Wolfgang Merkel

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Wolfgang Merkel, 2010.

Wolfgang Merkel (born January 6, 1952 in Hof ) is a German political scientist .

Since 2004 he has been Director of the Democracy and Democratization Department at the Berlin Social Science Center and Professor of Comparative Politics and Democracy Research at the Humboldt University in Berlin . Merkel is one of the most respected representatives of comparative political science in German-speaking countries. He significantly shaped research on democratization processes, system changes and system breakdowns.

life and work

Wolfgang Merkel comes from a Franconian Protestant family. The mother is a PhD in German and the father is a lawyer. His brother is the legal scholar Reinhard Merkel . Already during his school days he was interested in sport and politics. He was Bavarian junior champion in pentathlon . Politically, he was involved in the “socialist student collective Hof” and in the “Roten-Fahne-Kreis-Hof”. However, after a short time he distanced himself from these left-wing revolutionary groups. At the humanistic grammar school, he passed the Abitur in 1973. After completing his military service, he began studying political science, history and sports / sports science at the University of Heidelberg in 1974 . Merkel was opposed to the left Heidelberg students and their radical positions. In 1980 he passed the state examination in these three subjects. His thesis was entitled "Inconsistency and Ambivalence of the Late Writings of Friedrich Engels". With Klaus von Beyme , he began his doctoral thesis in 1981 on the role and process of change of the Socialist Party in the Italian political system. In 1985 he received his doctorate in political science from Heidelberg University. From 1985 to 1989 he was a research assistant for Claus Offe at Bielefeld University and from 1988 to 1989 at the Center for European Studies at Harvard University . In 1989 he again became Beyme's assistant at the Institute for Political Science in Heidelberg . There he completed his habilitation with a thesis on the end of social democracy? Power resources and government policy in a Western European comparison .

After completing his habilitation in political science in 1992 , he represented the professorship for comparative government, economics and society at the University of Mainz between 1993 and 1994 . In October 1994 he was appointed full professor to this chair. Between 1997 and 1998 he was managing director of the Institute for Political Science at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. Merkel has been a non-party full member of the SPD's Fundamental Values ​​Commission since 1998 .

In 1999 Merkel moved to the Institute for Political Science at Heidelberg University and took over the Friedrich chair from Manfred G. Schmidt . Until 2001 he was its managing director. From 2002 he was an independent member of the permanent advisory and expert group of the Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate , Kurt Beck . Since April 2004 he has been director of the department “Democracy: Structures, Performance Profile and Challenges” at the Social Science Research Center Berlin and Professor of Political Science at the Institute for Social Sciences at the Humboldt University in Berlin. Merkel is also active as a reviewer for the Fritz Thyssen Foundation , the German Research Foundation , the Volkswagen Foundation , the Bertelsmann Foundation , the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes , the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and a reviewer and advisory board for various domestic and foreign specialist journals .

Merkel deals with democratization and transformation theories within comparative political science . His main area of ​​work is democracy research, which is divided into system transformation, social democracy and challenges to democracy. With his presentation of system transformation , he presented a standard work. Together with Hans-Jürgen Puhle and Aurel Croissant, he formulated the term defective democracy and developed it further.

Merkel was awarded numerous scientific honors and memberships for his research. In January 1996 Merkel received a first prize from the Fritz Thyssen Foundation for the article “A comparison of restrictions and opportunities for democratic consolidation in post-communist societies in East Central Europe”. Since 2007 he has been a full member of the social science class of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences . He was appointed to the Scientific Advisory Board and the University Commission of Heidelberg University (2006–2012). Merkel was visiting professor at the Instituto Juan March in Madrid and at the University of Sydney . In March 2010 Merkel was awarded the "Frank Cass Prize" for the contribution "Democracy through War?", For the best article in the magazine "Democratization" of 2008. A commemorative publication was dedicated to him on the occasion of his 65th birthday.

Merkel is a member of the Advisory Board of the Bertelsmann Transformation Index .

Fonts (selection)

  • System transformation. An introduction to the theory and empiricism of transformation research. 2nd, revised and expanded edition, Wiesbaden 2010, ISBN 978-3-531-14559-4 .
  • The reform ability of social democracy. Challenges and balance sheet of government policy in Western Europe. Wiesbaden 2006, ISBN 3-531-14750-1 .
  • End of Social Democracy? Power resources and government policy in a Western European comparison (= theory and society. Vol. 30). Campus-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1986, ISBN 3-593-34975-2 .

literature

  • Aurel Croissant, Sascha Kneip, Alexander Petring (eds.): Democracy, dictatorship, justice. Festschrift for Wolfgang Merkel. Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, Wiesbaden, 2017, ISBN 978-3-658-16089-0 .

Web links

Commons : Wolfgang Merkel  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Aurel Croissant, Sascha Kneip, Alexander Petring: Introduction. In this. (Ed.): Democracy, dictatorship, justice. Festschrift for Wolfgang Merkel. Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, Wiesbaden, 2017, pp. 1–37, here: p. 3.
  2. ↑ Hannah Bethke: The criminal lawyer Reinhard Merkel for the seventieth . In: FAZ.NET April 12, 2020, accessed April 24, 2020.
  3. ↑ Scholarships, prizes, research projects, reviewers , Humboldt University Berlin, accessed on July 10, 2020.
  4. ↑ Wolfgang Merkel: Restrictions and Chances of Democratic Consolidation in Post-Communist Societies: East Central Europe in Comparison. In: Berliner Journal für Soziologie 4, 1994, pp. 463–484 ( online )
  5. ↑ Advisory Board . In: Bertelsmann Transformation Index. Bertelsmann Stiftung, accessed on July 10, 2020.
personal data
SURNAME Merkel, Wolfgang
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German political scientist
DATE OF BIRTH January 6, 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH Hof (Saale)