Institute of Political Science

Dr. Joscha Abels

Institute of Political Science
Melanchthonstrasse 36
72074 Tuebingen
Room 123

Phone (+49) 07071 - 29 75908

joscha.abelsspam prevention@uni-tuebingen.de

Short biography

Joscha Abels is a researcher (PostDoc) and lecturer at the Department of Political Economy, University of Tübingen. Since 2024, he leads the research project "EUInfra - Infrastructures of Globalization. EU Strategies in the Global Competition for Economic Expansion and Geoeconomic Control", funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) under grant 526359979.

Before, Joscha Abels has been working within the research project "Infrastructures and Global Ordering (IGLO) - Linking Infrastructural Transformation to Changes in Global Relations and the Prospects of Sustainable Development", funded by the Excellence Strategy of the German federal government and the states.

Joscha Abels holds a PhD (summa cum laude) in Political Science from the University of Tübingen. Previously, he has studied political science, economics, and international relations at University of Mannheim, University of Oslo, and University of Tübingen.

His research focusses on global geoeconomic competition and the political economy of the European Union. His recent work is located in the fields of infrastructure, technology, and geoeconomics, with a particular emphasis on the EU’s global position. He teaches courses on International Relations, International Political Economy, and research methods.

Joscha Abels has contributed to journals such as European Journal of International Relations, Journal of Common Market Studies, Comparative European Politics, and Competition & Change. He is the author of the book “The Politics of the Eurogroup. Governing Crisis and Conflict in the European Union” (Routledge, 2023).

Joscha Abels is a member of the Editorial Board of Politics and Governance and former editor of Zeitschrift für Internationale Beziehungen (zib).

Joscha Abels is a member of the research collective Second Cold War Observatory.

Teaching

  • Lecture: International Political Economy (bachelor/master level)
  • Geoeconomics in the 21st Century. The Role of Infrastructures in Global Competition (master level)
  • The United Nations System: Politics and Policies (master level)
  • Methods and Methodologies in Peace and Conflict Research (master level)
  • Quantitative Methods Workshop (master level)
  • Introduction to International Relations (bachelor level)
  • International Relations Theory and Peace Research (master level)

Publications

Abels, Joscha (2025): Making 'strategic autonomy' rhyme with 'fiscal austerity'? Unresolved conflicts of (geo)economic ideas in EU infrastructure policy. Competition & Change 29 (2), https://doi.org/10.1177/10245294241277255

Abels, Joscha (2025): Europe and the Second Cold War in submarine cable networks. Second Cold War Observatory, SCWO Dispatch 2025.4, https://www.secondcoldwarobservatory.com/dispatch-2025-4

Abels, Joscha (2025): “Outer space infrastructures and global order: How the control over satellite constellations reshapes state-business relations”, in: Bieling, Diez, Flemmer, Futterer (eds.): Transnational Infrastructures and the Transformation of Global Orders, SpringerVS, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-74846-2_12

Abels, Joscha (2024): Private infrastructure in geopolitical conflicts: The case of Starlink and the war in Ukraine. European Journal of International Relations 30 (4), https://doi.org/10.1177/13540661241260653

Abels, Joscha (2024): Failing forward in European economic governance. The cyclicality of European integration and institutional competition in the COVID-19 crisis. Journal of Common Market Studies 63 (2), https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.13588

Abels, Joscha (2024): Does the current crisis mark the end of the EU’s austerity era? Competing political projects in European fiscal governance. Comparative European Politics 22, 192-211, https://doi.org/10.1057/s41295-023-00346-4

Abels, Joscha; Bieling, Hans-Jürgen (2024): Drivers and limits of the geoeconomic turn in EU infrastructure policy. Politics and Governance 12, https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.8127

Abels, Joscha; Bieling, Hans-Jürgen (2024): The geoeconomics of infrastructures. Viewing globalization and global rivalry through a lens of infrastructural competition. Globalizations 21 (4), https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2023.2264667

Abels, Joscha; Bieling, Hans-Jürgen; Kassem, Sarrah (2024): Re-regulating the European high-tech capitalism? The EU’s digitalization strategy at a turning point after the COVID-19 pandemic. In: Janusch et al. (eds.): Turning Points. De Gruyter, https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111272900-015

Abels, Joscha (2023): The politics of the Eurogroup. Governing crisis and conflict in the European Union. Routledge (RIPE Series in Global Political Economy), https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003386476

Abels, Joscha; Bieling, Hans-Jürgen (2023): Infrastructures of globalisation. Shifts in global order and Europe's strategic choices. Competition & Change 27 (3-4), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/10245294221130119

Abels, Joscha; Bieling, Hans-Jürgen (2022): Jenseits des Marktliberalismus? Europäische Industrie- und Infrastrukturpolitik im Zeichen neuer globaler Rivalitäten. PROKLA 52 (3), 429–449, https://doi.org/10.32387/prokla.v52i208.2004

Abels, Joscha (2022): Globaler Wettbewerb um Infrastrukturen. Eine neue Form der Geopolitik? POLITIKUM 8 (2), 4-12, https://www.wochenschau-verlag.de/Lebensadern-der-Globalisierung/Pk2-22

Abels, Joscha; Hasenclever, Andreas (2022): Die Säulen internationaler (Un-)Ordnung. Kontinuität und Wandel intergouvernementaler Organisationen. In: Lütz/Mentzel (eds.): Internationale Organisationen. SpringerVS, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-39371-7_3

Abels, Joscha (2019): Power behind the curtain. The Eurogroup’s role in the crisis and the value of informality in economic governance. European Politics and Society 20(5), 519-534, https://doi.org/10.1080/23745118.2018.1542774

Abels, Joscha (2019): Machtzentrum hinter dem Vorhang. Die informelle Eurogruppe und ihre erneuerte Rolle im Euroregime. In: Bieling/Guntrum (eds.): Neue Segel, alter Kurs? SpringerVS, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-25037-9_4

Abels, Joscha (2018): Ein Europa der Finanzministerien? Die Eurogruppe im Projekt der austeritätspolitischen Restrukturierung der Eurozone. PROKLA 48(3), 399–415, https://doi.org/10.32387/prokla.v48i192.905

 

Media appearances

Article with The Conversation: “In the sky over Iran, Elon Musk and Starlink step into geopolitics – not for the first time”, 26 June 2025, Link

Interview for article by Le Monde: “Avec Starlink, Elon Musk étend son influence sur la planète… et dans l’espace”, 6 April 2025, Link

Talk by Network 20/20: “Undersea Cables & Starlink: The Hidden Conflicts of Global Connectivity”, 25 March 2025, Link

Interview for TV report by Al Jazeera English: “Starlink is revolutionary tech, but there are red flags”, 25 December 2024, Link

Interview for podcast by New Books Network: “The Politics of the Eurogroup: Governing Crisis and Conflict in the European Union”, 30 June 2023, Link