Thomas Dietz ist Professor für Internationale Beziehungen und Recht. Bevor er nach Münster kam, war er Post-Doktorand an der Universität Oxford und Mitglied im Wolfson College. Er studierte Politikwissenschaft an der Universität Bonn und wurde von der Universität Bremen mit einer rechtswissenschaftlichen Dissertation im Rahmen des Sonderforschungsbereichs 597 „Staatlichkeit im Wandel“ promoviert. Die Forschungsschwerpunkte von Thomas Dietz liegen in den Bereichen Internationale Politik, Internationales- Recht und nachhaltige Entwicklung.
Thomas is Professor for International Relations and Law. Before coming to Muenster he was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Institute of European and Comparative Law at the University of Oxford and a member of Wolfson College. Thomas holds an MA in political science from the University of Bonn and a PhD in law from the University of Bremen, where he also worked as a research fellow at the Collaborative Research Center 597 “Transformations of the State”. His research is focused on the areas of International Politics, International Law and Sustainable Development.
(1) Research Group on the Efficacy of Voluntary Sustainability Standards (TRANSSUSTAIN)
Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) have evolved into key transnational governance instruments to bind international markets to fundamental principles of sustainable development. As they continue to extend their influence in international markets, it is of increasing academic and public interest to study the effectiveness of VSS. The research group TRANSSUSTAIN focuses on the effectiveness of VSS in global coffee value chains. The main research question is to what extent VSS are capable of turning global coffee production into a more sustainable industry. The group combines comparative institutional analyses of different VSS with on-the-ground impact studies in different Latin American countries. The group is based at the University of Muenster and INCAE Business School in Costa Rica.
Project Team
Prof. Dr. Thomas Dietz Principal investigator, University of Muenster
Jennifer Auffenberg Research associate and PhD Candidate, University of Bremen and University of Muenster
Janina Grabs Research associate and PhD Candidate, University of Muenster
Andrea Estrella Research associate and PhD Candidate, University of Muenster
Elisa Benker Research assistant, University of Muenster
Prof. Dr. Bernard Killian Cooperation Partner, INCAE Business School
(2) Research Project on international investor-state arbitration and public policy
Today, investor-state dispute resolution before private arbitration tribunals is negotiated and expanded in a series of bi- and multilateral free-trade agreements such as TTIP, TPP, and CETA. Thus not only emerging and developing countries but also highly developed countries are increasingly subject to an extra-legal system evolving beyond the nation state. This development is widely associated with an over-empowerment of international investors as well as undemocratic reductions of sovereign national policy spaces. However, until now these claims have not been subjected to comprehensive empirical research. Through a series of comparative studies this project aims to better understand how the rise of international investment law and investor-state arbitration affects politics and law-making de facto in highly developed countries.
Project Team
Prof. Dr. Thomas Dietz, University of Muenster
Marius Dotzauer , Research Associate and PhD Candidate, University of Muenster
Cooperation Partner: Prof. Dr. Niels Petersen, University of Muenster
(3) Edited Volume: The Politics of Private Transnational Governance by Contract
Editors:
Prof. Dr. Claire Cutler, University of Victoria, Canada
Prof. Dr. Thomas Dietz, University of Muenster, Germany
The edited volume brings together an interdisciplinary group of international scholars in order to develop a new theoretical perspective on the understudied phenomenon of transnational private governance by contract. In the book we show that most transnational governance instruments (e.g. international arbitration, private regulations or voluntary standards) have in common that they are ultimately constituted through contracts. While contract has been the dominant mode of organizing the economic market for a long time, it has now spread to become a central mode of governance of economic-political relations in a much broader sense. Associated with this is the spread of social and environmental regulation through clauses in contracts between private parties, and the expansion of private dispute settlement as a mode for resolving contractual disputes. The implications of this development for the analysis of transnational governance, power and authority will be explored in the book in depth.
