Democracy’s Challengers: Need for Chaos and Desire for Greatness in German Political Culture

Political Science · University of Duisburg-Essen
Professor in the Department of Political Science – Working Group Empirical Political Science. I study how immigration shapes politics and society, the political psychology behind attitudes, extremism and the vote, and how public policy feeds back into what citizens think and do.

I led research projects funded by the German Research Foundation and the Fritz Thyssen Foundation. My work has appeared in the American Political Science Review, the Journal of Politics, British Journal of Political Science, and Social Forces, among others.
Before Duisburg-Essen I was a postdoctoral researcher and Visiting Associate Professor at the Institute of Sociology and Social Psychology, University of Cologne, and a visiting researcher in Vancouver, Odense, and Oxford.
Research
Separate literatures, one question: when do political and social contexts pull people together, and when do they push them apart?
Publications
Preprints and replication files are linked wherever they exist.
in press


2026




2025






2024


2023
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2021

Link/Preprint/Pre-analysis plan/Replication
Press: higgs.ch, heidi.news

2020





2019



2017
2015

Young Scholar Award 2016, Arbeitsgemeinschaft Sozialwissenschaftlicher Institute (ASI)

2014

2024

2025

2023

2022
2020

2026
2025
2024
2023
2020
2019
2015
German Thesis Award (Deutscher Studienpreis, 2. Preis), Körber-Stiftung 2016 · Honorable mention DVPW-Förderpreis 2016
Projects
Teaching & outreach
Most students meet quantitative methods as an obstacle. Both projects below try to change that — one as a textbook, one as short video.

A free, case-based introduction that works through real research questions instead of abstract formulas. Available online and as a PDF.
DataVibes — short-form videos on statistics and data analysis on Instagram and TikTok.
Media presence
Commentary and interviews on elections, the radical right, migration and local politics — in German, English, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese outlets.
Curriculum vitae
Appointments, education, awards, third-party funding, professional service, and the list of publications.
Contact
Working Group of Empirical Political Science, Department of Political Science, University of Duisburg-Essen, Forsthausweg 2, 47057 Duisburg, Germany.
Impressum
Angaben nach § 5 DDG und Art. 13 DSGVO. Diese Seite ist eine private Website und kein Angebot der Universität Duisburg-Essen.