Joachim Jens Hesse

Joachim Jens Hesse (born November 20, 1942 ; † February 17, 2018 ) was a German political , political and administrative scientist . After numerous appointments, he has been professor of political science with a focus on domestic politics, European politics and comparative political science at the Free University of Berlin since 1997 and headed the International Institute for Political and European Studies (ISE) in Berlin .

Life

From 1961 to 1966, Hesse studied economics , political science and public law in Berlin , Göttingen , Kiel and Cologne . 1967/68 followed a doctoral scholarship at New York University and Harvard University and in 1970 a postdoctoral fellowship . From 1968 to 1972 Hesse was a research assistant at the Research Center for Local Research in Berlin (today: German Institute for Urban Studies ).

In 1973 he became professor for political and administrative sciences at the University of Konstanz , followed by chairs in Duisburg / Düsseldorf (1976), Speyer ( German University for Administrative Sciences , 1983), Oxford (Ford-Monnet Professor for Comparative Government and European Policy; Official Fellow , Nuffield College , 1989) and at the Free University of Berlin (since 1997); in Berlin he also set up the European Center for Political Science and State Practice, supported by the three Berlin universities, and until his death headed its successor, the International Institute for Political and European Studies (ISE).

Hesse was visiting professor at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium, as well as at various US, European and Asian universities (most recently: University of Tokyo , Graduate School of Law and Politics). He was a fellow at several Centers for Advanced Studies (Kyoto, Budapest, Wassenaar, Freiburg) and a member of the Academia Europaea and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation .

Grave of Joachim Jens Hesse in the Heerstrasse cemetery in Berlin-Westend

Hesse was one of the most renowned political and political scientists in Germany. In the connection of fundamental, always empirically based publications on the political system of Germany and its environment, he set analytical standards. The early turn to comparative research and to the development of the European Union , together with a subsequent appointment to Oxford, helped considerably the international perception of the German social sciences. Ultimately, an unusual interdisciplinary approach and an explicit practical approach (EU, federal government, states, municipalities) characterize Hesse's work, based on the foundation of the bilingual “Zeitschrift für Staats- und Europawwissenschaften” (ZSE). A number of important domestic and European reform policies are associated with his name, including state reforms in Germany and Europe.

Joachim Jens Hesse died in February 2018 at the age of 75. His grave is in the state-owned cemetery Heerstraße in Berlin-Westend .

Fields of work

Hesse's main areas of work included the government systems of the Federal Republic of Germany and other western industrialized countries, national and international comparison of state and administrative reforms, reform of the public sector in Central and Eastern Europe, processes of federalization and regionalization, and European politics. As Senior Consultant, Hesse advised international organizations, including the OECD (since 1970), the European Union (since 1988), the United Nations (since 1991), the International Labor Organization (since 1992) and the World Bank (since 1995).

Hesse was the editor of the Zeitschrift für Staats- und Europawwissenschaften (ZSE) as well as numerous other domestic and foreign journals and publications, including state reform in Germany and Europe. The public sector in national and international comparison and political science and state practice .

Appreciations

• Florian Grotz / Theo AJ Toonen (eds.) Crossing Borders: Constitutional Development and Internationalization. Essays in Honor of Joachim Jens Hesse , Berlin: de Gruyter, 2007.
• Anthony B. Atkinson / Peter A. Huber / Harold James / Fritz W. Scharpf (eds.) The nation state and the European Union: An inventory. Liber amicorum for Joachim Jens Hesse , Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2016.
• Dietrich Fürst: Joachim Jens Hesse, in: Jesse, E. / Liebold, S., German Political Scientists - Work and Effect , Baden-Baden: Nomos 2014, pp. 361–375.
• Numerous honors from domestic and foreign universities, including an honorary doctorate for Dr. soc. of the Masaryk University Brno / Brünn (April 11, 2008) for the "over ten years of participation in the reconstruction of the political systems and academic infrastructure in the Central and Eastern European countries after 1990".

Works (selection of recent publications)

• Paradoxes in Public Sector Reform. An International Comparison (with C. Hood and BG Peters), Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 2003.
• Professionalizing Europe: Organization of competencies and institutional reform within the framework of the European Union (with F. Grotz), Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 2005.
• Spatial Planning and Regional Development: Reform Options for a Traditional Policy Field, Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2006.
• From becoming Europe. The European Constitutional Treaty: Convention work, political consensus building, material outcome, Berlin: de Gruyter, 2007.
• Labor and social administration in the federal state , Nomos: Baden-Baden, 2010.
• The internationalization of science policy. National science systems in comparison (India, China, Japan, Singapore, USA, Great Britain, Finland, Germany) , Duncker & Humblot: Berlin, 2011.
• The realignment of the Bundeswehr: Approach, implementation and results in a national and international comparison , Nomos: Baden-Baden 2015.
• Self-administration at risk? The "Great Circles" in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , Nomos: Baden-Baden 2015.
• The government system of the Federal Republic of Germany, 11th edition, Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2017 (i. E.).

Web links

• Literature by and about Joachim Jens Hesse in the catalog of the German National Library
• Prof. Dr. Dr. hc Joachim Jens Hesse

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The Otto Suhr Institute says goodbye to Prof. Dr. Dr. hc Joachim Jens Hesse. Otto Suhr Institute, March 29, 2018, accessed on April 4, 2018 . 
2. ↑ Joachim Jens Hesse. Masaryk University Brno, accessed on February 24, 2018 .