Dr. Thomas Greven is Adjunct Professor (Privatdozent) of political science at Freie Universität Berlin, Associated Member of the International Center for Development and Decent Work (ICDD) at University of Kassel, and an independent lecturer, political consultant and analyst. He teaches at the John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies (FU Berlin) and contributes frequently to International Politics and Society, Der Tagesspiegel, Gegenblende. Das DGB-Debattenportal, and Comixene. Fachmagazin Comic + Cartoon.

After studying political science at FU Berlin and Western Michigan University, Thomas Greven graduated in 1994 with an M.A from WMU. In 1995-96, he was an APSA Congressional Fellow in the office of Bernie Sanders (I-VT). In 2000, he received his doctorate in political science at FU Berlin with a dissertation on labor rights and US foreign economic policy. Between 2000 and 2007, he was Assistant Professor of political science at the John F. Kennedy Institute, where he also served as Visiting Professor in 2008-09 and 2013-14. In 2009, he earned his “Habilitation” in political science at FU Berlin, with, inter alia, monographs on the Republican Party and on labor rights provisions in international trade agreements.

Thomas Greven was visiting scholar, inter alia, at the University of British-Columbia, the Economic Policy Institute (Washington DC), the University of California, Berkeley, York University in Toronto, the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies (Johns Hopkins University, Washington, DC), at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies (Cologne), and at the University of Warsaw’s American Studies Center.

Thomas Greven’s research interests include US politics and foreign policy, labor unions and industrial relations, globalization and development policy, right-wing populism and extremism, graphic literature, and African politics. He has been interviewed on issues pertaining to American politics, US foreign policy, right-wing populism and other issues by national and international print, radio, TV, and internet media.

Teaching

Thomas Greven teaches graduate and undergraduate seminars on American politics (Congress and the presidency, political parties and interest groups, elections, and populism), US foreign and foreign economic policy, labor movements and industrial relations, the global economy and global governance, film and politics as well as comics and politics.

Thomas Greven’s research on right-wing Populism, American politics, labor rights and the global economy, and international trade union campaigns has been sponsored by

• German Research Council (DFG), German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD);
• Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung;
• Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Stiftung Menschenwürde und Arbeitswelt, Checkpoint Charlie Stiftung, Nordic Metal, Southern Poverty Law Center;
• the Austrian chancellor’s office, the European Parliament’s Directorate-General for External Policies of the Union, the Socialist Group in the European Parliament, the Canadian Embassy in Germany, the German Bundestag’s parliamentary study commission on globalization, the German Foreign Office’s Human Rights Committee;
• United Nations University, Freie Universität Berlin, Western Michigan University, Ewha Womans University (Seoul), the German Institute for International Relations (IIP).

Thomas Greven contributes regulary to Internationale Politik und Gesellschaft, International Politics and Society, Der Tagesspiegel, Gegenblende. Das DGB-Debattenportal, and Comixene. Fachmagazin Comic + Cartoon, and has written articles for, inter alia, Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik; Informationsbrief Weltwirtschaft und Entwicklung; Nueva Sociedad. Democracia y politica en América Latina; zenith – Zeitschrift für den Orient; Universitas; Mitbestimmung.

Forthcoming  

• US Party Politics and the Peculiar Nature of American Populism, in: Taiwan Journal of Democracy

Recent Publications:

• ...and now, for something completely different? Mögliche Entwicklungsrichtungen der US-Demokratie und -Gesellschaft, in: Grenzgängerin, No. 2 (Fall/Winter 2020), 60-71.
• Right-wing terrorism and the constitutional crisis in the United States, in: Public Jurist (Government & Laws Committee, HKU), October 2020, 19-21.
• Es läuft einfach gerade nicht. “Ausnahmezustand” – ein Portrait der tief gespaltenen amerikanischen Gesellschaft anhand einer zerbrechenden Liebesbeziehung, in: Internationale Politik und Gesellschaft, Sep. 9, 2020.
• Linke Perspektiven in den USA. Die Suche nach einem neuen sozialdemokratischen Projekt, in: INDES. Zeitschrift für Politik und Gesellschaft, 3, 2018, pp. 89-97.

Among Thomas Greven’s peer reviewed articles are

• Strategische Druckkampagnen in Deutschland: Anpassungsprobleme und Potentiale, in: Forschungsjournal Neue Soziale Bewegungen, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 67-78 (2009) [Strategic Pressure Campaigns in Germany];
• Transnationale Lernprozesse – Erfahrungen mit der grenzüberschreitenden Verbreitung gewerkschaftlicher Strategien, in: WSI-Mitteilungen, Vol. 61, No. 1 (January 2008, w. Wilfried Schwetz), pp. 25-30. [The Cross-Border Transfer of Labor Movement Strategies]
• Learning from the U.S.? Canadian Unions and the Cross-Border Diffusion of Labor Movement Strategies, in: Zeitschrift für Kanada-Studien, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 118-136 (2006); U.S. Unions’ Strategic Campaigns against Transnational Enterprises in Germany, in: Industrielle Beziehungen, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 253-269 (2006);
• Transnational ‘Corporate Campaigns’: A Tool for Labor in the Global Economy? In: International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations, Vol. 19, No. 4, pp. 495-513 (2003).

Thomas Greven‘s book publications include

• Solidarität über Grenzen: Gewerkschaften vor neuer Standortkonkurrenz [Solidarity Across Borders] (ed. with F. Gerlach, U. Mückenberger und E. Schmidt; Berlin: Edition Sigma, 2011);
• Globalisierter Rechtsextremismus? Die extremistische Rechte in der Ära der Globalisierung [Globalized Right-Wing Extremism?] (ed. with Th. Grumke; Wiesbaden: VS-Verlag, 2006); and
• Die Republikaner. Anatomie einer amerikanischen Partei [The Republican Party] (München: C.H. Beck, 2004).

Thomas Greven has contributed chapters to numerous edited volumes, inter alia:

• Organizing the Informal Economy in Senegal, in: Virginius Xaxa; Debdulal Saha; Rajdeep Singha (eds.), Work, Institutions and Sustainable Development: Issues and Challenges of Transformation, Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017, pp. 303-322;
• Die Transnationalisierung des gewerkschaftlichen Organisationslernens, in: Ulrich Brand, Helen Schwenken und Joscha Wullweber (eds.), Globalisierung analysieren, kritisieren und verändern. Das Projekt Kritische Wissenschaft, Hamburg: VSA, 2016, pp. 189-206. [The Transnationalization of Learning: The Case of Unions];
• Zwischen Plutokratie und Rassismus: Der sehr amerikanische Populismus der Tea Party-Bewegung, in: Christoph Bieber/Klaus Kamps (eds.), Die US-Präsidentschaftswahl 2012. Analysen der Politik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft, Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 2016, pp. 109-134 [The Tea Party Movement];
• NAFTA, in: Andreas Grimmel/Cord Jakobeit (eds.), Regionale Integration. Erklärungsansätze und Analysen zu den wichtigsten Integrationszusammenschlüssen in der Welt, Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2015, pp. 301-320;
• Stand der politischen Debatte zur Verknüpfung von Sozialstandards und Handel, in: Christoph Scherrer/Andreas Hänlein (eds.), Sozialkapitel in Handelsabkommen. Begründungen und Vorschläge aus juristischer, ökonomischer und politologischer Sicht, Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2012, pp. 71-82. [Social Standards and Trade. The State of the Political Debate]
• Anforderungen an Legitimität und Effektivität von Sozialkapiteln in Handelsverträgen, in: Christoph Scherrer/Andreas Hänlein (eds.), Sozialkapitel in Handelsabkommen. Begründungen und Vorschläge aus juristischer, ökonomischer und politologischer Sicht, Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2012, pp. 83-99. [Requirements for the Legitimacy and Effectiveness of Social Chapters in Trade Agreements]
• Die Tea Party-Bewegung und die Krise der amerikanischen Demokratie, in: Andreas Etges, Winfried Fluck (eds.), American Dream? Eine Weltmacht in der Krise, Frankfurt/M.: Campus, Nordamerikastudien, Bd. 30, 2011, pp. 137-157. [The Tea Party Movement and the Crisis of American Democracy].

Among Thomas Greven’s numerous policy and briefing papers you will find:

• Für eine nachhaltige Handelspolitik in turbulenten politischen Zeiten, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Berlin: 2020

• Country Report Senegal, Bertelsmann Transformation Index 2020 (with A. Lohmann, 2020).

• Transnationale Einblicke: Gewerkschaftliche Organisierung in den USA, IG Metall, November 2020.

• Ein Europa der Wut und Angst?Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Projekt gegen Rechtsextremismus. Expertisen für Demokratie, January 2019.

• Right-Wing Populism and Authoritarian Nationalism in the U.S. and Europe, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Washington, DC, Internationale Politikanalyse, 3. Mai, 2017;
• The Rise of Right-Wing Populism in Europe and the United States. A Comparative Perspective, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Washington, DC, Internationale Politikanalyse, Mai 2016;
• Die Krise der amerikanischen Demokratie und die Tea-Party-Bewegung, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Washington, DC, International Politikanalyse, Oktober 2011;