Who Am I?

I am a professor emeritus of comparative politics. For the past twenty years, I have taught and researched at the University of Greifswald (Germany). Before that, I was a research professor in Nottingham (England) and a visiting scholar at the University of Gothenburg (Sweden). I received my PhD from the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence (Italy) in 1991. Now I live in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

You can reach me via:

[email protected]
or
[email protected]

https://ipk.uni-greifswald.de/politikwissenschaft/professor-dr-detlef-jahn/

My Motivation

My work is my passion and a positive drive for every day. Although I am no longer officially employed, I still have many ideas that I would like to pursue. However, the premise for all that I do is to enjoy my work even more than before.

Furthermore, I would like to inform and discuss about things that can be considered controversial. Since I am no longer in the general competition, I can present many ideas and opinion more uninhibitedly than if it is still about the own career. However, I must point out that these are then my own opinion and impressions.

My current research activities

My main research interest is in improving macro-comparative studies. For this purpose, I have compiled the PIP database over the last decades. PIP refers to parties - institutions - preferences. Further information can be found at Harvard Dataverse.

I continue to work on issues related to environmental politics and policy and climate change as well as party and government research and social policy.

Major publications

(For a complete list of older publications see: About me) 
 

Jahn, Detlef. 2018. The Politics of Environmental Performance. Institutions and Preferences in Industrialized Democracies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (paperback). First published in hardcover: 2016.  

Jahn, Detlef. 2018. Distribution Regimes and Redistribution Effects during Retrenchment and Crisis: A Cui BonoAnalysis of Unemployment Replacement Rates of Various Income Categories in 31 Welfare States, Journal of European Social Policy. 28(5):433-451.

Jahn, Detlef (2016) Changing of the guard: trends in corporatist arrangements in 42 highly industrialized societies from 1960 to 2010. Socio Economic Review 14 (1): 47-71.

Jahn, Detlef (2014) The Three Worlds of Environmental Politics, in Andreas Duit (ed.) State and Environment: The Comparative Study of Environmental Governance. Cambridge (MA): MIT Press (81- 109).

Jahn, Detlef (2011) Conceptualizing Left and Right in Comparative Politics: Towards a Deductive Approach. Party Politics, 17 (6): 745-765.

Jahn, Detlef (2006) Globalization as „Galton’s Problem:“ The Missing Link in the Analysis of Diffusion Patterns in Welfare State Development, International Organization 60 (2) 401-431.

Jahn, Detlef (1998) Environmental Performance and Policy Regimes: Explaining Variations in 18 OECD-Countries, Policy Sciences, Vol. 31, No. 2, pp.107-131. 

Text Books

 Bernauer, T., Jahn, D., Kritzinger, S., and Kuhn, P. 2025. Einführung in die Politikwissenschaft. (Introduction to Political Science). Baden-Baden. Nomos, (598 pages). Sixth edition (First edition 2009). 

Jahn, D. 2013. Einführung in die Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft (Introduction to Comparative Politics). Wiesbaden: Springer VS, (552 pages). Second edition (first edition 2006). Third edition in preparation together with Sophie Suda for 2025 (also in English and Spanish).

Jahn, D. 2011. Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft (Comparative Politics). Wiesbaden: Springer VS, (124 pages). Second edition in preparation for 2025.

Current publications 

Jahn, Detlef (2024) The Stringency and Potential Impact of Climate Laws and Policies in the European Union and 21 OECD Countries, npj climate action 3, 90.

Jahn, Detlef and Klagges, Lisa (2023) Determinants of Performance in National Environmental Policies, in: Routledge Handbook of Environmental Policy, edited by Helge Jörgens, Christoph Knill and Yves Steinebach. London: Routledge.

Jahn, Detlef (2023) Diffusion. Handbuch Policy-Forschung. 2. edition (eds.) Werzelburger, Georg and Zohlnhöfer, Reimut. Wiesbaden: Springer: 223-250.

Jahn, Detlef (2022) The Changing Relevance and Meaning of Left and Right in 34 Party Systems from 1945 to 2020, Comparative European Politics  https://doi.org/10.1057/s41295-022-00305-                                                                                                                               
Jahn, Detlef (2022) Politics and Corona Lockdown Regulations in 35 Highly Advanced Democracies: The First Wave. International Political Science Review https://doi.org/10.1177/01925121221078147                                                                                                                 
Jahn, Detlef and Sophie Suda (2022) Sustainable Policy Performance and Types of Governance: Is there a Trade-Off between Consensus and Efficiency? Journal of European Public Analysis, 8 (2): 209-230; DOI: 10.1002/epa2.1143.
                                                                       
Jahn, Detlef (2022) Party Families and Greenhouse Gas Emissions: A New Perspective on an Old Concept. Zeitschrift für vergleichende Politikwissenschaft. 15: 477-496. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12286-021-00504-6 .

Jahn, Detlef (2021) Quick and Dirty: How Populist Parties in Government affect Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the EU Member States, Journal of European Public Policy, 28:7, 980-997. (https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2021.1918215 ).

 

My other activities

I am trying to find my way in a culture and language that is new to me. The weather in Gran Canaria makes many things possible, such as long hikes with dogs, snorkeling and diving, and volleyball on the beach. Our garden prepares many surprises all year round like papayas, avocados, peaches, bananas, oranges and grapefruits. All of this is a perfect environment to tackle new scientific work as well, and to do so without the self-serving, quota-rule-driven research policies that reward performance less and less and leave the field to patronage-oriented yes-women and yes-men at the stage. Science is the big loser of the last decade.