Nils-Christian Bormann

• since October 2020: Professor of International Political Science at the University of Witten/Herdecke.
• Positions at the University of Essex (UK), the University of Exeter (UK), Perry World House at the University of Pennsylvania (USA), the University of Pittsburgh (USA), and The Politics of Inequality Cluster at the University of Konstanz (Germany)
• Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH): Master in Comparative and International Studies and PhD in Political Science
• Jacobs University Bremen: Bachelor in Integrated Social Studies

Journal articles

• Bormann, Nils-Christian & Matt Golder (2022). “Democratic Electoral Systems Around the World, 1946-2020.” Electoral Studies Vol. 78 August 2022.
• Müller-Crepon, Carl, Yannick Pengl & Nils-Christian Bormann (2022). “Linking Ethnic Data from Africa.” Journal of Peace Research 59(3):425-435.
• Bormann, Nils-Christian, Lars-Erik Cederman, Yannick Pengl, Nils B. Weidmann (2021). “Globalization, Institutions, and Ethnic Inequality.” International Organization 75(3):665-697.
• Wucherpfennig, Julian, Aya Kachi, Nils-Christian Bormann & Philipp Hunziker (2021). “A Fast Estimator for Binary Choice Models with Spatial, Temporal, and Spatio-Temporal Interdependence.” Political Analysis 29(4):570-576.
• Bormann, Nils-Christian (2019). “Uncertainty, Cleavages and Ethnic Coalitions.” Journal of Politics. 81(2):471-486.
• Bormann, Nils-Christian, Lars-Erik Cederman, Scott Gates, Benjamin T. Graham, Simon Hug, Kaare Strøm & Julian Wucherpfennig (2019). “Power Sharing: Institutions, Behavior, and Peace” American Journal of Political Science. 63(1):84-100.
• Bolleyer, Nicole, Felix-Christopher von Nostitz & Nils-Christian Bormann (2019). “Judicial Decision-Making within Political Parties: A Political Approach.” Party Politics 25(5):724-735.
• Bormann, Nils-Christian & Burcu Savun (2018). “Reputation, Concessions, and Territorial Civil War: Do Ethnic Dominoes Fall, or Don’t They?” Journal of Peace Research. 55(5):671-686.
• Bormann, Nils-Christian, Lars-Erik Cederman, and Manuel Vogt (2017). “Language, Religion, and Ethnic Civil War” Journal of Conflict Resolution 61(4):744-771.
• Bormann, Nils-Christian & Jesse Hammond (2016). “A Slippery Slope – The Domestic Diffusion of Ethnic Civil War” International Studies Quarterly 60(4):587-598.
• Bormann, Nils-Christian & Thomas Winzen (2016). “Contingent Learning: The Diffusion of Parliamentary Oversight Institutions in the EU” European Journal of Political Research 55(3):589-608.
• Cederman, Lars-Erik, Nils Weidmann, and Nils-Christian Bormann (2015). “Triangulating Horizontal Inequality: Toward Improved Conflict Analysis.” Journal of Peace Research 52(6):806-821.
• Vogt, Manuel, Nils-Christian Bormann, Lars-Erik Cederman, Philipp Hunziker & Seraina Ruegger (2015). “The Ethnic Power Relations Dataset: Integrating Data on Ethnicity, Geography, and Conflict.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 59(7):1327-1342.
• Bormann, Nils-Christian & Matt Golder. (2013) “Electoral Systems Around the World: 1946-2011.” Electoral Studies 32(2):360-369.
• Bormann, Nils-Christian. (2010) “Patterns of Democracy and Its Critics.” Living Reviews in Democracy 2.

Book chapter

• Bormann, Nils-Christian (2017). “Ethnic Power-Sharing Coalitions and Democratization.” Book Chapters In A. McCulloch & J. McGarry (Eds.) Power Sharing: Empirical and Normative Challenges. Routledge: London, UK. www
• Vogt, Manuel, Nils-Christian Bormann & Lars-Erik Cederman (2016). “Democracy, Ethnic Exclusion, and Civil Conflict: The Arab Spring Revolutions from a Global Comparative Perspective.” In D. A. Backer & R. Bhavnani (Eds.). Peace and Conflict. Routledge: London, UK. www
• Bormann, Nils-Christian, Manuel Vogt & Lars-Erik Cederman (2012). “Der Arabische Frühling und die Bestimmung der demokratischen Gemeinschaft.” In Andreas Auer (Ed.) Demokratisierung im arabischen Raum. Zentrum für Demokratie in Aarau, Switzerland.

Prof. Bormann researches instability and violence in politics both in Europe and worldwide. In Germany, the number of politically motivated crimes is on the rise again, right-wing parties are gaining power, are even back in European governments or are part of coalitions. Prof. Bormann explores questions such as: What can we learn from political conflicts? Which factors lead to instability? Why do civil wars occur?

One example of his research is the civil war and the far-reaching processes of upheaval in Ethiopia. Here, the focus is on domestic and foreign policy reforms that are simultaneously accompanied by ethnic tensions, outbreaks of violence, and internal displacement. The focus region is Tigray, where the military conflict escalated in November 2020.

He has also been leading the research project "Democracy, Anger, and Elite Responses (DANGER)", funded by the European Research Council (ERC), since early 2021. Together with a team, he investigates the dangers posed to European democracies by political violence. Furthermore, he considers how politicians, for whom only a democratic system of government is an option, can counter these dangers.

Threats to democracy, civil wars, political violence, separatism

Memberships

    Working Group Peace & Conflict Research
    American Political Science Association
    European Political Science Association
    Peace Science Society (International)