Prof. Dr. Sandra Eckert

Prof. Dr. Sandra Eckert

Professor, Chair

Institute of Political Science
Chair of Comparative Politics

Room: Room 00.059
Kochstr. 4
91054 Erlangen

Interim Professor

Throughout the winter term 2023/2024 and summer term 2024 Prof. Dr. Sandra Eckert is on maternity and parental leave. During this period Prof. Dr. Constantin Wurthmann will represent the chair as an interim professor.


Sandra Eckert is Full University Professor of the Chair in Comparative Politics at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) since August 2022. She has previously been Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND fellow and Associate Professor at the Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies in Denmark, and Assistant Professor of Politics in the European Multilevel System at Goethe University Frankfurt. She taught at the Universities of Berlin, Darmstadt, Freiburg, Mannheim, Osnabrück and SciencesPo Lyon. She worked as a research assistant within an EU-funded project at the Robert Schuman Centre of the European University Institute in Florence. Sandra received her PhD from the Free University Berlin, and graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science, the University of Freiburg and the Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne. She is the author of two books (Manchester University Press 2015, Palgrave Macmillan 2019) and has published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Common Market Studies, the Journal of European Public Policy, the Journal of European Integration as well as Regulation & Governance.


Fields of interest

  • governance in the European multilevel system
  • European integration, Europeanisation, Single European Market
  • comparative public policy, policy analysis
  • regulatory governance, private governance
  • comparative capitalism, international political economy
  • economic and social regulation, green regulation; banking regulation, energy regulation, network industries
  • environmental policy, sustainable development, circular economy

Past research projects

Partner in the Jean Monnet Network VISTA »Revitalising the Study of EU Single Market Integration in a Turbulent Age«, Goethe University Frankfurt, January 2020 – August 2023.

Principal Investigator »Regulating the Circular Economy and Plastics in the OECD World« German Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research & Development (GIF), January 2022 – December 2022.

Investigator in the Research Group »The Economic and Monetary Union at the Crossroads«, LEIBNIZ Institute for Financial Research SAFE (Sustainable Architecture for Finance in Europe), House of Finance, Goethe University Frankfurt, January 2019 – December 2022.

Publications

Monographs    

2019. Corporate Power and Regulation. Consumers and the Environment in the European Union. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Discussed by: Malou van den Broek, Onna 2020. »Exploring Two Facets of Corporate Power in EU Policymaking.« Political Studies Review http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1478929919899348.

2015. The Social Face of the Regulatory State. Reforming Public Services in Europe. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Edited volume

2012. »Symposium on Experimentalist Governance«, Regulation & Governance, 6/3 (with T. A. Börzel).

Articles in peer-reviewed journals

2024. »Business Power and the Geoeconomic Turn in the Single European Market« Journal of Common Market Studies, Early View. http://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.13604

2024. »A policy portfolio approach to plastics throughout their life cycle: Supranational and national regulation in the European Union« Environmental Policy and Governance, Early View (with O. Karassin & Y. Steinebach). https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.2092

2023. Review of: »Analysing the Trust-Transparency Nexus: Multi-level Governance in the UK, France and Germany« Politische Vierteljahresschrift 64/3, 661–663. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11615-023-00482-2

2022. »European administrative networks, private networks and agencies: coexisting, cooperating or competing?« Journal of European Public Policy, 29/10, https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2022.2104913

2022. »Sectoral Governance under the EU’s Bilateral Agreements and the Limits of Joint Institutional Frameworks: Insights from EU-Swiss Bilateralism for Post-Brexit Relations with the UK« Journal of Common Market Studies 60/4. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.13315

2022. »Supranational authorities and private actors as drivers of single market integration? The state of the Union in electricity and banking« Journal of European Integration 44/1, 19-40. https://doi.org/10.1080/07036337.2021.2011265

2021. »The European Green Deal and the EU’s Regulatory Power in Times of Crisis« Journal of Common Market Studies Annual Review 2021. 59/S1, 81-91. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.13241

2021. »Varieties of Framing the Circular Economy and the Bioeconomy. Unpacking business interests in European policymaking« Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning, 23/2, 181-193. https://doi.org/10.1080/1523908X.2021.1894106

2021. »Are business actors right a lot? On the strategic use of self-regulation and litigation by European business associations« (in German) Der Moderne Staat, 13/2, 1-22. https://doi.org/10.3224/dms.v13i2.06

2020. »Beyond legislation: reconsidering the locus of power in EU regulatory governance« Special Issue The Theory and Practice of Legislation eds. N. Kosti, D. Levi-Faur and G. Mor, 7/3, 205-225. https://doi.org/10.1080/20508840.2020.1730102

2020. »Private authority in tackling cross-border issues. The hidden path of integrating European energy markets« Special Issue Journal of European Integration eds. V. J. Fairbrass, A. Herranz-Surralés and I. Solorio 42/1, 59-75 (with B. Eberlein). https://doi.org/10.1080/07036337.2019.1708340

2018. »Two spheres of regulation. Balancing social and economic policy goals« Regulation & Governance 12/2, 175-313. https://doi.org/10.1111/rego.12137

2016. »The governance of Markets, Sustainability and Supply. Toward a European Energy Policy« Journal of Contemporary European Research 12/1, 502-517. https://doi.org/10.30950/jcer.v12i1.694

2012. »Experimentalist Governance: An Introduction« Regulation & Governance 6/3, 371-377 (with T. A. Börzel). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-5991.2012.01163.x

2010. »Between Commitment and Control: Varieties of Delegation in the European Postal Sector« Journal of European Public Policy17/8, 1231-1252. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2010.513581

2009. »Self-Regulation by Associations: A Collective Action Problem in Environmental Regulation« Business and Politics 11/1, Article 3 (with A. Héritier). https://doi.org/10.2202/1469-3569.1250

2009. »Postal Reform around the Globe. Comparing the Asian and European Experience« Policy and Society 27/3, 261-272. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polsoc.2008.10.005

2008. »New Modes of Governance in the Shadow of Hierarchy: Self-Regulation by Industry in Europe« Journal of Public Policy 28/1, 113-138 (with A. Héritier). https://doi.org/10.1017/S0143814X08000809

Book chapters

2023. »Business and private finance: their role in the EU’s climate transition« in: Handbook on European Union Climate Change Policy and Politics. Hg. T. Rayner, K. Szulecki, A. J. Jordan, S. Oberthür, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.

2023. »Circularity in the Plastic Age: Policymaking and Industry Action in the European Union« in: Living in the Plastic Age. Perspectives from Humanities, Social Sciences and Environmental Sciences. edited by J. Kramm und C. Völker, Frankfurt/New York: Campus Verlag.

2022 »Theresa May’s leadership in Brexit negotiations: Self-Representation and Media Evaluations« in: Pathways to Power: Female Leadership and Women Empowerment in the European Union. edited by I. Tömmel and H. Müller, Oxford: Oxford University Press. (with C. Galpin)

2019. »Cross-border technical cooperation in times of political disintegration: The case of European electricity markets« (in German) in: Energiewende in Times of Populism(in German) edited by W. Canzler, J. Radtke and M. Schreurs, Wiesbaden: Springer VS.

2018. »The company in western business systems and national varieties of advanced capitalism« in: Handbook of the International Political Economy of the Corporation, edited by C. May and A. Nölke, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.

2018. »The European Commission as a negotiator: Evidence from the disintegration talks with the United Kingdom and Switzerland « in: The European Commission: promoting European Cohesion? edited by J. Ege,  M. W. Bauer and S. Becker, Baden-Baden: Nomos.

2018. »Wettbewerb und Regulierung« in: Politik und Wirtschaft: Ein integratives Kompendium, edited by K. Mause, C. Müller and K. Schubert, Wiesbaden: Springer VS/ Gabler. (with O. Budzinski).

2011. »European Regulatory Governance« in: Handbook of the Politics of Regulation, edited by D. Levi-Faur, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 513-524.

2011. »EU« in: Internationale Organisationen, edited by K. Freistein and J. Leininger, München: Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 94-105

2009. »Researching Governance in a Multinational Environment: The European University Institute«, in: European Multilevel Governance. Contrasting Images in National Research, edited by B. Kohler-Koch and F. Larat, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 153-164.

2004. »Paul Karl Feyerabend«, »Thomas Samuel Kuhn«, »Imre Lakatos«, »Karl Raimund Popper«, in: Politische Theorie der Gegenwart in Einzeldarstellungen, edited by G. Riescher, Stuttgart: Kröner Verlag.

Working papers

2023. »Wettbewerb und Regulierung (Update 2023)« (November 2023). Ilmenau Economics Discussion Paper No. 183. https://www.tu-ilmenau.de/fileadmin/Bereiche/WM/wth/Diskussionspapier_Nr_183.pdf (with O. Budzinski).

2022 »The Limits of Joint-Institutional Frameworks for Sectoral Governance in EU-Swiss Bilateral Relations: Lessons for Future Relations with the UK« (February 21, 2022). SAFE Working Paper No. 341, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.co/abstract=4039554 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4039554

2022 »Political Science Research on the Reasons for the (non) Adoption and (non) Implementation of EMU Reform Proposals: The State of the Art« (January 2022). SAFE Working Paper No. 339. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4020327 (with V. Lindner and A. Nölke).

2020 »EMU reform proposals and their (non) implementation: An overview«. SAFE White Paper No. 78, December 2020. https://safe-frankfurt.de/fileadmin/user_upload/editor_common/Policy_Center/SAFE_White_Paper_78.final.pdf (with V. Lindner and A. Nölke).

2020. »EU Agencies in Banking and Energy between Institutional and Policy Centralisation«. SAFE Working Paper No. 278, May 2020. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3609845; TARN Working Paper Series 05/2020, July 2020. Available at SSRN:https://ssrn.com/abstract=3709679.

2015. »Wettbewerb und Regulierung« Diskussionspapier Nr. 93, Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre, Technische Universität Ilmenau (with 0. Budzinski). https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-658-06227-9_11

2008. »Self-Regulation by Associations: Collective Action Problems in European Environmental Regulation« EUI Working Papers, RSCAS 1008/26 (with A. Héritier). https://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/9049

Conference papers and invited talks

Conference paper »Energy Policy« Workshop on EU rule-making in crises, Salzburg, 2-3 February 2023 (with O. Windahl-Pedersen).

Conference paper »Policy measures and voluntary initiatives on plastics in the Circular Economy at national and European level. Taking stock«,  Conference on Regulation, Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, Frankfurt, 29 November 2022.

Conference paper »EU energy policy in times of war. The geo-economic turn of the regulatory state« Workshop on Energy Policy in Times of War, Darmstadt, 28 October 2022.

Panel discussion »Electricity in Perspective« Workshop Electricity rules towards unity or diversity? European University Institute, Florence, 12-13 October 2022.

Conference paper »The Dynamics of Differentiated Integration and Sectoral Governance – Revisiting the Banking Case«, ECPR General Conference, University of Innsbruck, 22–26 August 2022.

Conference paper »Integrating the Climate Risk into EU Regulatory Governance«, ECPR General Conference, University of Innsbruck, 22–26 August 2022.

Conference paper »Regulating the Circular Economy and Plastics in the OECD World«, ECPR General Conference, Universität Innsbruck, University of Innsbruck, 22–26 August 2022. (with O. Karassin and Y. Steinebach)

Conference paper » Supranational authorities and private actors as drivers of single market integration? The state of the Union in electricity and banking «, 28th International Conference of Europeanists University Institute of Lisbon,  Lisbon, Portugal, 29 June – 1 July 2022.

Invited talk »Coping with Instability in the EU Regulatory State: How to Steer the Green Transition?«, MaxPo Seminar, SciencesPo, Paris, 16 May 2022.

Invited talk »Beyond green regulation«, Forum for the Politics of the European Union, Aarhus University, Department of Political Science, 28 March 2022.

Invited talk »European regulation on food contact packaging: circularity, safety and sustainability« Aarhus Universitet, 4th Webinar of COST ACTION CA 19124, 10 February 2022 https://projects.au.dk/circul-a-bility/activities/webinars/4th-webinar-of-cost-action-ca-19124/

Invited talk »The EU’s Green Taxonomy: The New Global Gold Standard for Industry and Financial Markets?« Conference on German and Global Regulation, Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, Frankfurt, 5 November 2021.

Conference paper (co-authored with Kristin Olofsson and Karina Shyrokykh) »Storylines of Climate Change: A Network Analysis of the EU Agencies’ Discourse on Twitter« Danish Political Science Association (DPSA) Annual Conference, Section EU & Europeanization. Hotel Vejlefjord, Velje, Denmark, 28-29 Oktober 2021.

Conference paper »Corporate regulatory power in the EU’s transition towards a circular economy«, 16th Corporate Responsibility Research Conference CRR, Open University Israel, online event, 12-13 October 2021.

Panel discussion (chair) »Economic Recovery and Solidarity« Annual Conference. The Future of the EU and German European Policy,  Institute for European Politics, online event, 30 September-1st October 2021.

Conference paper (with C. Galpin) »Theresa May’s Leadership in Brexit Negotiations: Self-Representation and Media Evaluations«, Deutsche Vereinigung für Politikwissenschaft (DVPW), Panel »Women and Leadership in the European Union«, online event, 14-16 September 2021.

Conference paper »Political struggles in the EU’s transition towards a Circular Economy. The Case of Plastics« International Political Science Association (IPSA) World Congress 2021, Panel »Circular Economy Policies from a Business Perspective«, online event, 10-14 July 2021.

Conference paper (with M. Cini) »The EU Regulatory State in a Turbulent Age. Implications of Crises Responses for the Core of Integration« Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economic Studies (SASE) 33rd Annual Meeting, Network L: Regulation and Governance, online event, 2-5 July 2021.

Conference paper (with A. Mah) »The Circular Economy Transition in Europe – Revisiting the Policy-Industry Nexus for the Case of Plastics«, Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economic Studies (SASE) 33rd Annual Meeting, Miniconference TH07: Green Transitions in the Anthropocene, online event, 2-5 July 2021.

Conference paper (with M. Cini) »The EU Regulatory State in a Turbulent Age. Implications of Crises Responses for the Core of Integration« European Consortium of Political Science (ECPR) Standing Group on the European Union, Panel »Impact of Covid-19 on EU Negotiations and Decision-Making«, online event, 10-12 June 2021.

Invited talk »The External Dimension of the EU Green Deal« Webinar with Policymakers The EU Green Deal and Circular Economy: the Way Ahead in EU Israel Relations, The Open University of Israel, The Israel Society of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Israeli Association for the Study of European Integration, 20 April 2021.

Conference paper »Hybrid governance of markets in normal times and times of crisis: Banking and electricity compared« Jean Monnet-Network Revitalising the Study of EU Single Market Integration in a Turbulent Age (VISTA), authors’ workshop, online event, 11 March 2021.

Jean Monnet Lecture »The EU Regulatory State in a Turbulent Age: Implications of Crises Responses for the Core of Integration«, Jean Monnet Chair at the Gutenberg University Mainz, online event, 27 January 2021.

Conference paper (with A. Mah) »Whose Circular Economy? Industry Expertise and European Regulation on Plastics« Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Conference 2020, Virtual Event, 30 November-1 December 2020.

Conference paper »The rise of the Circular Economy, decline of the Bioeconomy? A tale of two concepts and business involvement in the EU« Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Conference 2020, online event, 30 November-1 December 2020.

Conference paper »Administrative and private networks in European governance: Coevolving or competing? The case of energy and banking« Workshop European Administrative Networks, online event, 5-6 November 2020.

Panel Chair (with A. Lenschow, J. Pollex) Private Governance, Corporate Power and Environmental Politics in Europe, supported by ECPR Environmental Politics Standing Group, ECPR General Conference, online event, 26-28 August 2020.

Conference paper (with M. Cini) »The Single European Market in a Turbulent Age. Implications of the EU’s Crisis Response for the Core of Integration« ECPR General Conference, online event, 26-28 August 2020.

Conference paper »Administrative and private networks in European governance: Coevolving or competing? The case of energy and banking« ECPR General Conference, online event, 26-28 August 2020.

Invited talk and Roundtable »Corporate Power and Regulation«, Max-Po Impromptu & CEE Seminar Perspectives on Corporate Power (with T. David, J. Stuckatz and C. Woll), Center for European Studies and Comparative Politics, Sciences Po Paris, 2 March 2020.

Conference paper (with C. Galpin) »Facing the Glass Cliff: Theresa May’s Impossible Task to Implement the Brexit Agenda« Workshop Pathways to Power: Female Leadership and Women Empowerment in the European Union, University Osnabrueck, 9–11 January 2020.