Photo: David Ausserhofer

Address:
Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB)
Reichpietschufer 50
D-10785 Berlin

Curriculum Vitae

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Merkel, born in 1952, studied political science, history, sports, and "international relations" in Heidelberg and Bologna; teaching and research at the universities of Bielefeld, Mainz, Harvard, Madrid, and Heidelberg; Director of the research unit "Democracy: Structures, Performance, Challenges" at the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB); Professor of Political Science at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities; member of the Fachkollegium Sozialwissenschaften in der DFG (review board for the social sciences of the German Research Foundation); member of the Grundwertekommission beim Parteivorstand der SPD (core values commission of the Social Democratic Party of Germany); member of the Council of International Advisers to the Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero; member of the Scientific Committee of the Fundación IDEAS para el progreso.

Research focus: research on political regimes, democracy, and transformation, parties and party systems, comparative public policy, social justice and reform of the welfare state

v  Scientific publications
v  Interviews/newspaper articles
 
> All available publications

Scientific publications
 

Das Ende der Euphorie. Der Systemwettlauf zwischen Demokratie und Diktatur ist eingefroren
IP × Internationale Politik May/June 2010: 18-23.
> pdf-file (501 K)

Social Democracy in Power: Explaining the Capacity to Reform
in: Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft/Comparative Governance and Politics (ZfVP) , vol. 1 (2008), no. 1, pp.  125-145 (with Alexander Petring).
> pdf-file (2356 K)

Articles in Democratization, Vol. 15, No. 3, June 2008.
Special Issue: War and Democratization: Legality, Legitimacy and Effectiveness
edited by Sonja Grimm and Wolfgang Merkel (> more on this volume ...)
 

	War and Democratization: Legality, Legitimacy and Effectiveness with Sonja Grimm, pp. 457-471. > pdf-file (152 K)
	Democracy through War?, pp. 487-508. >pdf-file (216 K)

Plausible Theory, Unexpected Results: The Rapid Democratic Consolidation in Central and Eastern Europe
in: Internationale Politik und Gesellschaft/International Politics and Society, Newsletter der Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, no. 2/2008, pp. 11-29
¬ pdf-file (96 K)

The Limits of the EU: Enlargement, Deepening and Democracy
Estudio/Working Paper 76/2007, Máster en Democracia y Gobierno, Departamento de Ciencia Política y Relaciones Internacionales, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 2007, 22 p. (with Sonja Grimm)
¬ Working paper on the web site of the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

Social Democracy in Power. Explaining the Capacity to Reform
in: Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft /Comparative Governance and Politics , vol. 1  (2007), no. 1, pp. 125–145 (with Alexander Petring).
> pdf-file (363 K)

Contributions to Democratization, Vol. 11, No. 5, December 2004.
Special Issue: Consolidated or Defective Democracy? Problems of Regime Change
edited by Aurel Croissant and Wolfgang Merkel (> more about this volume ...)
 

	Introduction: Democratization in the Early Twenty-First Century (with Aurel Croissant), pp. 1-9 > pdf-file, 55 K
	Embedded and Defective Democracies, pp. 33-58 > pdf-file, 172 K
	Conclusion: Good and Defective Democracies (with Aurel Croissant), pp. 199-213 > pdf-file, 131 K

> Download of further scientific publications (partly in German)

Interviews/newspaper articles
 

Entrevista a Wolfgang Merkel. Interview. Fundación IDEAS
¬ Video on YouTube

Rozhovor. ČSSD škodí sama sobě
Interview in RESPEKT 20, 17.-23. Květen 2010, pp. 44-47.
> pdf-file

URUGUAY ES LA MEJOR DEMOCRACIA. Con Wolfgang Merkel. El director del Centro de Investigación Social de Berlín evalúa los sistemas políticos latinoamericanos
Newsletter article about a lecture by Wolfgang Merkel in Montevideo on the quality of democracy in Latin American countries and how to evaluate it
El Pais, weekend supplement "Qué pasa", November 28, 2009, p. 11
> pdf-file

Niemcy: więcej rynku, mniej państwa
Gazeta Wyborcza, Interview with Piotr Buras, November 1, 2009
¬ Interview on the web site of Gazeta Wyborcza

La Alianza de las Civilizaciones no dará éxitos importantes ni inmediatos
Interview with Pablo Bujalance, www.malagahoy.es, September 25, 2009; also published in: Málaga hoy, September 24, 2009, p. 5
¬ Interview on www.malagahoy.es

Social Democracy and the Third Way
Interview with fundación ideas -- para el progreso, March 27, 2009
¬ Interview on YouTube
> Interview as FlashVideo-file

Entrevista. Wolfgang Merkel. "Su democracia es defectuosa"
in: El Comercio, February 12, 2009
> pdf-file (388 K)
> jpg-file (2165 K)
¬ Article on the web site of  El Comercio

Entrevista. Wolfgang Merkel. "Este no es un gobierno socialdemócrata"
in: La República, February 9, 2009, p. 7
> pdf-file (238 K)
¬ Article on the web site of La República

"El gobierno del Apra no es socialdemócrata" - Wolfgang Merkel, Politólogo alemán
in: Voz de Izquierda (Blog), February 9, 2009
> pdf-file (81 K)
¬ Article in the blog

No puedo entender que en España se asocie al nacionalismo con la izquierda
El Imparcial, 14 de junio de 2008
¬ Interview on the web site of El Imparcial

De-regulated labour markets 'much more dynamic'
Interview with EurActiv Slovakia, 5 May 2008
¬ Interview on the website of EurActiv Slovakia

Justicia Social y Globalización: Teorías, Conceptos y Experiencias para una Política de Izquierda
in: FORO 2007, April: 20-24
> Download on the web site of the Centro de Pensamiento Progresista

Interview:  México: democracia defectuosa
in: enfoque Información, reflexión y cultura política. REFORMA Número 679, 1 de abril del 2007, pp. 4-5
> pdf-file (858 k)

Clearing a path for the future. Economic historian Werner Abelshauser and political scientist Wolfgang Merkel discuss Rhineland capitalism's capacity to reform
in: Mitbestimmung international edition No. 8, 2006
¬ Article on the journal's website

> Download of further interviews/newspaper articles (partly in German)