Christof Hartmann is a member of the Interdisciplinary Fellowship Group 9. He is Professor of Political Science, in particular African Politics and International Relations, and Director of the Institute for Peace and Development (INEF) at University Duisburg-Essen (Germany). He previously worked at the Universities of Heidelberg, Ruhr-University Bochum and University of the Western Cape, and completed his PhD at University of Heidelberg.
His research focusses on processes of political-institutional change in African countries, on the political and security dimensions of regional cooperation in Africa (with a focus on West Africa), and on Africa’s relations with external actors, in particular China. In all three fields, he has been leading research projects and published monographs and journal articles. He has also experience in consultancy work and policy transfer, mainly in the areas of electoral governance, crisis prevention, democracy promotion and political aspects of development cooperation.
MIASA Project: Democracy as contested part of sustainable regional peacebuilding
As the rise of African regional peacebuilding in the 1990s coincided with political reform processes throughout the continent, the regional peacebuilding agenda was shaped by comprehensive understandings of human security; inclusive political participation was thus considered as a key component of a sustainable peace. The project’s main interest is to understand how local and regional actors continue to perceive democracy to be a key component of regional peace building (or not), and whether there is agreement between key actors within ROs (commission, member states) and between different African ROs in the multi-layered APSA, both with regard to the organizations’ core mandate, but also concerning the incorporation of democracy within the broader normative and institutional regional (peace) infrastructures.
Selected publications
C. Hartmann (ed.) 2020. China’s new role in African politics. From non-intervention towards stabilization? with Nele Noesselt, London: Routledge (ISBN 978-1-138-39207-6)
C. Hartmann 2020. ‘Regionalism in Sub-Saharan Africa: Global constraints and African agency’, in: Brigitte Weiffen/ Detlef Nolte (eds.), Regionalism under stress: Europe and Latin America in comparative perspective, London: Routledge, 209-222
C. Hartmann 2017. ‘ECOWAS and the Restoration of Democracy in the Gambia’‚ Africa Spectrum 52/1, 85-99
C. Hartmann 2016. ‚Sub-Saharan Africa‘, in: Tanja Börzel/Thomas Risse (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Comparative Regionalism, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 271-294
C. Hartmann 2016. ‘Linkage and leverage: How regional arrangements shape regime change in Africa’, Zeitschrift für vergleichende Politikwissenschaft, 10/s1, 79-98
C. Hartmann 2015. ‘Writing the Script? ECOWAS’ military intervention mechanism’, in Tanja Börzel/ Vera von Hüllen (eds.), Governance Transfer by Regional Organizations, New York: Palgrave, 68-83 (with Kai Striebinger)
