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Emerita Professor of Political Science
International Relations
lemke@email.unc.edu

Christiane Lemke is Emerita Professor of Political Science and International Relations and former Director of the Jean Monnet European Center of Excellence at Leibniz University Hannover/Germany. She received her PhD and her second PhD (Habilitation) at the Free University Berlin. Lemke held several visiting professor positions at universities in the U.S., including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (DAAD-Professor 1988-1991), Harvard University (1991-92; 2001), and NYU where she was the Max Weber Chair in German and European Politics (2010-2014). She was also the first woman to be director of state parliament in Lower Saxony.

Her research focuses on German politics, European affairs, and transatlantic relations. She has published widely on regime transition, migration, populism, climate change policy and women in leadership. She is also a media expert on American politics. In 2023, Christiane Lemke received the Volkmar and Margret Sander Prize for outstanding contributions to the cultural relationship between the German speaking world and the United States.

Her most recent publications include Germany Today. Politics and Policies in a Changing World (2018; Rowman and Littlefield); “Right-Wing Populism and International Issues. A Case Study of the AFD” (2020; German Politics and Society), The Battle for the White House. The US-Presidential Elections 2020 (2022; Springer VS); German Party Politics in Times of Change and Uncertainty. Special Issue (2023; German Politics and Society; Editor with Dominic Nyhuis); “Legacies of Leadership. Assessing Angela Merkel’s Role in Foreign Relations and in the EU” (2023; German Politics and Society); “Finding Common Ground in Uncertain Times. Assessing the Prospect of Multilateralism in Transatlantic Climate Change Policy” (2023; Journal of Transatlantic Studies; with Jakob Wiedekind).

Christiane Lemke is a member of the Alumni Board at Leibniz University Hannover, board member of the Berlin Program for Advanced German and European Studies of the German Studies Association, and she is on the editorial board of German Politics and Society. She is a Visiting Professor at UNC Chapel Hill in Fall 2024.