Thomas Conzelmann (T.)

Prof. dr. Thomas Conzelmann is Full Professor of International Relations at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Maastricht University. In the past, he served as Associate Dean of Research of the Faculty (2009-2013, 2018-2020) and as Director of its Graduate School (2020-2024). He was founding co-director of the Centre for European Research in Maastricht (CERiM). 

Expertise

Keywords

  • International relations
  • Global Governance
  • Geo-economics
  • EU External Policy
  • Peer reviews among states

 

Expertise 
Thomas Conzelmann is Full Professor of International Relations at the Faculty. His research focuses on the exertion of leverage in international and EU politics through various instruments, including soft instruments such as peer reviews among states, and hard instruments such as economic coercion. Recently, he has extended this research to the ‘geo-economic turn’ in global affairs and the corresponding policies of the EU. His research was published, among others, in Cooperation and Conflict, Journal of Common Market Studies, Journal of European Integration, and Regulation and Governance. 

 

Media enquiries
I am open to media enquiries on the topics mentioned above. 

Career History

Thomas Conzelmann is Professor of International Relations at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASoS), Maastricht University. He has served as Director of the FASoS Graduate School (2020-2024) and as Associate Dean of Research (2009-2013 and 2018-2020).

Before coming to Maastricht, Thomas held positions at the University of Darmstadt (2001-2007), at the Mannheim Center for European Social Research (MZES, 2000-2001) and the University of Mannheim (1995-2000), where he also completed his PhD (magna cum laude). During his doctoral studies, he spent a year as Visiting Research Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science and at the University of Birmingham.

 

Research Profile

My research focuses on the exertion of leverage in international and EU politics through various Instruments, including soft instruments such as peer reviews among states , and hard instruments such as economic coercion measures. I also research the ‘geo-economic turn’ in global affairs and the corresponding policies of the EU. My research is published, among others, in Cooperation and Conflict, Journal of Common Market Studies, Journal of European Integration, and Regulation and Governance.

Research Projects

The softening and hardening of borders (LIMES) (2020-2025) 

I am coordinator (with Sophie Vanhoonacker) of a doctoral network of 13 PhD researchers at UM, funded by the European Commission through its COFUND programme.

LIMES - Cross-border research

Beyond the carrot and the stick: What makes peer reviews among states authoritative instruments of global governance? (2013-2019)

The project focused on the authority of peer reviewing procedures among states as an increasingly widely used, yet poorly understood instrument of global governance. It looked at peer reviews in different international organisations (The UN family, the WTO, the OECD and the Council of Europe) and in different policy areas (anti-corruption, human rights, economic and trade policies). http://peer-reviews.info

 

PhD Supervision

PhD candidates I am currently supervising as first promotor or as co-promotor:

  • Francky Rétice Ayosso: The EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) in Practice: Understanding Policy Responses in Key Partner Economies (started in 2025, with Francesca Colli)
  • Sophie Pornschlegel:  How has European sovereignty evolved amidst the EU’s geopolitical shifts: An analysis of a contested concept in EU policy-making (started in 2025, with Sophie Vanhoonacker)
  • Hylke de Sauvage Nolting: Explaining changing Dutch policy positions to EU foreign economic policy in a geo-economic era (started in 2024, with Aneta Spendzharova)


PhD candidates who graduated under my (co-)supervision:

 

Selected research grants:

  • ‘The Softening and Hardening of Borders’; European Commission COFUND scheme (with Sophie Vanhoonacker); € 1.400.000,-
  • Establishment and Founding Director of the Centre for European Research in Maastricht (CERiM) ; Maastricht University (with 9 other professors from Maastricht University); € 1.019.000,-

  • (2013) "No Carrots, No Sticks: How do Peer Reviews among States acquire authority in Global Governance" (NWO Innovative Research Grant VIDI); € 800.000,-  

     


 

 

 

Key publications

Teaching

I currently coordinate and teach in the following courses:

BA European Studies

  • International Relations: Contemporary issues and actors (EUS 1015)
  • European diplomacy in the 21st century (EUS 3022)

MA European Studies:

  • International relations and global governance (EUS 4026)

Research Master European Studies

  • MSc Thesis (RES 6800)

Supervision: 
I regularly supervise MA and BA theses in the following areas: Geo-economic policies of the EU, Global Governance, Foreign Policy, Corporate Social Responsibility

Work for third parties

  • Member of the Advisory Board at Political Economy Society Maastricht

Other activities

Anonymous referee for journals:

  • Cambridge Review of International Affairs
  • Ethics & International Affairs
  • European Integration Online Papers (EIoP)
  • European Journal of International Security
  • European Political Science Review
  • International Studies Review
  • Journal of Common Market Studies
  • Journal of European Integration
  • Journal of European Public Policy
  • Journal of International Relations and Development
  • Journal of Public Policy
  • Journal of South-East European and Black Sea Studies
  • Oxford University Press
  • Palgrave Macmillan
  • Redglobe Press
  • Regional and Federal Studies
  • Regulation & Governance
  • Review of International Organizations
  • Socio-Economic Review
  • St. Anthony's International Review
  • Zeitschrift für Internationale Beziehungen

For funding agencies: 

  • Czech Science Foundation / Grantová agentura České republiky (GA ČR)
  • European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR)
  • European Research Council (ERC)
  • Flemish Research Council / Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek – Vlaanderen (FWO)
  • German Research Council / Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
  • Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia / Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen
  • Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research / Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek / (NWO)
  • Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung / Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF)

Additional roles & tasks

Full Professor of International Relations