FEATURED AUTHOR

Thomas Dörfler

Postdoctoral Research Fellow
University of Potsdam

Biography

Thomas Dörfler is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Open Topic) at the Chair of International Relations at the University of Potsdam, Germany. He holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Bamberg, Germany, and a Master’s Degree from Leiden University, The Netherlands. He has been a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)-UNU Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the UNU Centre for Policy Research, a visiting scholar at John-Jay College of Criminal Justice (City University of New York) and a consultant for the Security Council Affairs Division of the UN Secretariat. Thomas has published in academic journals including Review of International Organizations, European Journal of International Relations, Regulation & Governance, Review of International Studies, Global Governance, Journal of International Relations and Development or Terrorism & Political Violence, as well as several chapters in edited volumes and policy-relevant articles. For his work on UN sanctions, he has received the 2018 Hans-Löwel-Prize and the 2017 Award of the UN Association of Germany.

Education

Areas of Research / Professional Expertise

International Relations Theory, International Organizations, Institutional Change, Security Council, Sanctions, World Bank

Websites

Books

Featured Title

Articles

Compartmentalised diplomacy in the United Nations Security Council: breaking the impasse

Published: Sep 15, 2023 by Journal of International Relations and Development
Authors: Dörfler, Thomas

This article explores how compartmentalised diplomacy, defined as the compartmentalisation of a comprehensive set of previously linked issues into separate but gradually and substantively expanding issues, helps forge an agreement on contested issues among member states in the United Nations Security Council.

Why Rules Matter: Shaping Security Council Sanctions Policy in Counterterrorism and Beyon

Published: Jan 17, 2023 by Journal of Global Security Studies
Authors: Dörfler, Thomas

Sanctions are critical to the Security Council's efforts to fight terrorism. What is striking is that the Council's sanctions regimes are subject to detailed sets of rules and decision criteria. The article highlights an unexplored internal driver of legal-regulatory decision-making and explores how mixed-motive interest constellations among Security Council members have affected the extent of committee regulations and the content of decisions taken by sanctions committees.

Greening global governance: INGO secretariats and environmental mainstreaming of IOs, 1950 to 2017

Published: Apr 15, 2022 by The Review of International Organizations
Authors: Thomas Dörfler and Mirko Heinzel

The last decades have seen a remarkable expansion in the number of International Organizations (IOs) that have mainstreamed environmental issues into their policy scope—in many cases due to the pressure of civil society. We hypothesize that International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs), whose headquarters are in proximity to the headquarters of IOs, are more likely to affect IOs' expansion into the environmental domain.

Interface challenges of UN sanctions with Forums of Export Control: Towards cohesion and consistency in non-proliferation sanctions?

Published: Sep 05, 2021 by International Sanctions: Improving Implementation through Better Interface Management
Authors: Thomas Dörfler
Subjects: Political Science

Thomas Dörfler analyses the interface between the UN Security Council as well as its sanctions committees and Forums of Export Control. Despite its high relevance, this particular interface has rarely been noted. He discusses the ban on proliferation sensitive goods and technology as a key measure of the North Korea and Iran sanctions regimes.

Orchestrating private investors for development: How the World Bank revitalizes

Published: Aug 11, 2021 by Regulation & Governance
Authors: Eugénia da Conceição-Heldt, Thomas Dörfler
Subjects: Political Science

Confronted with a new wave of criticism on the effectiveness of its development programs, the World Bank embarked on a revitalization process, turning to private investors to finance International Development Association projects and widening its mandate.

The effect of expert recommendations on intergovernmental decision-making: North Korea, Iran, and non-proliferation sanctions in the Security Council

Published: Jul 21, 2021 by International Relations
Authors: Thomas Dörfler
Subjects: Political Science

The article explores whether and to what extent expert recommendations affect decision-making within the Security Council and its North Korea and Iran sanctions regimes.

Analogy-based collective decision-making and incremental change in international organizations

Published: Jan 18, 2021 by European Journal of International Relations
Authors: Thomas Dörfler and Thomas Gehring

We examine how analogy-based collective decision-making of member states contributes to the endogenous emergence of informal rules and the incremental change of international organizations (IOs). Drawing on psychological conceptions, we develop two micro-level mechanisms that elucidate the effects of analogy-based collective decision-making in member-driven IOs.

Student Feature - Spotlight on the United Nations Security Council

Published: Aug 21, 2019 by E-International Relations
Authors: Thomas Dörfler
Subjects: Political Science

The Security Council is the most powerful organ of the UN and charged with ensuring international peace and security. It possesses delegated authority to decide over acts violating the prohibition of the use of force. Member states agreed to carry out its decisions when joining the UN. Many practitioners and observers acknowledge that the Council needs to be reformed.

Why is Change so Slow? Assessing Prospects for United Nations Security Council Reform

Published: Mar 22, 2019 by Journal of Economic Policy Reform
Authors: Madeleine Hosli, Thomas Dörfler

The article explores how changed patterns of UN membership affected the prospects for UN Security Council institutional reform.

Constitutive Mechanisms of UN Security Council Practices. Precedent Pressure, Ratchet Effect and Decisions on Council Action in Intrastate Conflicts

Published: Jan 15, 2019 by Review of International Studies
Authors: Thomas Gehring, Thomas Dörfler

Based upon the current debate on international practices with its focus on taken-for-granted everyday practices, we examine how Security Council practices may affect member state action and collective decisions on intrastate conflicts. We outline a concept that integrates the structuring effect of practices and their emergence from interaction among reflective actors. It promises to overcome the unresolved tension between understanding practices as a social regularity and as a fluid entity.

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