Im Jahr 2010 promovierte ich im Feld der Afrikanistik an der Universität Leipzig. Bis 2018 hatte ich eine Postdoc-Stelle am Lehrstuhl für Internationale Beziehungen und Konfliktmanagement (Prof. Katharina Holzinger) an der Universität Konstanz, Fachbereich Politik und Öffentliche Verwaltung inne. Ab August 2018 war ich als unabhängiger Senior Researcher an der Universität Konstanz tätig und leite seit dieser Zeit das EU-geförderte Projekt "Do Legislatures Enhances Democracy in Africa? DLEDA" (ERC Starting Grant 2017-759537). Im Oktober 2022 erfolgte mein Wechsel an die Freie Universität Berlin, an der ich den Arbeitsbereich für Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft mit dem Schwerpunkt Politik und Gesellschaft in Afrika leite.

Meine Forschungsinteressen liegen im Bereich der afrikanischen Politik und der politischen Soziologie mit einem besonderen Schwerpunkt auf Demokratisierung und elektoraler Autokratien. Mein Habilitationsprojekt befasste sich mit politischen Eliten und ihren formellen und informellen Netzwerken in Ghana, Togo und Sierra Leone. Das aktuelle Projekt DLEDA versucht, die Rolle von Parlamenten in verschiedenen Regimen in Afrika zu verstehen. Es umfasst sieben Fallstudien: Benin, Botswana, Kamerun, Gabun, Tansania, Togo und Uganda.

1. Monographs

2012. Party-Voter Linkage in Ghana and Senegal: A Comparative Perspective. Wiesbaden: VS-Verlag.

 2. Journals (peer-reviewed)

2024. (with Matthew Sabbi, 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

2023. (with Elisabeth Bruhn). "Tanzania under Magufuli: the personalization of a party-based regime", Democratization, online first  https://doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2023.2273871. 

2022. “Personal Power in Africa: Legislative Networks and Executive Appointments in Ghana, Togo, and Gabon”, Government and Opposition, online first https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/government-and-opposition/article/personal-power-in-africa-legislative-networks-and-executive-appointments-in-ghana-togo-and-gabon/EAA750D844280F6C9128B36E04E9D312

2022. “Vicious Cycles: Candidate Selection, Vertical Accountability, and MPs' Performance in Sierra Leone”, Africa Today Vol. 68(3): 109-129.

2021. “Post-conflict democratization in Sierra Leone: The role of the parliament” Journal of Legislative Studies, 27(1): 112-135

2020. “Presidential term limits and regime types: When do leaders respect constitutional norms?”, Africa Spectrum 55(3): 251-271.

2018. “Elite Theory and Political Transitions: Networks of Power in Ghana and Togo”. Comparative Politics 51(1): 21–42.

2018. “Like Father, like Son? Power and Influence across Two Gnassingbé Presidencies in Togo”. Democratization 25(8): 1460–80.

2018. (with Thomas Malang). “Party, ethnicity, or region? Determinants of informal political exchange in the parliament of Ghana”, Party Politics, 24(4), 410–420.

2016. “Formal Party Organisation and Informal Relations in African Parties: Evidence from Ghana”, The Journal of Modern African Studies 54(1): 37-66.

2015. “Elites and Democracy in Ghana: A Social Network Approach”, African Affairs 114 (457): 529–54.

2014. “From Conflict to Consensus? Elite Integration and Democracy in Ghana”, Comparative Sociology 13 (4), 503-530.

2013. “Political Parties in Ghana: Agents of Democracy?”, Journal of Contemporary African Studies 31 (4), 543-563.

2013. “Party-Voter Linkage in Senegal: The Rise and Fall of Abdoulaye Wade and the Parti Démocratique Sénégalais”, Journal of African Elections 12, 1, 84-108.

2013. “Party System Institutionalization in Ghana and Senegal”, Journal of Asian and African Studies 48, 5, 577-593.

2006. “La connexion entre les partis et les électeurs en Afrique: Le cas Ghanéen”, Politique Africaine N°104.

3. Chapters in edited volumes

2021. „Elites and Political Representation in West Africa”, in Elites, Cultures, and the Politics of Accountability in Africa, edited by Rogers Orock and Wale Adebanwi, Michigan University Press: Ann Arbor, 85-111.

2019. (with Dominik Balthasar). “Collaborating for Peace. An Analysis of Networks of Cooperation in Somalia”. In War and Peace in Somalia: National Grievances, Local Conflict and Al-Shabaab, eds. Michael Keating and Matt Waldman. New York: Oxford University Press, 477–88.

2018. (with Hervé Akinocho) “Constitutional Policies: Presidential Term Limits in Togo”, for the book Policy Styles and Policy-Making: Exploring the National Dimension, edited by Michael Howlett and Jale Tosun, Routledge.

2017. “Elites and Democracy in Ghana: A Social Network Approach”, in Nic Cheeseman, Lindsay Whitfield, & Carl Death (Eds.), The African Affairs Reader: Key Texts in Politics, Development, and International Relations (pp. 227–252). Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.

2014. “The 2012 Senegalese Presidential Elections”, in Lodge, Tom & Fakir, Ebrahim (eds.): African Political Parties. Johannesburg: Jacana Media.

4. Other Journals

2007. „Parteien und gesellschaftliche Verankerung in Ghana”, KAS Auslandsinformationen Juli 2007, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS).

5. Book Reviews

2008. Amoah, Michael: Reconstructing the Nation in Africa. In: Africa Today, 55/1, 2008. 127-130.

6. Blog

“Political Parties and Democracy in Ghana”, for the Weblog “Democracy in Africa”, http://democracyinafrica.org/political-parties-democracy-ghana/

7. Media

https://theconversation.com/a-tug-of-war-in-togo-over-term-limits-and-the-distribution-of-power-100731

http://crop-africa.org/les-deputes-togolais-doivent-plus-se-parler/