics, international relations.

Universität Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany 1996 - 2001

 

Diploma in Political Science (M.A. equivalent) 2001

Thesis: The Politics of Nuclear Phase-Out: A Comparison of the German and Swedish Cases

This thesis argues that nuclear phase-out in Sweden was mostly symbolic because policy makers failed to specify an implementation strategy when the policy was decided. German nuclear phase-out policy, however, has been linked to a detailed implementation plan, and is therefore more likely to result in the decommissioning of nuclear power plants.

Concentration: International politics.

Research and Training Sites

American Institute for Contemporary German Studies, Washington, DC, USA (Jackson Janes). Conducted interviews on U.S. export credit policy, held workshop, and produced an essay for AICGS. June 2004 – August 2004.

Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (German Institute for International and Security Affairs), Berlin, Germany (Friedemann Müller). Conducted interviews on German export promotion policy and produced reports for SWP. November 2003 – January 2004.

Employment

08/2007 – 05/2009 Reed College, USA: Visiting Assistant Professor

• Teach courses on Comparative Environmental Politics, Research Design, Transatlantic Relations, and Introduction to Political Behavior

 

01/2007 – 05/2007 George Washington University, USA: Lecturer

• Teach two courses on Scope and Methods of Political Science and European-Atlantic Relations.

09/2006 – 12/2006 George Washington University, USA: Lecturer

• Teach two courses on Scope and Methods of Political Science and Comparative Politics of Western Europe.

02/2006 – 09/2006 University of Maryland, USA: Research Assistant

• Provide editorial assistance for three edited volumes on international environmental policy.

08/2003 – 01/2004 University of Maryland, USA: Research Assistant

• Conduct research on comparative environmental policy.

08/2002 – 06/2003 University of Maryland, USA: Assistant Director, Global Communities

• Teach course on intercultural communication.
• Plan and coordinate activities for a multi-cultural living-learning program.
• Liaise with groups on and off campus to promote new program and recruit students.

08/2000 – 06/2002 Aspen Institute Berlin, Germany: Project Manager

• Perform research and coordinate conference projects.
• Develop program on environmental and economic policy.
• Restructure and maintain the Institute’s website.
• Maintain a 20+ user Windows NT network.

06/2000 – 07/2000 The World Bank Institute, Environment and Natural Resources Division (WBIEN), Washington, DC (USA): Short Term Temporary

• Design course module on Eco-Efficiency for sustainable development core course.
• Create an inventory of existing WBIEN course modules.
• Create database of outside training partnerships.

01/2000 – 05/2000 University of Maryland, USA: Program Assistant, College Park Scholars

• Teach interdisciplinary honors course in International Studies.
• Organize student research conference and edit research anthology
• Plan and coordinate simulations and activities for an interdisciplinary group-learning program.
• Maintain program's website.

09/1999 - 01/2000 University of Maryland, USA: Teaching Assistant

• Teach introductory course in Environmental Policy.

10/1997 - 06/1998 Universität Potsdam, Germany: Research Assistant

• Perform general administrative tasks for newly established Chair of International Politics.
• Research (traditional and online) for research projects within the department of International Politics.

08/1993 – 02/1996 Heinzel Unterhaltungselektronik Hameln, Germany: Apprentice as Radio and TV-Technician

Publications

Leveraging Green Power: Environmental Rules for Project Finance. Part of a special issue “Business Power in Global Governance” edited by Doris Fuchs and Markus Lederer in Business and Politics, December 2007, vol. 9, iss. 1, article 3.

Transparency, Information Disclosure and Participation in Export Credit Agencies’ Cover Decisions. With Benjamin Görlach and Markus Knigge; in Sophie Thoyer and Benoit Martimosso (eds.): Participation for Sustainability in Trade. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007.

Europäische Interessen und Transatlantische Umweltpolitik. With Alexander Ochs; in Thomas Jäger, Alexander Höse, and Kai Oppermann (eds.): Transatlantische Beziehungen. Sicherheit – Wirtschaft – Öffentlichkeit, Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2005.

Review Essay: Environmental Politics across the Atlantic. In Global Environmental Politics, January 2005, vol. 5, iss. 1, pp. 131-135.

Women in the Leadership of Foreign Policy: Addressing the Challenges of Globalization in the Economic, Political, and Social Sectors. Volume edited with Courtney F. Glore. Berlin: Aspen Institute Berlin, 2002.

Manuscripts

Delegated Delegation: Environmental Rules for Project Finance. Revise and Resubmit at Review of International Political Economy..

Export Promotion, Trade, and the Environment: Negotiating Environmental Standards for Export Credit Agencies Across the Atlantic. Forthcoming in Miranda Schreurs, Henrik Selin, and Stacy VanDeveer (eds.): Enlarging TransAtlantic Relations: The Political Economy of Environment, Agriculture, and Energy Trade Politics across the Atlantic.

Environmental Leadership and Transatlantic Relations: The Cases of GMOs, Export Credits, and Climate Change. With Alexander Ochs. Revise and Resubmit at Online Journal for Environmental Policy Studies (OJEPS).

Double Standards? Energy Policy at Home and Abroad. Revise and Resubmit at Environmental Politics.

German Pork? Legislators’ Strategies in German Bundesrat and U.S. Congress. Revise and Resubmit at German Politics.

Working Papers and Reports

Germans Want Reform! Web Essay. American Institute for Contemporary German Studies, Washington, DC, December 2005.

National Interest and Environmental Politics: The United States and Europe. Web Essay. American Institute for Contemporary German Studies, Washington, DC, July 2004.

Internationale Harmonisierung von Umweltstandards im OECD-Rahmen: Standards für Exportkreditagenturen. Reihe D. Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, Berlin, February 2004.

Export Credit Agencies and Climate Change: What Can They Do about It? Intact Working Paper. Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, Berlin, January 2004.

Consulting and Commissioned Papers

Provided data analysis for Trade and Poverty Report 2005. German Marshall Fund of the United States, Washington, DC, December 2005.

Exportkreditagenturen und erneuerbare Energien: Chancen und Herausforderungen. Paper commissioned by DIW, Germanwatch, and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. University of Maryland, College Park, MD, July 2004.

Health as Foreign Policy: A U.S.-German Dialogue on Governance and Global Health. ACG Occasional Paper #3. American Council on Germany, New York, January 2004.

Macroeconomic Policies, Poverty, and the Urban Environment. A Review of the Literature. With Harald Fuhr, Katja Roeken, and Alexander Wegener. Study commissioned by World Wildlife Fund for Nature, Washington DC, 1998.

Conference Papers

When Implicit Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Become the Norm: NGOs and Environmental Policies in International Finance presented at the International Studies Association annual convention in Chicago, IL, March 1, 2007.

Environmental Standards Courtesy of Northern Financial Institutions – Insular Phenomenon or the Future of Standard-Setting in the South? Presented at the conference on Non-State Actors as Standard Setters: The Erosion of the Public-Private Divide organized by the Basel Institute on Governance, Basel, Switzerland, February 8, 2007.

Harmonizing Domestic Regulations across the Atlantic: Many Venues, Similar Mechanisms and Challenges presented at the 1st Advanced Colloquium on Better Regulation, organized by the Centre for Regulatory Governance at the University of Exeter, Exeter, England, January 26, 2007.

Nanotechnology and the Lessons (not) Learned from the Transatlantic Biotechnology Dispute presented at the International Studies Association annual convention in San Diego, CA, March 23, 2006.

Applying Financial Leverage to Green Infrastructure Development: Environmental Policies of the World Bank, Export Credit Agencies, and Private Banks presented at the conference on Global Governance and the Power of Business at the Wittenberg Center for Global Ethics in Wittenberg, Germany, December 8-10, 2005.

Conflict or Cooperation? Transatlantic Relations in the Environmental Field. With Alexander Ochs. Presented at the European Union Studies Association Conference in Austin, TX, April 2, 2005

Politics in between the Cracks: Transdomestic Policy beyond the Domestic-Foreign Divide presented at the International Studies Association annual convention in Honolulu, HI, March 5, 2005 and the European Consortium on Political Research general conference in Budapest, Hungary, September 9, 2005.

Get your Act together or Succumb to Internationalization of U.S. Regulation? Europe in Transatlantic Environmental Negotiations. With Alexander Ochs. Presented at the International Studies Association annual convention in Honolulu, HI, March 5, 2005.

When Business Cares more about Sustainability than Government: The Equator Principles and Environmental Standards for Export Credit Agencies presented at the International Conference on Innovation, Sustainability and Policy at Kloster Seeon, Germany, May 23-25, 2004.

The U.S., Europe, and National Interest: Environmental Standard-Setting when Trade Interests Collide presented at the International Studies Association annual convention in Montreal, Canada, March 17, 2004.

Sustainability, Lies, and Export Promotion presented at the ECPR General Conference in Marburg, Germany, September 29, 2003.

German Pork? Legislators’ Strategies in German Bundesrat and U.S. Congress presented at the American Political Science Association annual meeting in Philadelphia, PA, August 29, 2003.

Do Ideas Really Matter? presented at the 2003 Hamburg Conference “Does Discourse Matter? Power, Discourse and Institutions in the Sustainability Transition” in Hamburg, Germany, July 12, 2003.

Double Standards? Energy Policy at Home and Abroad presented at the International Studies Association annual convention in Portland, OR, February 25, 2003.

Politics of Nuclear Phase Out: A Comparison of the German and Swedish Cases presented at the 44th Annual Western Social Science Association Conference in Albuquerque, NM, April 12, 2002.

The Extent of Cooperative Governance in the Decision to Phase out Nuclear Power Production – A Comparison of the German and Swedish Cases presented at the International Studies Association annual convention in Chicago, IL, February 21, 2001.

Structural Adjustment, Poverty, Inequality, and Governance – Exploring the Linkages presented at the International Studies Association annual convention in Chicago, IL, February 21, 2001.

Structural Adjustment, State Capacity and the Urban Environment in Latin America presented at the International Studies Association annual convention in Los Angeles, CA, March 15, 2000.

Macroeconomic Change and the Urban Environment in Latin America presented at the International Studies Association North East (ISA-NE) annual meeting in Philadelphia, PA, November 12, 1999.

Invited Presentations and Lectures

Low Politics and Hard Interests: Harmonizing Environmental and Trade Regulation Across the Atlantic. Workshop at the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies, July 14, 2004.

Umweltstandards für Exportkreditagenturen: Verkehrte Welt in den transatlantischen Beziehungen? Lecture at the Deutsche Schule Washington, March 3, 2004.

German Political Institutions. Lecture to the GVPT 399B Seminar on the Government and Politics of Germany and the European Union (Prof. Schreurs), University of Maryland, October 6, 2003.

Ensuring Environmental Due Diligence. Presentation at an expert workshop on Export Credit Agencies and Sustainable Development hosted by the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London, UK, September 4, 2003.

Historic Development of German and U.S. Environmental Policy. Lecture to the GVPT 309E Seminar on Environmental Politics in International and Comparative Perspective (Prof. Schreurs), University of Maryland, September 23, 2002.

European Environmental Policy. Lecture to GVPT 273 Introduction to Environmental Politics (Prof. Pirages), University of Maryland, November 9, 1999.

Academic Fellowships and Grants

Bucerius Summer School on Global Governance, 2004.

DAAD/AICGS Fellowship, 2004.

e-fellows.net online stipend, 2001 – 2006.

Goldhaber travel grant; 2000.

International Studies Association travel grant, 2000.

Fulbright Scholarship for graduate study at the University of Maryland, USA, 1998 - 1999.

Language Proficiency

Native German and fluent English.

Professional Memberships

International Studies Association (since 1999). Webmaster of the Environmental Studies Section since December 2003 - http://www.environmental-studies.org/.

American Political Science Association (since 2001).

Deutsche Vereinigung für Politische Wissenschaft (German Political Science Association; since 2005)

Additional Experience

Experienced in the use of: STATA, SPSS, MS Excel, MS Word, MS Access, MS PowerPoint, MS FrontPage, WordPerfect, Adobe InDesign.

Serious Jazz Bassist; two European tours and CD End of Silence with modern Jazz quartet Straight Ahead.

References

Miranda A. Schreurs, Director, Environmental Policy Research Centre, and Professor of Comparative Politics, Freie Universität Berlin.

Virginia Haufler, Associate Professor, Department of Government and Politics, University of Maryland.

Ken Conca, Associate Professor, Department of Government and Politics, University of Maryland.

Steven E. Sokol, Vice President for Programs, American Council on Germany.

Catherine McArdle Kelleher, Senior Fellow, Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University.