Johann Wolfschwenger

GEM-STONES Doctoral Fellow

PhD POSITION IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS & EU STUDIES ON "THE EUROPEAN EXTERNAL ACTION SERVICE’S ROLE IN FRAMING RESPONSES TO EMERGING SECURITY CRISES"

Host Institutions

Supervisors

Thesis Title

EU Integration and Political Conflict in the Republic of Moldova. A Factor of Instability?

Research Abstract

Party cleavages and the intensity of political conflict between political parties are an important factor of state’s political (in) stability. In Eastern Europe EU integration is one of the major drivers for domestic political change and many parties have at responded to this process with their programmatic focus. The dissertation investigates how the process of EU integration has affected structures of party cleavages in the Republic of Moldova and which discursive strategies parties use to argue in favour or against certain domestic policies. In doing so, the dissertation extends literature studying the impact of EU integration on party cleavages to a case beyond the EU’s borders. It mobilizes a theoretical framework based on modes of external governance developed by Lavenex and Schimmelfennig as well as spatial model of party cleavages. The effects are identified in a longitudinal study of electoral programmes from 1994 until 2019. Finally, the dissertation also assesses the consequences for the political system in Moldova.

Case-studies

The case study is the Republic of Moldova

Findings

n.a.

Societal Relevance

n.a.

Mobility Schedule

11/2016 – 09/2017	Université de Genève, Switzerland
10/2017 – 08/2018	Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
09/2018 – 09/2019	Université de Genève, Switzerland
10/2019 – 03/2020	Free International University of Moldova, Chisinau, Moldova
04/2020 – 01/2021	Visiting Research Fellowship at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Academic Positions and grants

10/2020 – 01/2021	Doc.mobility Fellowship form the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)
11/2016 – 09/2019	Marie Curie Doctoral Fellow, GEM-STONES PhD school
10/2017 – 10/2018	Visiting Researcher at the Union of International Associations (www.uia.org)
2015 – present	Editoral assistant of the Review of Central and East European Law (RCEEL)
2014 – 2015	PENTA Join EU-SEE grant, 10 month mobility at the University of Belgrade, Serbia

EDucation

2016 – present	PhD in International Relations and EU-Studies, Université de Genève and Université Libre de Bruxelles
2013 – 2016	Joint Master’s Degree in in South-Eastern European Studies (M.A.), University of Graz and University of Belgrade
2008 – 2012	B.A. in Political Science and Communications Science, LMU Munich

Research Interests

East-European politics
European Neighbourhood Policy
Europeanization and norm transfer

Methods

Qualitative and quantitative discourse analysis
Data-mining and network analysis

SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS

Wolfschwenger, Johann and Lucia Leontiev. 2022. The legal system of Transnistria. International and European Considerations. in: Harzl, Benedikt and Roman Petrov (eds.) Unrecognized Entities. Perspectives in International, European and Constitutional Law. Law in Eastern Europe Series. Volume 69. Leiden: Brill. ISBN (E-Book): 978-90-04-49910-2.
Wolfschwenger, Johann and Kirsten Saxinger. 2021. Federalism, national identity and over-coming frozen conflicts: Moldova's experience. in: Keil, Sören and Elisabeth Alber (eds.) Federalism as a Tool of Conflict Resolution. London: Routledge. ISBN: 9780367692964. (Re-print of Ethnopolitics volume 19, issue 4)
Wolfschwenger, Johann and Kevin L. Young. 2021. Multi-causality and equifinality. in: Morin, Jean-Frédéric, Christian Olsson and Ece Özlem Atikcan (eds). Research Methods in the Social Sciences: An A-Z of key concepts. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN: 9780198850298.
Wolfschwenger, Johann. 2020. The unintended consequences of neighbourhood policies by the European Union and Russia – Region-building in Moldova in an interregional context. in: Lopez-Lucia, Elisa and Frank Mattheis (eds.) The Unintended Consequences of Interregionalism. Effects on Regional Actors, Societies and Structures. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003093749-11.
Wolfschwenger, Johann and Kirsten Saxinger. 2020. Federalism, national identity and over-coming frozen conflicts: Moldova's experience. Ethnopolitics 19(4). 356-368. https://doi.org/10.1080/17449057.2020.1795472.
Wolfschwenger, Johann. 2017. The EU Governance Approach to the Transnistrian Conflict: A Powerful Tool for Conflict Management? in: Bellak, Blanka, Jaba Devdariani, Benedikt Harzl and Lara Spieker (eds). Governance in Conflict. Selected Cases in Europe and Beyond. Vienna: Lit Verlag. ISBN: 9783643909053.

POLICy and working papers

Wolfschwenger, Johann. 2020. The EU’s Eastern Partnership between a rock and a hard place. AIES Fokus 9/2020. Austrian Institute for Europen and Security Policy. online: https://www.aies.at/publikationen/2020/fokus-20-09.php.
Wolfschwenger, Johann. 2019. 10 Years Eastern Partnership – The EU and its Strategic Dilemma. OeGfE Policy Brief 14’2019. Austrian Society for European Politics. online: https://oegfe.at/2019/06/10-years-eap-strategic-dilemma/.
Wolfschwenger, Johann. 2018. Georgia in European Discourses: An Austrian Perspective. Policy Memo No. 27. Georgian Institute of Politics. May 2018. online: http://gip.ge/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Policy-Memo-27.pdf.
Wolfschwenger, Johann. 2014. The Russian Dimension in the Transnistrian Conflict – Possibilities for Conflict Resolution. Public Policy Research Paper No 4. REEES Graz. online: http://unipub.uni-graz.at/reees/periodical/titleinfo/301654.

Book reviews

Wolfschwenger, Johann. 2018. Book Review: Theorizing the European Neighbourhood Policy. Southeast European and Black Sea Studies 18(4). 599-600. https://doi.org/10.1080/14683857.2018.1489616.
Matrakova, Marta and Johann Wolfschwenger. 2018. Book Review: Assessing European Neighbourhood Policy. East European Politics 34(2). 241-242. https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2018.1456923.

Other publications

Wolfschwenger, Johann. Eine Revolution an der Wahlurne. Wiener Zeitung. Gastkommentar. 9 December 2020. online: https://www.wienerzeitung.at/meinung/gastkommentare/2084842-Eine-Revolution-an-der-Wahlurne.html.
Wolfschwenger, Johann. Revolution an der Wahlurne in der Republik Moldau?. CPD Policy Blog. 20 November 2020. online: https://policyblog.uni-graz.at/2020/11/revolution-an-der-wahlurne-in-der-republik-moldau/.
Wolfschwenger, Johann. Geopolitische Spannungen anstelle von demokratischen Reformen. Wiener Zeitung. Gastkommentar. 27 June 2019. online: https://www.wienerzeitung.at/meinung/gastkommentare/2015778-Geopolitische-Spannungen-anstelle-von-demokratischen-Reformen.html.
Wolfschwenger, Johann. 10 years Eastern Partnership – a new vision needed?. CPD Policy Blog. 13 May 2019. online: https://policyblog.uni-graz.at/2019/05/10-years-eastern-partnership-a-new-vision-needed/.
Wolfschwenger, Johann. „Gut gemeint aber schlecht gemacht!“ – Die Östliche Partnerschaft der EU und ihre unbeabsichtigten Konsequenzen. CPD Policy Blog. 7 November 2017. online: https://policyblog.uni-graz.at/2017/12/ostliche-partnerschaft-unbeabsichtigten-konsequenzen.