I joined the Institute for Political Science in 2010 as Professor of Transnational Governance. From 2017 to 2019 I was also Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and History. I studied political science, sociology and geography at the University of Munich (MA, 1998) and completed my doctoral dissertation at the European University Institute in Florence / Italy (2002). Before coming to Darmstadt I worked at the University of Bremen, Jacobs University and the Robert-Schuman-Centre for Advanced Studies. I was a visiting professor at the University of Pavia, LUISS Guido Carli (Rome) and the Max-Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg. As research fellow I visited the University of Cambridge, the University of Montréal and the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin (WZB). I have a wide range of research interests that include international organizations (both public and private), the history of international thought and international political theory. My latest monograph is International Organizations as Technocratic Utopia (Oxford University Press, 2021). Since April 2023 I am directing the DFG Research Training Group “Standards of Governance”.
From 15 March to 11 April, Jens Steffek will be a visiting fellow at the Centre for International Peace and Security Studies at McGill University (CIPSS) in Montréal. Together with its sister institution, the Centre d’études sur la paix et la sécurité international (CEPI) at the Université de Montréal, it is one of the few research centres in Canada to be both bilingual and based at two different universities. It brings together researchers interested in issues related to international peace, security, global governance, international organizations, and international cooperation. While in Montréal, Jens Steffek will give talks on the populist backlash against international organizations and on the societal foundations of transnational standardization.
Office hours
From October 17, 2024, the consultation hours will take place on Thursdays from 4 to 5 p.m. during the winter semester.