Teaching
The Historical Political Economy of State Building
Master Seminar
University of Lucerne Fall Semester 2026
Course description: This course introduces students to the historical political economy of state building. The field examines how political and economic actors interact over time and how these interactions shape long-run institutional development. In the first part of the course, we discuss the foundations of historical political economy: its core questions, main methods, and seminal contributions. In the second part, we focus on the rise of the modern state. We ask where the modern state comes from, what its historical predecessors looked like, and why state capacity developed unevenly across societies. Particular attention is paid to the political and economic foundations of state building, including extraction, warfare, bargaining, religion, bureaucracy, economic institutions, and colonialism. The course takes a comparative perspective and explores how different historical trajectories produced distinct forms of statehood across the world. Throughout, students will engage with classic and contemporary scholarship on the origins of state capacity and the long-run development of political order.
Climate Change and (Spatial) Inequality
Seminar (BA and MA)
University of Lucerne Fall Semester 2025
Course description: The ramifications of climate change present significant challenges for societies worldwide. The increase in frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as floods and storms, alongside the more gradual onset of events like sea-level rise and desertification, underscores the urgent need for action. However, it is evident that the exposure to and vulnerability towards these climate-related hazards are disproportionately distributed both among and within societies. The adverse impacts of climate hazards are often significantly worse in countries in the Global South. Additionally, the consequences of climate change depend on a host of further societal as well as individual characteristics such as wealth, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, gender, access to power and resources, and (un-)favorable geography. This seminar will investigate these unequal impacts of climate change for human societies across a variety of (spatial) scales, ranging from individuals to continents. Through the lens of hazards, exposure, and vulnerability, we will dissect the multidimensional effects of climate change. Our aim is to elucidate how existing inequalities shape the trajectory and magnitude of these impacts. Furthermore, we will explore the potential of international climate finance as a way to mitigate these global disparities. In doing so, we will also pay special attention to the use and intuition behind the most important empirical econometric methods applied in the field.
Climate Change and (Spatial) Inequality
Master Seminar
University of Lucerne Fall Semester 2024
Course description: The ramifications of climate change present significant challenges for societies worldwide. The increase in frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as floods and storms, alongside the more gradual onset of events like sea-level rise and desertification, underscores the urgent need for action. However, it is evident that the exposure to and vulnerability towards these climate-related hazards are disproportionately distributed both among and within societies. The adverse impacts of climate hazards are often significantly worse in countries in the Global South. Additionally, the consequences of climate change depend on a host of further societal as well as individual characteristics such as wealth, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, gender, access to power and resources, and (un-)favorable geography. Paradoxically, populations in cooler climates might even derive certain benefits from an increase in global temperatures. This seminar will investigate these unequal impacts of climate change for human societies across a variety of (spatial) scales, ranging from individuals to continents. Through the lens of hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience, we will dissect the multifaceted effects of climate change. Our aim is to elucidate how existing inequalities shape the trajectory and magnitude of these impacts. Furthermore, we will explore the potential of international climate finance as a way to mitigate these global disparities.
Further teaching experience
- Applied Data Management for Social Scientists — Course Tutorial (PhD level), University of Konstanz, February 2024
- International Relations and European Integration — Course Tutorial (Bachelor level), University of Konstanz, October 2021 – April 2022
- Methods of Empirical Social Science Research — Course Tutorial (Bachelor level), Osnabrück University, April 2019 – September 2019