Former Fellow

Awet T. Weldemichael

Queen’s National Scholar and Associate Professor of African and World History, Queen’s University (Kingston, Ontario)

Research project title:
Eritrea from the birth of its liberation movement in 1961 to the present

Abstract
My project is a study of contemporary Eritrea from the birth of its liberation movement in 1961 to the present. It aims to examine and better understand the origins of its current political system and the source of its sociopolitical malaise. Consistent with the Cluster of Excellence “Normative Orders”, it interrogates the worldviews, ideologies, declared visions and oft-repeated rationalizations of the liberation movement-cum-government through an in-depth documentation of the experiences of its leaders and rank-and-file. (Awet T. Weldemichael)

  • Biografische Angaben

    Awet T. Weldemichael is Associate Professor and Queen's National Scholar in the History Department at Queen's University and an Associate of the Indian Ocean World Center at McGill University. He holds a Ph.D. in History from UCLA. He is the author of Third World Colonialism and Strategies of Liberation (Cambridge, 2013), among other scholarly and policy publications. He has previously held teaching and research positions at African, European and U.S. universities, and worked for international organizations. He researches contemporary history and political economy of Northeast Africa.
  • Publikationen

    Piracy in Somalia: Violence and Development in the Horn of Africa (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming). “The Law of the Sea and Il/Legal Fishing in Somalia,” The Nautilus IX (Spring 2018): 29-52. African Liberation Theology: Intergenerational Conversations on Eritrea’s Futures co-authored with Ghirmai Negash (Red Sea Press, 2018). “Formative Alliances of Northeast African Insurgents: the Eritrean Liberation Movement and the Ethiopian Armed Opposition between the 1970s and 1990s,” Northeast African Studies, Vol. 14, No.1 (2014), 83-122.

News from the research center

Event
13.11.2026 | Frankfurt am Main

When Design Gets Political

Exhibition, Conference, Panel Discussion, Lecture, Workshop

Der dritte Tag der Design Policy Days an der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt richtet sich an alle, die Design als politische Kraft denken. Gemeinsam mit dem Deutschen Designtag und der World Design Capital 2026 widmet er sich in Roundtables, Projektpräsentationen, Workshops und Ausstellungen der institutionellen Politik: Wie lässt sich Design methodisch, strukturell und normativ in politische Entscheidungsprozesse integrieren – und wie kann Politik selbst als Gestaltungsfeld verstanden werden?

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Publication
21.09.2026 | Working Paper

Dimensionen wehrhafter Demokratie in unsicheren Zeiten

Abich, Leon; Adams, Cosima; Biebricher, Thomas; Britz, Gabriele; Daase, Christopher; Deitelhoff, Nicole; Dönges, Jan; Krause, Leon; Nitzschner, Patrick; Siebert, Hannes; Siefert, Julian; Stephanblome, Isabelle (2026): "Dimensionen wehrhafter Demokratie in unsicheren Zeiten". DemoReg Working Paper 3.1.

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Event
10.02.2027 | Frankfurt am Main

Shifting Visions of Peace and Security

Panel Discussion, Lecture Series

Podiumsdiskussion im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung “Peace and Security in Post-Liberal Times” mit Lisbeth Zimmermann (Goethe University/Normative Orders), Antonia Witt (PRIF), Siddarth Tripathi (University of Erfurt). Moderation: Jonas Wolff (Goethe University/PRIF/Normative Orders).

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Event
03.02.2027 | Frankfurt am Main

AI, War, and Big Tech

Lecture Series, Lecture

Vortrag von Ingvild Bode (University of Southern Denmark)im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung “Peace and Security in Post-Liberal Times”.

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Event
16.12.2026 | Frankfurt am Main

International arms control in a world of uncertainties

Lecture Series, Lecture

Vortrag von Malte Göttsche (TU Darmstadt/PRIF) im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung “Peace and Security in Post-Liberal Times”.

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Event
02.12.2026 | Frankfurt am Main

Enabling Authoritarianism: UN Peacekeeping and the Politics of Authoritarianism

Lecture Series, Lecture

Vortrag von Sarah von Billerbeck (University of Reading) im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung “Peace and Security in Post-Liberal Times”.

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Event
25.11.2026 | Frankfurt

Deterrence in “Post-Liberal Times“

Lecture Series, Lecture

Vortrag von Maria Mälksoo (Copenhagen University) (Goethe-Universität/PRIF/Normative Orders) im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung “Peace and Security in Post-Liberal Times”.

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Event
18.11.2026 | Frankfurt am Main

The Case for (Neo)colonialism: Neotrusteeship in International Relations as the ‘Imperial Mind’ of the ‘Colonial Present’

Lecture Series, Lecture

Vortrag von Nick Lemay-Hébert (Manchester University) im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung “Peace and Security in Post-Liberal Times”.

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Event
28.10.2026 | Frankfurt am Main

Postliberal vs. liberal Perspectives on Peace and Security and Crises

Lecture Series, Lecture

Vortrag von Prof. Dr. Christopher Daase (Goethe-Universität/PRIF/Normative Orders) im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung “Peace and Security in Post-Liberal Times”.

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