Frank Schimmelfennig

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Frank Schimmelfennig (2012)

Frank Schimmelfennig (* 1963 in Bad Marienberg (Westerwald) ) is a German political scientist .

Life

After graduating from Konrad-Adenauer-Gymnasium Westerburg , Schimmelfennig began studying political science and modern and Eastern European history at the University of Mainz in 1981 . During his studies he studied at three other universities (Dijon, Tübingen and Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, USA). He completed his studies in Tübingen in 1989 with the title of Magister Artium and worked there from 1991 to 1997 as a research assistant and assistant at the Institute for Political Science, Department of International Relations / Peace and Conflict Research. In 1995 he received his doctorate (also in Tübingen) as Dr. rer. soc. From 1998 to 2002 he worked at the Technical University of Darmstadt as a research assistant at the Institute for Political Science. There he completed his habilitation in 2001 and was appointed private lecturer.

After receiving his doctorate, he represented the professorships for international politics at three universities (1997–1998 Konstanz , 2001 Düsseldorf , 2003–2004 Munich ). From 1998 to 2000 he worked as a NATO-EAPC Research Fellow on the “NATO's Eastern Enlargement: an Analysis of Collective Decision-Making” project. In 2001/2002 he was a Jean Monnet Fellow at the Robert Schuman Center for Advanced Studies, European University Institute , San Domenico di Fiesole (FI), Italy. From 2002 to 2005 he worked as a research assistant at the Mannheim Center for European Social Research , Section B: The Political Systems of Europe and Their Integration, at the University of Mannheim . His last research there was on “Constitutionalization Processes in the European Union. Parliamentarization and institutionalization of human rights at the European level. "

In addition, he is u. a. Member of the German Association for Political Science (DVPW), where he has been a member of the board of the "International Relations" section since 2003 and performs numerous expert activities. He published numerous working papers, book and magazine articles (including the magazine for international relations ) and a few monographs, all of which were largely in English. His two most recent monographs have been published by Cornell and Cambridge University Press .

Since 2005 he has been Professor of European Politics at the Center for Comparative and International Studies at ETH Zurich .

Research, teaching and work

Frank Schimmelfennig works in the political science sub-area “ International Relations ” (IB). He deals with international human rights policy , cooperation and regimes and the expansion of international organizations . His focus is the international politics pursued by European states and the EU . He deals with the expansion of European and international organizations as processes of international socialization. He focuses on the eastward expansion of the EU and the associated Europeanization of Eastern Europe.

In his work on the constitutional policy of the European Union, he concentrates on two processes, which he believes are central: the growing competence of the European Parliament and the increasing institutional anchoring and parliamentarization and human rights at the European level. He examines EU constitutional policy as a strategic action in the context of an international community of values. He points out that politics must be legitimized taking into account the values ​​and norms anchored in the community ethos. He names parliamentary democracy and human rights as essential components of this liberal democratic community ethos . At the same time, he criticizes the democratic deficit in the European Union itself.

Much of his work is in the context of peace and conflict research. Schimmelfennig analyzes power conflicts and change in the international system. Furthermore, he deals with the argumentation in international value conflicts (also here especially human rights conflicts).

His most important essay before his doctorate is “International Socialization of New States” . In it, Schimmelfennig presents the thesis that, in the historical sense, “new” states (for him, those of the former Eastern Bloc ) are also socializing in the international community would have to be like individuals who are new to a particular group or community. Until then, he regarded this theory as not being adequately dealt with in the IB, although in his opinion it represents a central element for understanding future developments in states of upheaval. In his article, Schimmelfennig tried to transfer the various aspects of socialization from sociology to the IB in political science . This essay set new accents in the IB for subsequent research.

Another important essay appeared in 1997 under the title “Rhetorical Action in International Politics” . In it he looked at situations in which the primary guiding values ​​are at stake in states, and stated that the two traditional mainstreams in IB, constructivism and rationalism, fail as a basis for explanation in these situations. Instead, he introduced a different approach, that of “rhetorical action”, in which approaches from the two older models are present. He defined rhetorical action by the fact that international actors are less oriented towards understanding and consensus than towards trying to defend their own interests with more than just rhetorical means ("Argument of strength instead of strength of argument" p. 228, p. 5), to enforce and only to reach a consensus from your own point of view. In terms of values, this meant for him that z. B. States try in this way to convince others of their values ​​in order to gain influence.

In his first book, Debates Between States (a revised version of his dissertation published in the same year ), he compares the three great modern debates between states : 1. The denominational debate that takes place between Catholicism and Protestantism ; 2. The one between monarchical absolutism and democratic constitutionalism ; 3. Finally, the East-West conflict . Reviews of this work by renowned scholars are very positive; It is particularly recommended as reading for those interested in theory building in the IB area.

Publications

Magazine articles
  • (with Ulrich Sedelmeier) European Enlargement. Theoretical and Comparative Approaches (Special Issue). In: Journal of European Public Policy. 9: 4, 2002.
  • Rhetorical action in international politics. In: Journal for International Relations . 4, 2, (1997), pp. 219-254.
  • International socialization of new states. Heuristic considerations on a research desideratum. In: Journal for International Relations. 1, 2 (1994), pp. 335-355.
  • Arms Control Regimes and the Dissolution of the Soviet Union. Realism, Institutionalism and Regime Robustness. In: Cooperation and Conflict. 29, 2 (1994), pp. 115-148.

Web links

Commons : Frank Schimmelfennig  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Schimmelfennig, Frank
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German political scientist
DATE OF BIRTH 1963
PLACE OF BIRTH Bad Marienberg