Profile

Professional career

• since 06/2022
  Director Centre for French Studies, Leipzig University
• 01/2018 - 12/2021
  director Graduate Centre Humanities and Social Sciences, Research Academy Leipzig
• 01/2016 - 12/2024
  director of the Integrated Doctoral Training Programme of the DFG CRC 1199
• since 01/2011
  professor extraordinary in the Dept. of Political Science, Stellenbosch U, South Africa
• since 01/2012
  visiting professor at the Institute for Peace and Security Studies (IPSS), Addis Ababa U, Ethiopia
• 01/2011 - 01/2018
  co-director of the DFG Priority Programme 1448 “Adaptation and Creativity in Africa. Technologies and Significations in the Production of Order and Disorder” (with R. Rottenburg, U Halle)
• since 01/2008
  dual membership in the faculties of Social Science and Philosophy, and History, Arts and Regional Studies, resp.
• since 07/2006
  Professor "Politics in Africa" at the Institute of African Studies, Faculty of History, Art and Regional Studies (GKO), Leipzig U
• 01/2006 - 01/2016
  director of the DFG Doctoral Training Programme (Graduiertenkolleg) 1261 “Critical Junctures of Globalisation”
• 10/2005 - 01/2010
  appointed DAAD Willy Brandt professor, Stellenbosch U, South Africa (not able to accept)
• 04/1999 - 06/2006
  assistant professor „Politics in Africa“ at the Institute of African Studies, Faculty of History, Art and Oriental Studies (GKO), Leipzig U (10/1998-03/1999 acting)
• 01/1994 - 01/1997
  research associate at the Dept. of History, U Hannover & Institute for African Studies (Hamburg)
• 01/1989 - 01/1992
  research associate, Institute of Political Science, U Hamburg

Education

• 06/1998 - 10/1999
  Habilitation (“The Africa policy of the Federal Republic of Germany 1949-1999”; venia legendi: political science), U Hamburg
• 09/1989 - 01/1994
  Dr. phil. (“The Policy of Zimbabwe”), U Hamburg Foreign
• 10/1981 - 01/1987
  Diploma political science (“The developmental programme discussion in the SPD 1982-1987”), U Hamburg

Research interests

• international and regional organisations, in particular the African Union and the RECs/RMs, African Peace and Security Architecture, African Governance Architecture
• conflict prevention, early warning, preventive diplomacy, and conflict analysis
• German Africa policy (foreign affairs, development assistance, security policy)
• political developments in South Africa (and Southern Africa) as well as in Ethiopia (and the Horn of Africa, East Africa)

Methodological focus

Global Studies, International Studies, critical area studies, transregional studies, spatial turn

• SFB 1199/B07: Interregionalism and Security in the Sahel: The African Union, ECOWAS, and the European Union

  Engel, Ulf

  Duration: 01/2020 – 12/2023

  Funded by: DFG Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

  Involved organisational units of Leipzig University: Leipzig Research Centre Global Dynamics (ReCentGlobe); Institut für Afrikastudien; SFB 1199: Verräumlichungsprozesse unter Globalisierungsbedingungen
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• Competence Network „African non-military conflict intervention practices” (ANCIP)

  Engel, Ulf

  Duration: 04/2022 – 03/2025

  Funded by: BMBF Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung

  Involved organisational units of Leipzig University: Leipzig Research Centre Global Dynamics (ReCentGlobe)
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• Political populism in Southern Africa

  Engel, Ulf

  Duration: 06/2020 – 05/2024

  Funded by: BMBF Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung

  Involved organisational units of Leipzig University: Leipzig Research Centre Global Dynamics (ReCentGlobe)
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more projects

• Engel, U. (Ed.)

  Yearbook on the African Union. Volume 2 (2021).

  Leiden, Boston MA: Brill. 2022.

  ISBN: 978-90-04-52600-6
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• Engel, U.; Döring, K.; Herpolsheimer, J.; Gelot, L. (Eds.)

  Researching the Inner Life of the African Peace and Security Architecture

  Leiden, Boston MA: Brill. 2021.

  ISBN: 978-90-04-46677-7
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• Engel, U. (Ed.)

  Yearbook on the African Union. Volume 1 (2020)

  Leiden, Boston MA: Brill. 2021.

  ISBN: 978-90-04-49890-7
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• Engel, U. (Ed.)

  Yearbook on the African Union. Volume 3 (2022)

  Leiden, Boston MA: Brill. 2023.
  show details

more publications

I teach in the following five programmes: BA Afrikastudien, MA African Studies, MA Global Studies, MA Global Studies with a special emphasis on peace and security (in Addis Ababa), and MA Sustainable Development. Furthermore, I teach in the PhD programmes of the Graduate School of Global and Area Studies (GSGAS), the Integrated Graduate School of the CRC 1199 and the Institute for Peace and Security Studies (Addis Ababa).

• BA 03-AFR-1300 Vorlesung "Politik in Afrika" (WS)

• BA 03-AFR-1300 Übung "African Futures"

• MA 03-AFR-2102 seminar "The State in Africa: Debates from Southern Africa" (winter term)

  This seminar briefly recaps the evolution of theorizing on "the state" in Africa. The main focus is on recent case studies from Southern Africa, including the land question in Zimbabwe and South Africa, nation-building through hosting mega sports events in South Africa, "state capture" in South Africa, resource extraction and corruption in Angola, traditional authority in Botswana, transnational organised crime in Mozambique, regional integration in Southern Africa (SADC), etc.

• MA 03-AFGR-2012 lecture "International Studies" (winter term)

  This lecture is an introduction to debates on globalisation processes. After a brief reflection on traditional approaches, three main debates are introduced to decentre the conventional wisdom: postcolonial thinking, critical area studies, and critical political geography. The illustrations are mainly drawn from the African continent.

• MA AFR 2111 seminar "Governance, Peace, and Security in Africa" (summer term)

  This seminar is taking stock of the state of peace, security, and governance in Africa. It addresses the current dynamics of implementing the complementary African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) and African Governance Architecture (AGA) by the African Union. Case studies focus on emerging trends in the Sahelo-Saharian region, the Horn of Africa, and Southern Africa.