Matthew Sabbi promivierte zu Entwicklungssoziologie an der Universität Bayreuth. Daraufhin war er Postdoc der Fritz Thyssen Stiftung am Lehrstuhl für Entwicklungssoziologie (Mai 2017 bis Juni 2019) und Postdoc in der Abteilung Politik Afrikas und Entwicklungspolitik (Juli 2020 bis September 2023) an der Universität Bayreuth.

Seit Oktober 2023 ist Matthew ein postdoctoral researcher am Arbeitsbereich für Politik und Gesellschaft Afrikas des Otto-Suhr-Instituts.

Matthew Sabbis Forschungsschwerpunkte liegen in der Entwicklungspolitik und der politischen Soziologie Afrikas, insbesondere zu Fragen der Dezentralisierung, lokaler politischer Reformen und politischer Netzwerke. Einen Regionalfokus hat er in Subsahara-Afrika, vor allem Ghana und Ruanda.

1. Monographs

2017. "Local State Institutional Reforms in Ghana: Actors, Legitimacy and the Unfulfilled Promise of Participatory Development." Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlag.

2. Peer Reviewed Articles

2024. (with Jean-Baptiste Ndikubwimana). “Innovating Imihigo: A Decentralisation and Indigenous Governance Mechanism in Rwanda.”, Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne Des Études Africaines, 58 (2): 349–73. doi:10.1080/00083968.2024.2358138.

2024. (with Dieter Neubert, and Lamine Doumbia). “People and Municipalities: Decentralisation and the Articulation of Agency in Local Political Arenas in Africa.”, Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne Des Études Africaines, 58 (2): 243–61. doi:10.1080/00083968.2024.2374572.

2024. (with Anja Osei, Daniel Wigmore-Shepherd, and Ekoutiamé Ahlin). “Minding the Local Slot: Municipalities as Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions.”, Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne Des Études Africaines, 58 (2): 301–25. doi:10.1080/00083968.2024.2339490

2024. (with Dieter Neubert). "Postkoloniale Selbstkritik–und dann? Zur Überwindung inhärenter Polarisierungen und der »epistemischen Gewalt« in der Soziologie." Leviathan 52(2): 205-228, doi: 10.5771/0340-0425-2024-2-205.

2023. "‘We Did Many Projects Together’: Boundary-spanning strategies of councillors in rural Ghana", Progress in Development Studies, doi:10.1177/14649934221149610. 

2023. "Emplacing Funsi: Antinomies of a district capital and transformation in rural Ghana.", Forum for Development Studies, 50(1): 133–157, doi:10.1080/08039410.2022.2096481. 

2022. "‘Staged dilemma’: Hidden Political intents in Ghana’s Botched Referendum of 2019.", International Journal of African Renaissance Studies - Multi-, Inter- and Transdisciplinarity, 17(2): 28–50, doi:10.1080/18186874.2022.2042705.

2020. "‘Municipal Entrepreneurs’: Local Politicians and the Delivery of Urban Sanitation in Kumasi, Ghana.", Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 38(2): 221–242, doi:10.1080/02589001.2020.1795089.

2020. with Alexander Stroh. "The 'Numbers Game': Strategic Reactions to Results-Based Development Assistance in Ghana.", Studies in Comparative International Development, 55(1): 77–98, doi:10.1007/s12116-019-09296-z.

2020. with Lamine Doumbia and Dieter Neubert. "Dynamics of Everyday Life within Municipal Administrations in Francophone and Anglophone Africa.", Africa Spectrum, 55(1): 73–85, doi:10.1177/0002039720914630.

2017. "Strategic Bureaucracies: Transnational Funding and Mundane Practices of Ghanaian Local Governments.", Third World Quarterly, 38(4): 939–955, doi:10.1080/01436597.2016.1176858.

2016. with Collins Adjei Mensah. "Juggling Administrative Institutions: Local State Actors and the Management of Urban Space in Kumasi, Ghana.", Urban Forum, 27(1): 59–78, doi:10.1007/s12132-015-9262-8.

2016. with Peter Narh, Cosmas Lambini, Van Dien Pham and Trung Nguyen. "Land Sector Reforms in Ghana, Kenya and Vietnam: A Comparative Analysis of Their Effectiveness.", Land, 5(2): 8, dx.doi:10.3390/land5020008.

2015. "Competing Interests of Local Political Actors in the Making of Local Government in Ghana.", Modern Africa: Politics, History and Society, 3(1): 11–37.

3. Book Chapters

2024. “Seductions” of the International? Strategic propping of Rwanda’s image in international society. In: The Foreign Policies of East African States. Routledge: eBooks, 112–137, doi: 10.4324/9781003507222-7

2024. "Beyond disciplinary polemics? The challenge of informal structures in the study of local political institutions in Africa". In: Laakso L., Zondi S. (Eds.):Political Science in Africa: Freedom, Relevance, Impact. London: Zed Books, 117-127, doi: 10.5040/9781350299535.0014

2022. (with Alexander Stroh and Dieter Neubert). "Paradoxes of Local Self-governance: Legitimation Strategies of Rural Councillors Under National and Global Influences in Africa." In: Lauth H., Mohamad-Klotzbach C., and Neubert D. (Eds): Local Self-Governance and Varieties of Statehood: Tensions and Cooperation. Cham: Springer, 51–74. 

2022.  (with Antje Daniel and Lena Kroeker). Soziologie aus, über oder in Afrika?. In: Delitz H., Müller J., and Seyfert R. (Eds.): Handbuch Theorien der Soziologie. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 1-25, doi:10.1007/978-3-658-31744-7_3-1. 

2020. Decentralized Local Authorities and Marginal Actors in Africa: The Bridge-Building Perspective. In: Bogner A., Kößler R., Korff R., and Melber H. (Eds.): Die Welt aus der Perspektive der Entwicklungssoziologie: Festschrift für Dieter Neubert. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlag, 223 –238), doi:10.5771/9783748906681-223.

4. Working Papers

2022. (with Dieter Neubert and Alexander Stroh). Social Media is for the Elite: Local Political Communication in Ghana in Times of COVID-19. In: University of Bayreuth African Studies Working Papers No. 32. Bayreuth: Institute of African Studies.

2018. Who Runs the Municipality?: The Intractable Interest of Neo-Traditional Actors in Ghana’s Local State. In: University of Bayreuth African Studies Working Papers No. 22. Bayreuth: Institute of African Studies.

2015.  (edited with Jane Ayeko-Kümmeth). Actors, Institutions and Change: Perspectives on Africa. In: University of Bayreuth African Studies Working Papers No. 13. Bayreuth: Institute of African Studies.

2015. What Changes when Formal Organizations Reform their Structures? Local Governments and their Substructures in Ghana. In: M. Sabbi and J. Ayeko-Kümmeth (Eds.), Actors, institutions and Change: Perspectives on Africa. Bayreuth African Studies Working Papers No. 13, 32–57. Bayreuth: Institute of African Studies.