Maximilian Funke
Projekt
“The influence of party politics on drug policies. What is the impact of political parties on different political outputs and reforms?”
Drug policies have a considerable impact on individuals’ liberty, yet political scientists have spilled little ink on drug policy-making. This is surprising, as policy-makers around the world have opted for remarkably different solutions to the problem of drug production, trafficking and consumption. In particular, there is a vast variety of policies on sanctioning the possession of illicit drugs for personal consumption. Portugal, for instance, decriminalized the possession of illicit drugs for personal consumption by making it an administrative offense in 2001 and drug offenders are mostly punished by imposing a fine. In contrast, Swedish drug policy follows a zero-tolerance approach and a similar petty offense of drug possession for personal consumption constitutes a felony punishable by a fine or imprisonment for up to six months. Remarkable variance also exists regarding harm-reduction measures, such as needle and syringe substitution programmes or heroin substitution treatment. However, current research is mostly interested in explaining the consequences of the implemented drug policies and largely neglects the underlying causes for the differences across and within countries.
Against this background, my research project examines the impact of party politics on domestic drug policies and drug policy reforms. Scholars frequently hint at the effect of political parties on the repressiveness or lenience of drug laws and the magnitude of harm-reduction measures, but the relation between party politics and drug policies has not been tested systematically yet. Using a mixed-method approach my research project contributes to the existing research in a twofold way. First, my project conceptualizes the role of political actors and institutions within the field of drug policy and offers a theoretical framework for drug-policy making in Western industrialized states. Second, I focus on the legal responses and the impact of parties on harm-reduction measures. The latter allows me to account for the social and health dimensions in drug policy-making. The results provide new insights into the political dynamics underlying policy-making in a sector that has not yet been studied systematically by comparative policy research.Forschungsgruppe
Herr Funke ist Mitglied in der Forschungsgruppe "Europäische und Internationale Governance" und wird von Prof. Dr. Oliver Treib betreut.
Werdegang
seit 10/2016 wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Institut für Politikwissenschaft Münster 04/2013 – 09/2013 Studentische Hilfskraft (Tutor) am Institut für Politikwissenschaft Münster 2012 – 2016 Studium der Politikwissenschaft an der Westfälischen-Wilhelms Universität zu Münster 11/2010 – 03/2012 Studentische Hilfskraft am Institut für Politikwissenschaft Göttingen 2009 – 2012 Studium der Politikwissenschaft & Wirtschafts- und Sozialgeschichte an der Georg-August Universität Göttingen Publikationen
Weiteres
Forschungsinteressen
- Drogenpolitik im internationalen Vergleich
- Parteien- und Parteisysteme
- Quantitative Methoden