Thomas Demmelhuber

Bio: Thomas Demmelhuber is an academic researcher from University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. The author has contributed to research in topics: Autocracy & Monarchy. The author has an hindex of 8, co-authored 28 publications receiving 224 citations. Previous affiliations of Thomas Demmelhuber include University of Hildesheim.

Gravity centres of authoritarian rule: a conceptual approach

Abstract: The resilience of autocratic regimes in various world regions and the emerging model of illiberal capitalist autocracies (China, Russia) have led scholars to shift their attention to the durability of such regimes Autocracies not only resist the global spread of democracy, but are developing their own domestic efforts in the promotion of autocracy This study argues that processes at the regional level aim at the dissemination and diffusion of autocratic norms, structures, processes, policy approaches or practices Likewise, we propose that authoritarian gravity centres can be attributed with both the active promotion of autocracy as well as the inducement of diffusion effects Our research tries to shed some light on their strategies and modes of influence on countries in their geopolitical proximity (target states)

Playing the regional card: why and how authoritarian gravity centres exploit regional organisations

Abstract: The evidence of regional authoritarian clustering across different world regions goes together with the finding that after the end of the bipolar world regional patterns of interaction beca...

Monarchies and Republics, State and Regime, Durability and Fragility in View of the Arab Spring

Abstract: In trying to ascertain the different trajectories followed by monarchies and republics since the “Arab Spring” in 2011, analysts and academics concur that a gap has opened, despite continuing debates as to whether analysing this imbalance between types of polity can help in understanding and explaining these diverse trajectories. Examining the Gulf monarchies produces the following arguments: (1) the monarchy versus republic issue is important for analysing Middle East politics in light of the Arab Spring and (2) the state as a frame of reference is important for understanding the nature of political change. Here, our analytical approach to the durability of the Gulf monarchies incorporates the concept of social order and the impact of pre-state patterns. Both “state” and “regime” are needed in the analytical framework, since, in this specific case, they are different categories, yet two sides of the same coin. Thus, state legitimacy equals regime legitimacy.

The European Union and illegal migration in the southern Mediterranean: the trap of competing policy concepts

Abstract: Starting with the European Security Strategy (ESS) in 2003 the European Union reiterated that security, stability, and good governance in its near neighbourhood are key foreign policy priorities. In consideration of new kinds of security threats, such as illegal migration and various forms of terrorist acts in the southern Mediterranean, we have been witnessing an on-going externalisation of security cooperation in the field of Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) with third countries in the region and beyond. In terms of illegal migration, FRONTEX acts as the main instrument in the management of Europe's border. This border control agency aims at curbing illegal migration in cooperation with third countries. However, the question remains whether it is a further step in deepening the chronic deficit of coherence in EU foreign policy. By externalising security cooperation the EU contradicts its policies in the fields of democracy promotion, rule of law, and human rights which are based on the EU's self-perceptio...

The Europeanization of Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract: The Europeanization of Central and Eastern Europe. Edited by Frank Schimmelfennig and Ulrich Sedelmeier. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2005. 256p. $22.50. The postcommunist transformations in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) have generated a rich body of literature over the past 15 years. Most works on CEE transitions have drawn from the comparative politics literature and treated international factors, at best, as secondary. Yet with the recent eastern expansion of the Council of Europe, NATO, and the European Union, there has been a growing scholarly interest in the impact of international institutions on domestic changes in this region.