Since April 2023, Martin Welz is Professor for Comparative Studies of Political Culture. He studied Politics and Public Administration at the University of Konstanz and the University of Pretoria as well as International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. In 2011, he received his PhD at the University of Konstanz with a dissertation that dealt with the African Union. Thereafter, he worked as post-doctoral researcher at the universities of Konstanz and Hamburg, served as interim professor at the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, and was visiting scholar at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. Field work brought him to Ethiopia, Mauritius, South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe amongst others. Prof. Martin Welz also serves as regional coordinator for West and Central Africa for the Bertelsmann Transformation Index.
Research interests
His research is concerned with African history and politics, the African Union, Africa’s role in the world as well as with international orders and peace operations. He is the author of “Africa since Decolonization: The History and Politics of a Diverse Continent” that was published in English and German with Cambridge University Press and Kohlhammer. He also authored several articles related to his research in renowned international journals.
Ten most important publications
- Welz, Martin 2022: The Chagos Islands and international orders: human rights, rule of law, and foreign rule, International Relations (online first).
- Welz, Martin 2022: Omnibalancing and international interventions: How Chad’s president Déby benefitted from troop deployment, Contemporary Security Policy Vol 43(2), 382-406.
- Welz, Martin 2022: Institutional Choice, Risk, and Control: The G5 Sahel and Conflict Management in the Sahel, International Peacekeeping 29(2), 235-257.
- Welz, Martin 2021: Africa since decolonization: the history and politics of a diverse continent. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, also published in German: Afrika seit der Dekolonisation: Geschichte und Politik. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer.
- Welz, Martin 2020: Lock-in effects, benefits, and delegation chains: the African Union’s relations with its member states through a principal-agent perspective, Cambridge Review of International Affairs 33(2), 150-178.
- Welz, Martin 2016: Multi-actor peace operations and inter-organizational relations: insights from the Central African Republic, International Peacekeeping 23(4), 568-591.
- Welz, Martin 2014: Crisis in the Central African Republic and the international response, African Affairs 113(453), 601-610.
- Weiss, Thomas G. & Martin Welz 2014: The UN and AU in Mali and beyond, a shotgun wedding? International Affairs Vol. 90(4), 889-905.
- Welz, Martin 2013: The African Union beyond Africa: explaining the limited impact of Africa’s continental organization on global governance, Global Governance Vol. 19(3), 425-441.
- Welz, Martin 2012: Integrating Africa: decolonization’s legacies, sovereignty and the African Union. London: Routledge.