Sonja Grimm - EDP Network

Sonja Grimm

EDP Network Member

Dr. Sonja Grimm is senior lecturer (Akademische Rätin) at the Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Konstanz, Germany. Currently, she is Professor for Political Science ad interim at the Department of Political Science, University of Basel, Switzerland.

Sonja specializes in democratization studies, the study of state-building and transition to democracy in post-conflict societies and fragile states, international democracy promotion, development cooperation and EU integration. Her research projects deal with EU democracy promotion in the Western Balkans, the effectiveness of international democracy promotion, and the international politics of fragile states. Most recently, she has started to observe the consequences of the Arab spring in the MENA region. Her cumulative habilitation focuses on “Studies of International Democracy Promotion in Post-conflict Societies and Fragile States”. Sonja teaches various courses for the Political Science and Public Policy Bachelors and Masters majors at the university of Konstanz. Sonja has been visiting researcher and guest lecturer at the universities of Gothenburg, New Caledonia, Nottingham, Oxford, and Prague.

Before coming to Konstanz, Sonja worked as researcher at the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB) in the research unit “Democracy and Democratization” and taught at the Humboldt University in Berlin. She earned her doctoral degree from the Institute of Social Sciences at the Humboldt University in Berlin. Her dissertation, “Erzwungene Demokratie. Politische Neuordnung unter externer Aufsicht in Nachkriegsgesellschaften” [Imposed Democracy: Political New Order under External Oversight in Post-War Societies] focuses on the role of external actors in the building up of democratic institutions after a civil war and military intervention. Before working on her dissertation, from 1998 to 2004 Sonja studied political science, history, and art history at the Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg and at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques, Science Po, Paris.

More about Sonja Grimm here.

Contact: sonja.grimm [at] external-democracy-promotion.eu

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Publications by Sonja Grimm

Jan Matti Dollbaum, Véronique Dudouet, Sonja Grimm, Sebastian Hellmeier | 2023

Pro-Democracy Movements in a Comparative Perspective

In: Frontiers in Political Science, Volume 5.

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Sonja Grimm | 2023

Investigating the Root Causes of Fragility

In: Handbook of Fragile States, pp 19-38.

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Sonja Grimm | 2019

Democracy promotion in EU enlargement negotiations: more interaction, less hierarchy

in: Democratization (2019), 26:5, 851-868.

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Sonja Grimm, Brigitte Weiffen | 2018

Domestic elites and external actors in post-conflict democratization

Special Issue of the Journal Conflict, Security & Development, 18:4.

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Sonja Grimm, Brigitte Weiffen | 2018

Domestic elites and external actors in post-conflict democratisation: mapping interactions and their impact

in: Conflict, Security and Development 18:4, 257-282.

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Sonja Grimm, Okka Lou Mathis | 2017

Democratization via Aid? The European Union’s Democracy Promotion in the Western Balkans, 1990-2010

in: European Union Politics, published online: 17 September 2017.

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Sonja Grimm, Lisa Groß | 2016

Conflicts of Preferences and Domestic Constraints: Understanding Reform Failure in Liberal Statebuilding and Democracy Promotion

in: Contemporary Politics, 22: 2, 125-143.

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Janina Steinert, Sonja Grimm | 2015

Too Good to Be True? UN Peacebuilding and the Democratization of War-Torn States

in: Conflict Management and Peace Science 32: 5, 513–535.

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Sonja Grimm | 2015

European Democracy Promotion in Crisis: Conflicts of Policy Objectives, Neglected External-Domestic Interactions and the Authoritarian Backlash

in: Global Policy 6: 1, 73-82.

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Sonja Grimm, Okka Lou Mathis | 2015

Stability first, Development second, Democracy third: The European Union’s Policy towards Post-conflict Western Balkans 1991-2010

in: Europe-Asia Studies 67: 6, 916-947.

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Sonja Grimm, Nicolas Lemay-Hebert, Olivier Nay | 2014

Fragile States: A Political Concept. A Third World Quarterly Special Issue

in: Third World Quarterly, 35: 3 [also published as Special Issue Book, London: Routledge].

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Lisa Groß, Sonja Grimm | 2014

The External-Domestic Interplay in Democracy Promotion: A Case Study on Public Administration Reform in Croatia

in: Democratization 21: 5, 912-936.

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Maria Pawelec, Sonja Grimm | 2014

Does National Identity Matter? EU Political Conditionality and Serbia’s Cooperation with the ICTY

in: Journal of Common Market Studies 52: 6, 1290-1306

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Sonja Grimm, Nicolas Lemay-Hebert, Olivier Nay | 2014

Fragile States: Introducing a Political Concept

in: Third World Quarterly 35: 3, 197-209.

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Sonja Grimm | 2014

The European Union’s Ambiguous Concept of ‘State Fragility’

in: Third World Quarterly 35: 3, 252-267.

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Sonja Grimm, Lisa Groß | 2013

Building an EU Member State through Democracy Promotion: The Case of Croatia’s Public Administration Reform

in: Annals of the Croatian Political Science Association, Vol. 10.

Julia Leininger, Sonja Grimm, Tina Freyburg | 2013

Do all Good Things Go Together? Conflicting Objectives in Democracy Promotion. A Special Issue Book

London, Routledge.

Sonja Grimm, Julia Leininger | 2012

Not All Good Things Go Together. Conflicting Objectives in Democracy Promotion

In: Democratization 19: 3, 391-414.

Julia Leininger, Sonja Grimm, Tina Freyburg | 2012

Do all Good Things Go Together? Conflicting Objectives in Democracy Promotion. A Democratization Special Issue

in: Democratization 19: 3 [also published as Special Issue Book, London: Routledge].

Sonja Grimm, Gerald Schneider | 2011

Predicting Social Tipping Points

Discussion Paper 8/2011, Bonn: German Development Institute.

Sonja Grimm | 2010

Erzwungene Demokratie. Politische Neuordnung nach militärischer Intervention unter externer Aufsicht

Baden-Baden: Nomos.

Sonja Grimm, Wolfgang Merkel | 2009

War and Democratization: Legality, Legitimacy and Effectiveness

in: Democratization 15: 3, 457-471.

Sonja Grimm | 2009

Demokratisierung von außen: Der Beitrag externer Akteure zur politischen Transformation nach Kriegen und Intervention

in: Kneuer, Marianne/Erdmann, Gero (eds.): Externe Faktoren der Demokratisierung, Baden-Baden, Nomos, 103-126.

Sonja Grimm | 2009

Internationale Übergangsverwaltungen: Steuerung ohne demokratische Legitimation

in: Schuppert, Gunnar Folke (ed.): Governance als Prozess, Baden-Baden, 201-224.

Sonja Grimm | 2008

External Democratization After War: Success and Failure

in: Democratization 15: 3, 525-549.

Sonja Grimm | 2008

Intervention für Demokratie und Menschenrechte

in: Zeitschrift für Menschenrechte 2: 1, 45-63.

Sonja Grimm, Wolfgang Merkel | 2008

External Democratization After War: Success and Failure. A Democratization Special Issue

in: Democratization 15: 3 [also published as Special Issue Book, London: Routledge].

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