I am a Professor of European Politics at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. My research focuses on the institutional and political development of the European Union and European politics more broadly. I am particularly interested in explaining fundamental and long-term developments, including the parliamentarization and differentiated integration of the EU as well as the rise of, and the EU’s struggle with, democratic backsliding, autocratization, and illiberal actors among the member states and in its neighborhood. Many of my projects are linked by an analytical interest in the influence of parliaments and parliamentary actors, notably parties, on EU politics and a normative concern for strengthening the democratic quality and legitimacy of European integration.

My research has, for example, examined the following research questions:

• Why, and to what effect, does the EU (fail to) act against democratic backsliding in EU member states? What goals and strategies do autocratic and illiberal actors pursue in the EU institutions?
• Has European integration become more differentiated and, if so, why and with what consequences?
• Have national parliaments obtained a more prominent role in EU politics? What explains this development and what consequences does it have for the EU?
• Who influences and benefit from the organization and policy process of the European Parliament?
• What explains the emergence and spread of international parliamentary institutions?