Professor of International Relations, with a focus on international organizations

Tobias Lenz is a Professor of International Relations at the Leuphana University of Lüneburg and on sabbatical at the European University Institute in Florence during the academic year 2023/24. Previously, I worked as an Assistant Professor (Juniorprofessor) at the University of Göttingen and the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA), was a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence and a postdoctoral fellow at the Free University of Amsterdam. Tobias holds an M.Phil in Politics and a D.Phil in International Relations, both from Oxford University.

Research interests: international organizations and comparative regionalism

My research interests encompass international organizations (IOs) and the comparative study of regional integration processes.

I study how IOs are structured institutionally, how institutional structures vary across IOs and over time, and what the dynamics of institutional evolution in IOs are. At the moment, I am particularly interested in the impact of institutional overlap on IO design and the trade-offs that exist between different design objectives.

I am also leading a five-year Leibniz Junior Research Group, which examines the dynamics of self-legitimation in regional IOs. One finding emerging from this research is that IO self-legitimation is not merely a reaction to relevant audiences’ normative demands, but also reflects the norms held by IO representatives and those embedded in the wider organizational environment.

In ongoing research in the field of comparative regionalism, I examine diffusion processes among regional IOs as well as the role of the European Union in such processes, from both an analytical and a normative perspective.