Boris Vormann

Professor of Politics, Director Politics Concentration
Boris Vormann is professor of politics and director of the Politics Concentration at Bard College Berlin. He is also a principal investigator at the John-F.-Kennedy Institute's Graduate School of North American Studies (Freie Universität Berlin), on the editorial board of American Studies/Amerikastudien, A Quarterly, and associated researcher at the Chaire de Recherche du Canada en Études Québécoises et Canadiennes at the Université du Québec à Montréal.

Grounded in political science, his research lies at the intersection of comparative politics and political economy, but is also informed by international relations (IR), macro-sociology and economic geography. It focuses on the role of the state in globalization and urbanization processes; nations and nationalism; and the crisis of democracy. Vormann has held visiting positions at the CUNY Graduate Center, Harvard University, Sciences Po Paris and New York University and was the first political scientist to receive the Fulbright American Studies Award from the German Fulbright Commission and the German Association for American Studies in 2015. His current research project examines the role of the state in building the urban infrastructures of expanding global trade networks.

Vormann is a regular commentator on public policy debates for different media outlets (incl. The Economist, Deutsche Welle, ARD Tagesschau, and Deutschlandfunk). His most recent books are the co-edited volume The Emergence of Illiberalism: Understanding a Global Phenomenon (Routledge 2020) and a handbook on politics and policy in the United States for a German-speaking audience (Handbuch Politik USA; Springer VS, 2020). Earlier publications include the monograph Democracy in Crisis: The Neoliberal Roots of Popular Unrest (with Christian Lammert, translated by Susan Gillespie, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019), and the edited volume Contours of the Illiberal State (with Christian Lammert, Campus/The University of Chicago Press, 2019).

Books
Vormann, Boris and Michael Weinman (eds.). 2020. The Emergence of Illiberalism: Understanding a Global Phenomenon. Routledge: New York, NY.

–––, Lammert, Christian and Markus Siewert (eds.). 2020. Handbuch Politik USA. Vollständig überarbeitete Neuauflage. Springer VS: Wiesbaden. ["Handbook of US Politics and Policy. Fully revised 2^nd edition"]

–––, and Christian Lammert. (eds.). 2019. Contours of the Illiberal State: Governing Circulation in the Smart Economy. Campus/The University of Chicago Press: Frankfurt a. M./Chicago, IL.

–––, and Christian Lammert. 2017. Die Krise der Demokratie und wie wir sie überwinden. Aufbau Verlag: Berlin.
English translation by Susan Gillespie, published in 2019 as Democracy in Crisis: The Neoliberal Roots of Popular Unrest. University of Pennsylvania Press: Philadelphia, PA.

–––, Lammert, Christian and Markus Siewert (eds.). 2016. Handbuch Politik USA. Springer VS: Wiesbaden. ["Handbook of US Politics and Policy"]

–––. 2015. Global Port Cities in North America: Urbanization Processes and Global Production Networks. Routledge: London and New York, NY.

–––. 2012. Zwischen Alter und Neuer Welt. Nationenbildung im transatlantischen Raum. Synchron Publishers: Heidelberg. [Engl.: "Between the Old and the New World. Nation-building in Transatlantic Space."]

–––, Kolboom, Ingo and Alain-G. Gagnon (eds.). 2011. Québec. Staat und Gesellschaft. Synchron Publishers: Heidelberg. ["Québec. State and Society"]


Further links: Personal website

Photo by Milena Schlösser

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Boris Vormann
Professor of Politics
Director Politics Concentration