Completed PhD projects

Understanding Change and Continuity in Polish Politics. Political Elites, the Party Politics of Higher Education and the Impact of Right-Wing Populism (1989-2021)
(Mareike zum Felde, defended in 2025)


Processes of political meaning-making and contentious positioning. Recent Romanian cycles of mass protest and their activists' motives and demands
(Nina Krienke, defended in 2024)


In the public eye – A comparative analysis of the legitimation strategies of selected oligarchs in Ukraine (thesis in German)
(Steffen Halling, defended in 2024)


Central Asian Migrant Entrepreneurs in Russia: Transnational Networks and Local Opportunity Structure
(Ekaterina Vorobeva, defended in 2024)


Power, Politics, and Anti-Corruption Reforms in Ukraine: The Role of Western Actors
(Michael Martin Richter, defended in 2023)


Papers on the political economy of authoritarianism
(Olga Masyutina, defended in 2023)


Constitutional review and judicial behavior under authoritarianism 
(Yulia Khalikova, defended in 2021)


The Impact of Donor-State-Civil Society Interaction on the Sustainability of Health Aid. Case Studies of Projects combatting Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS in Armenia and Kyrgyzstan
(Gulnaz Isabekova, defended in 2021)


Setting Soft Power in Motion: Tracing the Mechanisms of Russian Soft Power in Ukraine
(Ivan Bakalov, defended in 2020)


Life after the end of a protest cycle: Comparing local trajectories of protest institutionalization in electoral authoritarianism. The case of Russia 2011-2016
(Jan Matti Dollbaum, defended in 2020)


Authoritarian Regimes in Times of Political Crises. Strategies of  Post-Soviet Authoritarian Leaders to Create Stability and Legitimacy

(Tatia Chikhladze, defended in 2019)


Presidential power and institutional change: A study on the presidency of the Russian Federation
(Fabian Burkhardt, defended in 2018)


Perspectives of the EU-Russia Energy Dialogue. A scientific scenario analysis (Thesis in German)
(Inna Chuvychkina, defended in 2018)


Comparative analysis of integration policy in Belarus and Ukraine vis-à-vis the EU and Russia. Politics of two-level games
(Alla Leukavets, defended in 2017)

Reacting to uncertainty in partial democracies: the role of negative framing in power struggles in Ukrainian energy politics, 1990s-2000s
(Katerina Bosko, defended in 2017)


Applying a Global Governance agenda in post-Soviet states: the case of EITI in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan
(Saipira Fürstenberg, defended in 2017)


Parliamentary Representation in Non-Democracies. How parliamentarians matter in Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic
(Esther Somfalvy, defended in 2017)


Monitoring Democracy in the Eastern Neighbourhood: When are the EU’s Assessments Biased and Why?
(Lusine Badalyan, defended in 2016)


Academic Corruption in Russia and Ukraine. A Comparative Analysis of the Performance of Anti-Corruption Measures in Higher Education Based on the Example of University Admissions (Thesis in German)
(Eduard Klein, defended in 2016)


The role of the mass media in competitive authoritarian regimes: the example of Russia
(Nozima Akhrarkhodjaeva, defended in 2016)


Advocating the East? The impact of EU's 2004 enlargement on the policy making process: The case of climate and renewable energy policy (Thesis in German)
(Thomas Sattich, defended in 2014)


The Changing Roles of NGOs and Economic Interest Groups in Turkey´s Europeanization Process
(Sezin Dereci, defended in 2013)


Der politische Einfluss von Wirtschaftseliten in russischen Regionen. Eine Analyse der Erdöl- und Erdgasindustrie, 1992-2005 (Thesis in German)
(Julia Kusznir, defended in 2007)


Russia’s slow farewell to the past. The CPSU-Trial of the Constitutional  Court 1992. A discourse-analytical contribution to the political sociology of Russia’s transformation (Thesis in German)
(Elke Fein, defended in 2005)


Russian small-scale entrepreneurs between business and politics. The genesis and role of trust, capital and institutions in the region of Nizhni Novgorod (Thesis in German)
(Elena Malieva, defended in 2004) 

Development of the programmatic positions of Russian political parties. Programmatic differentiation as element of party formation in post-Soviet Russia (Thesis in German)
(Jin-Sook Ju, defended in 2004)


Russian Federalism under President Putin. Discourse - Realities (Thesis in German)
(Jakob Fruchtmann, defended in 2003)