Stefan Wolff
Encyclopedia
Stefan Wolff is a German political scientist
. He is a specialist in international security
, particularly in the management, settlement and prevention of ethnic conflicts. He is currently Professor
of International Security at the University of Birmingham
in the United Kingdom
. He studied as an undergraduate at the University of Leipzig
and holds a Master's degree
from Magdalene College
, Cambridge
, and a PhD
from the London School of Economics
, where he studied under the supervision of Brendan O'Leary
.
s and in post-conflict reconstruction in deeply divided and war-torn societies. He has expertise in Northern Ireland
, the Balkans
and the Middle East
, and has also worked on a range of other regions, including Central
and Eastern Europe
, Africa
, and Central
and Southeast Asia
.
. He is also coordinating a research group examining the influence of external factors on the development and stability of ethnic autonomy regimes. Other research and consulting projects in this area have been funded by the UK Foreign Office, the Westminster Foundation for Democracy
and the British Academy
. He is convener of the Political Studies Association
's Specialist Group on Ethnopolitics and the European Consortium for Political Research
's Standing Group on Security Issues. Wolff is a member of the Executive Committee of the Ethnicity, Nationalism and Migration Section of the International Studies Association
and a member of the Executive Board of the Association for the Study of Nationalities
.
Previously Professor
of Political Science
at the University of Bath
, and Chair in Political Science at the University of Nottingham
, he is now based in the Department of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Birmingham. Since the academic year 2003/4 he has also held concurrent appointments as Professorial Lecturer in International Relations
at the Johns Hopkins University
School of Advanced International Studies, Bologna Center, and as Resource Fellow of the Open Society Institute
's Academic Fellowship Program. Since 2005, he has also been a Teaching Fellow at the Joint Services Command and Staff College
of the British Ministry of Defence
. In 2003, he was appointed Senior Non-resident Research Associate at the European Centre for Minority Issues
in Flensburg, Germany.
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
. He is a specialist in international security
International security
International security consists of the measures taken by nations and international organizations, such as the United Nations, to ensure mutual survival and safety. These measures include military action and diplomatic agreements such as treaties and conventions. International and national security...
, particularly in the management, settlement and prevention of ethnic conflicts. He is currently Professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of International Security at the University of Birmingham
University of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College . Birmingham was the first Redbrick university to gain a charter and thus...
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. He studied as an undergraduate at the University of Leipzig
University of Leipzig
The University of Leipzig , located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities in the world and the second-oldest university in Germany...
and holds a Master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
from Magdalene College
Magdalene College, Cambridge
Magdalene College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary Magdalene...
, Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, and a PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
from the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
, where he studied under the supervision of Brendan O'Leary
Brendan O'Leary
Brendan O'Leary is an Irish political scientist, who is Lauder Professor of Political Science and Director of the Penn Program in Ethnic Conflict at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was formerly Director of the now-closed Solomon Asch Center for the Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict...
.
Research interests
Wolff specializes in the prevention, management and settlement of ethnic and religious conflictReligious war
A religious war; Latin: bellum sacrum; is a war caused by, or justified by, religious differences. It can involve one state with an established religion against another state with a different religion or a different sect within the same religion, or a religiously motivated group attempting to...
s and in post-conflict reconstruction in deeply divided and war-torn societies. He has expertise in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
and the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, and has also worked on a range of other regions, including Central
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
and Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
, Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, and Central
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
and Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
.
Career
Wolff is a consultant for national and international governmental and non-governmental organizations and the private sector. He is part of a small team of experts studying and developing complex institutional design solutions for self-determination conflicts, funded, among others, by the Carnegie EndowmentCarnegie Endowment for International Peace
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is a foreign-policy think tank based in Washington, D.C. The organization describes itself as being dedicated to advancing cooperation between nations and promoting active international engagement by the United States...
. He is also coordinating a research group examining the influence of external factors on the development and stability of ethnic autonomy regimes. Other research and consulting projects in this area have been funded by the UK Foreign Office, the Westminster Foundation for Democracy
Westminster Foundation for Democracy
The Westminster Foundation for Democracy is a United Kingdom non-departmental public body set up to promote democratic institutions overseas. It was established in March 1992 and registered as a company limited by guarantee. It receives funding from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the...
and the British Academy
British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national body for the humanities and the social sciences. Its purpose is to inspire, recognise and support excellence in the humanities and social sciences, throughout the UK and internationally, and to champion their role and value.It receives an annual...
. He is convener of the Political Studies Association
Political Studies Association
The Political Studies Association of the United Kingdom is an association of political scientists that exists to develop and promote the study of politics in the United Kingdom...
's Specialist Group on Ethnopolitics and the European Consortium for Political Research
European Consortium for Political Research
The European Consortium for Political Research is an independent, scholarly association, which supports and encourages the training, research and cross-national cooperation of many thousands of academics and graduate students specialising in political science and all its sub-disciplines...
's Standing Group on Security Issues. Wolff is a member of the Executive Committee of the Ethnicity, Nationalism and Migration Section of the International Studies Association
International Studies Association
The International Studies Association was founded by a group of scholars and practitioners in 1959 to pursue mutual interests in international studies. Representing eighty countries, ISA has over three thousand members worldwide and is the most respected and widely known scholarly association in...
and a member of the Executive Board of the Association for the Study of Nationalities
Association for the Study of Nationalities
The Association for the Study of Nationalities is an academic association dedicated to the study of ethnicity and nationalism, based at New York's Columbia University...
.
Previously Professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of Political Science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
at the University of Bath
University of Bath
The University of Bath is a campus university located in Bath, United Kingdom. It received its Royal Charter in 1966....
, and Chair in Political Science at the University of Nottingham
University of Nottingham
The University of Nottingham is a public research university based in Nottingham, United Kingdom, with further campuses in Ningbo, China and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia...
, he is now based in the Department of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Birmingham. Since the academic year 2003/4 he has also held concurrent appointments as Professorial Lecturer in International Relations
International relations
International relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...
at the Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
School of Advanced International Studies, Bologna Center, and as Resource Fellow of the Open Society Institute
Open Society Institute
The Open Society Institute , renamed in 2011 to Open Society Foundations, is a private operating and grantmaking foundation started by George Soros, aimed to shape public policy to promote democratic governance, human rights, and economic, legal, and social reform...
's Academic Fellowship Program. Since 2005, he has also been a Teaching Fellow at the Joint Services Command and Staff College
Joint Services Command and Staff College
Joint Services Command and Staff College is a British military academic establishment providing training and education to experienced officers of the Royal Navy, Army, Royal Air Force, Ministry of Defence Civil Service, and serving officers of other states.-History:JSCSC combined the single...
of the British Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
. In 2003, he was appointed Senior Non-resident Research Associate at the European Centre for Minority Issues
European Centre for Minority Issues
The European Centre for Minority Issues is a research institute based in Flensburg, Germany, that conducts research into minority-majority relations in Europe. ECMI is a non-partisan and interdisciplinary institution...
in Flensburg, Germany.
Monographs
- Disputed Territories: The Transnational Dynamics of Ethnic Conflict Settlement (New York and Oxford: Berghahn, 2003, paperback 2004) ISBN 1-57181-657-7
- The German Question. An Analysis with Key Documents (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2003) ISBN 0-275-97269-0
- Germany's Foreign Policy Towards Poland and the Czech Republic: Ostpolitik Revisited (co-authored with Karl Cordell) (London: Routledge, 2005) ISBN 0-415-36974-6
- Ethnic Conflict (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006) ISBN 0-19-280587-8
Edited volumes
- Autonomy, Self-governance and Conflict Resolution: Innovative Approaches to Institutional Design in Divided Societies, ed. by Marc Weller and Stefan Wolff (London: Routledge, 2005) ISBN 0-415-33986-3
- The Ethnopolitical Encyclopaedia of Europe, ed. by Karl Cordell and Stefan Wolff (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2004) ISBN 0-333-97124-8
- Managing and Settling Ethnic Conflicts. Perspectives on Successes and Failures from Africa, Asia, and Europe, ed. by Ulrich Schneckener and Stefan Wolff (New York and London: Hurst, 2004; US edition: Palgrave) ISBN 1-4039-6623-0
- Minority Languages in Europe: Framework, Status, Prospects, ed. by Stefan Wolff and Gabrielle Hogan-Brun (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2003) ISBN 1-4039-0396-4
- Peace at Last? The Impact of the Good Friday Agreement on Northern Ireland. With a Foreword by Lord Alderdice, ed. by Jörg Neuheiser and Stefan Wolff (New York and Oxford: Berghahn, 2003, paperback 2004) ISBN 1-57181-658-5
- Coming Home to Germany? The Integration of Ethnic Germans from Central and Eastern Europe in the Federal Republic, ed. by David Rock and Stefan Wolff (New York and Oxford: Berghahn, 2002), ISBN 1-57181-729-8
- German Minorities in Europe: Ethnic Identity and Cultural Belonging, ed. by Stefan Wolff (New York and Oxford: Berghahn, 2000) ISBN 1-57181-504-X