Former Staff

Jaime León González is research associate at the Chair of International Business and Society Relations with focus on Latin America since October 2018.

Previously, he was a lecturer for business Spanish at the University of Bayreuth. Mr. León completed a Licenciatura (5-year degree) in business administration at the University of Cordoba in Spain with a one-year abroad at the FAU. He holds an MA in Technical Translation in Economics from the International University Menendez Pelayo in Santander in Spain. He is currently a PhD Candidate at the chair on German foreign policy towards Latin America.

• German foreign policy towards Latin America
• Political and economic relations between Latin America and the European Union

Jean Monnet Project: The reconfigiuration of the EU presence in Latin America (since Oct. 20)

Member of the academic staff of the Jean-Monnet-Project “The reconfiguration of the EU presence in Latin America (EUinLAC)”, funded by the EU.

International developments in the 21st century – Where does Latin America stand in World Politics?– (Sep. 19 – Aug. 19)

Online multi-language course by the Bavarian Virtual High School

Role: co-manager

Economy, politics and society in Latin America – (Sep. 18 – Aug. 19)

Online multi-language course by the Bavarian Virtual High School

Role: developer/editor

• Presente y futuro de Iberoamérica

This course provides an overview of the current and future Ibero-American region. Take a brief look at the history of the Ibero-American community and the goal that the Ibero-American summits and other institutions have pursued. The thematic priorities are also the development processes of the Ibero-American area and its foreign policy towards other blocs as well as the foreign policy of Spain towards Ibero-America.

•  Lateinamerika im 21. Jahrhundert

About 200 years after the beginning of their independence process, the states of Latin America appear to be facing another step of emancipation. After a century of political and economic dominance by the United States, they are increasingly self-confident. This course sheds light on the new international position of Latin America. The focus lies on international, regional and economic cooperation.

•  Wirtschaft, Politik und Gesellschaft in Lateinamerika– Economy, politics and society in Latin America

The course is divided into three large thematic blocks: Block I: History, Geography and Space, Block II: Politics and Economy in Latin America and Block III: Society and Latin America in the world. Students should have knowledge of at least one of the two languages, German or Spanish. The course aims to be directed at both kinds of students, those with only little knowledge of German or equally those with only little knowledge of Spanish.

• ¿En qué medida un caso de corrupción dentro de un partido político influye en sus resultados electorales? – el ejemplo del caso “Gürtel” en el Partido Popular en España; (M.A., 2020)
• Between rhetoric & practice: Assessing the gap between strategic partnerships and practiced external EU relations within the regional context of Latin America (B.A.; 2020)
• Internationale Zusammenarbeit durch die deutschen parteinahen Stiftungen in Argentinien. Las fundaciones políticas alemanas en América Latina – El caso de Argentina. (M.A., 2020)
• Die Beziehungen Deutschlands zu Lateinamerika – Deutsche Außenpolitik und ihre wirtschaftliche, diplomatische und entwicklungspolitische Dimension gegenüber Chile und Kolumbien (2005-2020). (B.A.; 2021)
• Regierungen im Alarmzustand: Reaktionen der deutschen und spanischen Regierung auf COVID-19 und dessen soziale, politische und wirtschaftliche Auswirkungen im Vergleich. (B.A.; 2021)
• Política antidrogas Iván Duque, el regreso del Plan Colombia en la era del postconflicto. (M.A.; 2021)

Julia Herrmann joined the Chair of International Business and Society Relations with focus on Latin America at the FAU in December 2019 and is writing her doctoral thesis on Feminist Foreign Policy in Europe and Mexico. Julia Herrmann was member of the academic staff of the Jean Monnet Project “The reconfiguration of the EU presence in Latin America (EUinLAC)”, funded by the European Commission (2020-2021). She completed her Master in Development Economics and International Studies and her Bachelor in Socio-economics with a mayor in International Studies at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU) and at Science Po Strasbourg in France.

During her studies Julia Herrmann gained research-relevant experience at the bi-regional European Union – Latin America and Caribbean Foundation in Hamburg, in projects at the Chair of International Business and Society Relations (e.g. The Atlantic Future) and as Data and Research Freelancer at the Department of Research and Studies of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

• Foreign policy analysis, especially forms of feminist foreign policy
• Bi-regional relations between the EU and Latin America
• Interrelations between culture, institutions, values and economic performance (institutional economics and development economics)

Final Thesis: Supervisor of Bachelor and Master thesis (in German, English and Spanish).

Partner universities and studies abroad: Responsible for all partner universities in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay.
Learning Agreements: Contact person for all students whose last names begin with the letters A to L.

Jean Monnet Project: The reconfigiuration of the EU presence in Latin America (Oct. 2020 – Dec. 2021)

Member of the academic staff of the Jean-Monnet-Project “The reconfiguration of the EU presence in Latin America (EUinLAC)”, funded by the EU.

International developments in the 21st century – Where does Latin America stand in World Politics? (Oct. 2019 – Sept 2020)

Co-manager, Bilingual teaching project in German and Spanish in cooperation with the Bavarian Virtual High School (VHB)

• Economy and Society in Developing and Emerging Countries

The seminar deals with issues of development economics, taking a closer look at political, institutional and societal processes that characterize economies and societies in developing and emerging countries. Based on country case studies it discusses macroeconomic factors and aspects of material well-being as well as the role of ethnicity, history, gender norms and the political system.

• International Business Relations

The seminar will examine bilateral and multilateral economic relations, and how they affect regional alliances, globalisation and the social and economic well-being of nations. International business and increased international trade often results in improved international relations, but it can also lead to disputes between countries (e.g. disagreements on tariffs, trade wars etc.). The seminar encompasses economic considerations as well as the role of politics, history and culture.

• „Internationale Entwicklungen im 21. Jahrhundert – Wo steht Lateinamerika in der Weltpolitik?“// Desarrollos internacionales en el siglo XXI: Dónde se encuentra América Latina en la política mundial?
  

Die zunehmende globale Verflechtung von Wirtschaft, Politik und Gesellschaft prägt die heutige Zeit und stellt die Weltpolitik vor vielschichtige Herausforderungen. Der Kurs befasst sich mit den zentralen internationalen Entwicklungen im 21. Jahrhundert und arbeitet für jedes Phänomen (wie z.B. Migrationsbewegungen, strukturelle Ungleichheit, nachhaltige und menschliche Entwicklung, digitale Transformation, organisierte Kriminalität, (Des-)Integrationsbewegungen wie Brexit oder geopolitische Spannungen zwischen den USA und China) die Rolle und Interessen Lateinamerikas heraus. Dabei werden zu Beginn jeden Moduls theoretische Modelle/Überlegungen und Messinstrumente sowie aktuelle Daten zu deren fundierten Analyse vermittelt und daraufhin an länder- und regionenspezifischen Fallbeispielen angewandt.

• Chinesische Direktinvestitionen in Brasilien – Chancen und Risiken aus brasilianischer Perspektive (B.A. 2020)
• Argentinien zwischen Wirtschaftskrise und Staatsbankrott – Die Rolle des Internationalen Währungsfonds (B.A. 2020)
• Die Macht Brasiliens und ihre Ansprüche: Abgrenzung und Abhängigkeit als Basis der internationalen Beziehungen (B.A. 2020)
• Metropolitan Regions: Between Development and Decay (B.A. 2020)

Nelia Miguel Müller joined the Chair in October 2014. She holds two Bachelor degrees: in History and Political Science (2007-2010), and in Social Sciences and Economics (2009-2013). She also obtained a master in Political Science (2014) at the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg.

Currently she is Assistant Professor at the Chair, where she also writes her doctoral thesis about the strategic partnership between Brazil and the European Union.

• Political and economic relations between Latin America and the European Union, with a particular focus on Brazil.
• Politics, economics and society of Brazil, Portugal and Spain.

• 2014: Deutschland und Brasilien: Mehr als Handelspartner? (FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg)
• 2015: The Strategic Partnership between Brazil and the EU: Motives and Consequences (FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg)

• Romanischsprachige Länder im internationalen Kontext

Untersuchung von Politik, Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft der romanischsprachigen Länder: Politische Systeme und Demokratisierungsprozesse, Ausprägungen und Formen gesellschaftlichen Wandels, Vergleich unterschiedlicher Entwicklungspfade, Auswirkungen von Globalisierungs- und Regionalisierungsprozessen

• Einführung in die Interkulturelle Wirtschaftskommunikation

Im Zuge der Globalisierung nimmt der Austausch zwischen verschiedenen Kulturen immer mehr zu. Gerade die Wirtschaft spielt dabei eine Vorreiterrolle. Längst wissen wir auch, daß die interkulturelle Kommunikation nicht immer reibungslos klappt, daß im Gegenteil unzählige Fallen lauern. Wir wollen uns in dieser Veranstaltung dem Problem theoretisch nähern und grundsätzliche Begriffe hinterfragen: Kultur, Interkultur, Wahrnehmung, Stereotyp, Kommunikation usw.

• Lateinamerika im 21. Jahrhundert: Neues Selbstbewusstsein – neue Partner – neue Chancen?

Etwa 200 Jahre nach dem Beginn ihres Unabhängigkeitsprozesses scheinen die Staaten Lateinamerikas vor einem weiteren Schritt der Emanzipation zu stehen. Nach einem Jahrhundert der politischen wie wirtschaftlichen Dominanz durch die USA agieren sie zunehmend selbstbewusst auf der internationalen Bühne und gehen neue Kooperationen ein. In diesem Kurs wird diese neue Rolle Lateinamerikas sowohl wirtschaftlich als auch politisch beleuchtet.

• Globalisierung und ihre Kritik: Lateinamerika in der globalen Politik

Globalisierung bezeichnet die zunehmende internationale Verflechtung von Wirtschaft, Politik Gesellschaft und Kultur. Sie prägt unsere Zeit und nimmt eine wachsende Bedeutung ein, ihre Auswirkungen sind allerdings umstritten. Im Zentrum der Globalisierungskritik steht die Zuspitzung von Ungleichheit und dem Auseinanderdriften von Industrie- und Entwicklungsländern.

Gerade die Region Lateinamerika wird häufig als Verlierer der Globalisierung interpretiert. Defizite bei wirtschaftlicher und politischer Anpassung sowie eine fehlendeTechnologieorientierung erschweren es der Region sich in der globalisierten Welt zu behaupten. Vor diesem Hintergrund widmet sich das Seminar folgenden Fragen: Wer sind die Gewinner, wer die Verlierer der Globalisierung? Wo steht Lateinamerika in dieser Einteilung? Wie positionieren sich die unterschiedlichen Länder Lateinamerikas in der zunehmenden Globalisierung? Gibt es gesellschaftliche Gruppen, die gegen eine weitere Vernetzung agieren?

In diesem Zusammenhang wird die Rolle Lateinamerikas in der globalen Politik analysiert. Hierzu werden die außenpolitischen Strategien Handelspolitik ausgewählter Lateinamerikanischer Staaten untersucht.

• Brazil as a Rising Power

The international system has been moving from a unipolar to an increasingly multipolar system over the past 15 years. The rise of new powers, often summarized under the key word ‘BRICS’  (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) has been a key element of the fundamental changes the international system has been undergoing. As a member of the BRICS group and a regional power in South America, Brazil has gained considerable clout in international affairs and has had an active role in shaping the emerging multipolar order. The seminar will look at the global power shifts and the rise of new powers in the international system and explore Brazil’s role and position in the newly emerging global order. How has Brazil positioned itself in the international community? What are the foreign policy goals of this rising power? Which instruments does it use to pursue its foreign policy objectives?  The seminar is located at the intersection between International Relations Theory, foreign policy analysis and area studies. It will give the student insights into current developments in the international system and the foreign policies of emerging powers – exemplified by the study of the rising power Brazil.

List of supervised theses

Dr. Stolte joined the Chair in September 2014. Previously she was a research fellow at the GIGA-German Institute of Global and Area Studies in Hamburg.

Having studied Political Science and Latin American Studies at the University of Hamburg (2003-2009), she gained a scholarship by the Hamburg International Graduate School for the Study of Regional Powers (HIGS) in 2009 and conducted her PhD project on Brazil’s Africa Strategy at the GIGA Institute for Latin American Studies (ILAS) between 2010 and 2014.

Dr. Stolte has worked and published on the international relations of Latin America with a special focus on Brazil. At GIGA she was a member of the research programme “Power, Norms and Governance in International Relations” and of the research team “Foreign Policy Strategies in the Multipolar System”.

She worked as desk officer for Brazil at the German Federal Foreign Office in Berlin between 2010 and 2011 and was a visiting fellow at the Brazilian Center of International Relations (CEBRI) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil between 2013 and 2014.

• Brazil’s foreign and economic policy
• The rise of new powers in the international system
• Social-psychological factors in International Relations
• Regionalism and Interregionalism in the Americas

List of publications

• Custo Brasil: Brasiliens selbstverschuldete Entwicklungshemmnisse

Brasiliens Präsidentin, Dilma Rousseff von der Arbeiterpartei, wurde im Oktober 2014 für vier Jahre im Amt bestätigt. Ihre neue Regierung sieht sich jedoch mit vielen „alten“ Problemen konfrontiert. Im Seminar werden wir daher die aktuelle politische Entwicklung 2015 in Brasilien diskutieren, aber auch und gerade vor dem Hintergrund der strukturellen Schwächen der Wirtschaft Brasiliens, die unter dem Schlagwort custo Brasil zusammengefasst werden, wie (u.a.):Über-Bürokratisierung bei geringer Effizienz des Öffentlichen Sektors; Korruption und Kriminalität, hohe Steuern und Abgaben sowie relativ hohe Arbeitskosten, hohe Realzinsen, voranschreitende De-Industrialisierung und Verlust an Wettbewerbsfähigkeit.

• Business in Brazil

Brazil is the eighth biggest economy in the world and a member of the BRICS group of emerging markets. As the biggest economy in Latin America it has been among the world’s most popular destinations for foreign direct investment. For German companies it has been a major destination for investment, making the South American market one of the biggest outposts of German business in the world. Despite its attractiveness, however, Brazil’s market is considered to be a very complex business environment. In addition, after a decade of growth Brazil has been facing economic problems over the past years and has been struck by the biggest corruption scandal in its history. The seminar will examine Brazil’s economic basis, the business environment and the country’s structural economic problems that keep it from fulfilling its growth potential. Beyond the study of Brazil, the seminar will give insights into the broader topic of emerging markets by drawing comparisons between Brazil and its BRICS peers. One session of the seminar will be dedicated to the practical experience of a local German company (possibly NürnbergMesse) in the Brazilian market.

• Brazil as a Rising Power

The international system has been moving from a unipolar to an increasingly multipolar system over the past 15 years. The rise of new powers, often summarized under the key word ‘BRICS’  (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) has been a key element of the fundamental changes the international system has been undergoing. As a member of the BRICS group and a regional power in South America, Brazil has gained considerable clout in international affairs and has had an active role in shaping the emerging multipolar order. The seminar will look at the global power shifts and the rise of new powers in the international system and explore Brazil’s role and position in the newly emerging global order. How has Brazil positioned itself in the international community? What are the foreign policy goals of this rising power? Which instruments does it use to pursue its foreign policy objectives?  The seminar is located at the intersection between International Relations Theory, foreign policy analysis and area studies. It will give the student insights into current developments in the international system and the foreign policies of emerging powers – exemplified by the study of the rising power Brazil.

• The BRICS

Initially conceptualized as an investment label by the US bank Goldman Sachs in 2001, BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) has more and more become a political grouping that is pushing to influence the international agenda. While some scholars see it as an anti-hegemonic bloc that is directed against the dominance of the West and particularly the US, others see it as a mere ‘coalition of interest’ of very different members with different goals and visions. The seminar will examine the international positioning of this emerging powers club and ask about the strengths and weaknesses of the BRICS. What do the member countries have in common? Where do they differ? Is BRICS a coherent grouping at all? How does BRICS want to shape the new world order? What economic policies do the BRICS countries pursue and which economic problems do they face?
The seminar will be structured into 3 blocks: (I) The phenomenon of BRICS – economic development and political positions of the Group; (II) The BRICS member countries and their bilateral and multilateral Relations; (III) The BRICS in international politics

• The International Relations of Brazil

Brazil is the largest country and biggest economy in Latin America. As a member of the BRICS group and a regional power in South America, Brazil has gained considerable clout in international affairs and has expanded its relations far beyond its Latin American neighborhood. However, economic crisis and political turmoil have compromised Brazil’s regional and international standing. Can Brazil still be considered a rising power? How do neighboring countries and international partners look at Brazil? What are the foreign policy options for a country like Brazil? The seminar will look at Brazil’s regional and international relations. Located at the intersection between International Relations Theory, foreign policy analysis and area studies, the seminar will give the students insights into Brazilian foreign policy making and the country’s positioning in international affairs.
The seminar will be structured into 4 blocks: (I) The international order and Brazil’s position in it; (II) Brazil’s power base; (III) Brazil’s regional Relations; (IV) Brazil in international politics

• Globalisierung und ihre Kritik: Lateinamerika in der globalen Politik

Globalisierung bezeichnet die zunehmende internationale Verflechtung von Wirtschaft, Politik Gesellschaft und Kultur. Sie prägt unsere Zeit und nimmt eine wachsende Bedeutung ein, ihre Auswirkungen sind allerdings umstritten. Im Zentrum der Globalisierungskritik steht die Zuspitzung von Ungleichheit und dem Auseinanderdriften von Industrie- und Entwicklungsländern.

Gerade die Region Lateinamerika wird häufig als Verlierer der Globalisierung interpretiert. Defizite bei wirtschaftlicher und politischer Anpassung sowie eine fehlendeTechnologieorientierung erschweren es der Region sich in der globalisierten Welt zu behaupten. Vor diesem Hintergrund widmet sich das Seminar folgenden Fragen: Wer sind die Gewinner, wer die Verlierer der Globalisierung? Wo steht Lateinamerika in dieser Einteilung? Wie positionieren sich die unterschiedlichen Länder Lateinamerikas in der zunehmenden Globalisierung? Gibt es gesellschaftliche Gruppen, die gegen eine weitere Vernetzung agieren?

In diesem Zusammenhang wird die Rolle Lateinamerikas in der globalen Politik analysiert. Hierzu werden die außenpolitischen Strategien Handelspolitik ausgewählter Lateinamerikanischer Staaten untersucht.

Bachelor Theses:

• „Mögliche regionalpolitische und wirtschaftliche Folgen der Einführung des Transpazifischen Partnerschaftsabkommens (TPP) für Brasilien“
• „Brasilien in der Krise – Erklärungsansätze aus Sicht der Dependenz- und Modernisierungstheorie“

Master Theses:

• “The BNDES as an Agent of New Developmentalism:
  Assessment of the Brazilian National Development Bank’s Role Fulfillment Under the 21 Century PT Governments”
• „Gaining influence: Brazilian Foreign Policy on a Global and Regional Level“
• „Verschiebung der Machtverhältnisse in der lateinamerikanischen Automobilindustrie“