Research

In my research, I explore the key phenomena of power and power shifts in international relationsIn particular, I am interested in soft power, its conceptualization, effects, and practice on the global stage. My book Soft Power: The Forces of Attraction in International Relations (Springer International, 2020), winner of the 2021 ifa Research Award on Foreign Cultural Policy, addresses these issues. The book traces the origins of soft power, proposes a taxonomy to grasp a notoriously vague concept, and charts a methodological roadmap for its empirical study. In this context, I am currently co-PI of a funded project entitled “How Does Soft Power Work? Neural Mechanisms of Attraction-Based Influence,” exploring the neural mechanisms underlying soft power.

Furthermore, I am interested in charismatic leadership and individual agency in world politics. Various publications of mine, including the volume Der Faktor Persönlichkeit in der internationalen Politik: Perspektiven aus Wissenschaft, Politik und Journalismus (SpringerVS, 2021), are dedicated to this issue.

Finally, in a time of major geopolitical upheavals, I focus on German-American and transatlantic relations, U.S. foreign affairs and the U.S. presidency, and role of Germany and Europe in the worldIt is the topic of my primary research project, my habilitation treatise, which is currently being prepared for publicationPursuing a comparative-historical approach across five centuries of transatlantic interaction, the study identifies, traces, and explains in the extraordinarily potent forces of attraction between both sides of the Atlantic. In this context, the relationship is broadly understood – including political, security, economic, cultural, and societal dimensions –, presenting a comprehensive history of German-American relations up to the present day.