2018
Marianne Kneuer
TU Dresden, Germany
(2018–2021)
Marianne Kneuer is a German political scientist. Prof. Kneuer joined the TU Dresden in October 2021 as a Full Professor of Comparative Politics. From 2022 to 2024, she also held the position of Director of the Institute of Political Science. Previously, she was a Full Professor of Comparative Politics and International Relations at the University of Hildesheim (2011-2021) and Director of the Institute of Social Sciences between 2012 and 2019. In 2018, she co-founded the Center for Digital Change at the University of Hildesheim and served as its Co-Director. She received several fellowships and was invited as a guest professor at institutions including GIGA Hamburg, Arizona State University (USA), and the University of Perugia (Italy). In 2025, she served as a Visiting Fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame (USA).
After obtaining her doctorate at the University of Bonn in 1991 and before returning to academia, Marianne Kneuer worked as a political journalist (among others at Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) from 1989 to 1994, and from 1994 to 1999 she was a member of the planning staff and speech writer of German Federal President Roman Herzog.
Prof. Kneuer’s research covers democracy and autocracy studies, focusing on regime change and democratic erosion, external factors (promotion and diffusion) of democratization and autocratization, and foreign policy of autocratic regimes as well as legitimation strategies of autocracies. Another strand of her research deals with digitalization, especially with digital communication and net politics. This research explores the impact of digitalization on political processes and connects to her interest in cross-regime comparison as she looks at democracies, autocracies, and intermediate regime types. Her area of expertise covers Southern Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, and Latin America. She publishes inter alia in Democratization, Third World Quarterly, IPSR, Media and Communication, Bulletin of Latin American Research, and European Journal of Political Communication. Her latest book, Authoritarian Gravity Centers: A Cross-Regional Study of Authoritarian Promotion and Diffusion (with Thomas Demmelhuber) was published in 2020 by Routledge.
Prof. Kneuer was a board member of the German Society of Political Science and President of this association from 2011 to 2013. She also served as a co-speaker of the Working Group on Democracy Studies of the German Political Science Association (2004-2018). Since 2020, Professor Kneuer is Chairwoman of GESIS, Leibniz Institute of Social Sciences. Moreover, she serves on several boards of scientific organizations. She is co-founder and co-editor of the Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft (German Journal of Comparative Politics) and several book series.
Prof. Kneuer served as a member of the 5XÉçÇøExecutive Committee from 2014 to 2018 and as First Vice-President from 2016 to 2018 before becoming 5XÉçÇøPresident from 2018 to 2021. During her presidency, she successfully led the Association through an exceptionally challenging period marked by the COVID-19 pandemic. One of her most significant achievements was the comprehensive administrative reform to modernize and professionalize the Association’s governance. Prof. Kneuer established a dedicated ad-hoc Committee on Administration Reform to improve transparency, accountability, efficiency, and professional management of IPSA’s internal operations. These efforts culminated in an internal Handbook on IPSA’s Organization, ensuring continuity and effective management.
During her term, Prof. Kneuer prioritized inclusivity and global representation within IPSA, leading to increased membership of Latin American and African national and regional associations (such as ALACIP and the AAPS). She created the position of a Special Representative for Ethics and improved regional, gender, and career-stage balance across IPSA’s activities. She also strengthened IPSA’s commitment to academic freedom by transforming the Committee on Academic Freedom, established by her predecessor Ä°lter Turan, into a permanent body and initiating a global survey to identify related challenges. Under her leadership, the 5XÉçÇøExecutive Committee also adopted key amendments to its Rules and Constitution to align with the Gender and Diversity Action Plan in 2019. These changes made gender and diversity one of the central criteria in the election of the 5XÉçÇøPresident, Executive Committee and Council members, and ensured balanced representation of women at 5XÉçÇøevents.
Prof. Kneuer’s term also coincided with IPSA’s 70th anniversary, which was celebrated with a special academic conference in November 2019 at La Sorbonne University in Paris, the Association’s founding city. The event brought together members of the global political science community and concluded with the launch of , a volume edited by Prof. Kneuer and 5XÉçÇøPast President Prof. Helen V. Milner.
