Prof. Dr. Michael Brzoska

Michael Brzoska is senior fellow at the IFSH. From February 2006 until September 2016, he was Scientific Director of the IFSH. He previously held the positions of Director of Research at the Bonn International Center for Conversion, Bonn, Lecturer (Hochschulassistent) in the International Relations subsection, Institute for Political Science, University of Hamburg, amongst others, and was a research member and project leader at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Sweden. He chaired the German Foundation for Peace Research between 2008 and 2015. He is a member of the Hamburg Academy of Sciences and an Associate Senior Fellow of SIPRI. He studied economics and political science at the Universities of Hamburg and Fribourg (Switzerland). He wrote his dissertation on German arms export policy and his habilitation on the subject of “Militarization of the Third World”.

His main research project currently focuses on extreme weather events and violent conflict, primarily aiming to better understand the structural conditions and mechanisms that shape the consequences of extreme weather events for peace and security. The project is part of the research program on climate change and security within the Hamburg clusters of excellence on climate research. A particular research focus are the conditions for cooperative versus confrontative behaviour in disaster victims, as well as national and international actors.  The analysis is carried out in cooperation with various partners and is conducted with both quantitative and qualitative methods.  Additionally, Michael Brzoska continues to work and publish on a number of topics, including European Foreign and Security Policy, international arms embargoes, conventional arms control and arms production and exports.

Publications