Professor Jürgen Rüland

Jürgen Rüland, born 1953, studied political science, history and German literature at the University of Freiburg, Germany. He earned a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Freiburg in 1981 and his habilitation degree (Habilitation) at the same university in 1989. From 1978 to 1991 he worked as a research fellow at the Arnold-Bergstraesser-Institute Freiburg. He was professor pro tempore of Political Science at the University Passau (1991-1993) and professor of Political Science at the University of Rostock (1993-1998). Since 1998 Rüland holds a chair for International Relations at the University of Freiburg. From 2000-2002 he served as Dean of the Faculty of Humanities IV. Since November 2009 Prof. Rüland is the Chairperson of the Freiburg University’s Southeast Asia Program, which is sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). 

Before, from 2001-2007, Prof. Rüland was also the Director of the Arnold-Bergstraesser-Institut Freiburg, a noted German think tank specializing in development research. In 2006 he became Chairman of the Advisory Board of the GIGA German Institute for Global and Area Studies, Hamburg. He was re-appointed for a second term in 2010. From 1995 to 2003 he was the Chairman of the Advisory Board on Southeast Asia of the German Society of Asian Studies (DGA). Starting in 2009 he served for two terms as a Board Member of the German Society of Political Science (DGfP).

Prof. Rüland was a visiting scholar at the University of Stanford, the National University of Singapore, the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, the University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University, Chiang Mai University, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) and Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta. From 1999 to 2008, he was external examiner at the Faculty of Economics and Public Administration of the University of Malaya. He was re-appointed for the 2013/14-2017/18 term. In 2009, Universitas Indonesia appointed him as an Adjunct Professor.

Mr. Rüland is currently a member of the editorial boards of the The Pacific Review, European Journal of East Asian Studies, Asia Europe Journal, Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, Zeitschrift für Internationale Beziehungen (ZIB) and Internationales Asienforum. In 2007, Pacific Affairs awarded him and Christl Kessler the William L. Holland Prize for the best article in 2006. He was the Stanford University/National University of Singapore Distinguished Fellow for Southeast Asia 2010 and fellow at the Freiburg Institute of Advanced Studies (FRIAS) 2010/2011. Currently, he holds a FRIAS Senior Fellowship throughout 2015.

Prof. Rüland authored or co-authored 14 monographs and edited or co-edited 20 volumes. He is the author or co-author of more than 150 book chapters and journal articles. He contributed, inter alia, to the European Journal of International Relations, the Journal of European Public Policy, Security Dialogue, Foreign Policy Analysis, International Relations and Development, The Pacific Review, Pacific Affairs, Asian Survey, International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, European Journal of East Asian Studies, Contemporary Southeast Asia, European Foreign Affairs Review and Asia Europe Journal.

His research interests include cooperation and institution-building in international relations, globalization and regionalization, international relations and security in the Asia-Pacific region, democratization, political, economic, social and cultural change in Southeast Asia.

Selected Recent Publications

Nguitragool, Paruedee & Rüland, Jürgen (2014 forthcoming): ASEAN and its Cohesion as an Actor in International Forums – Reality, Potential and Constraints, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Huotari, Mikko & Rüland, Jürgen (2014): Context, Concepts and Comparison in Southeast Asian Studies, Special Issue, Pacific Affairs.

Huotari, M., Rüland, J. & Schlehe, J. (eds.) (2014): Methodology and Research Practice in Southeast Asian Studies. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan

Rüland, J. (2013): Participation without Democratization: The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) and ASEAN Regional Cooperation, in: O. Costa, C. Dri & S. Stavridis (eds.), Parliamentary Dimensions of Regionalization and Globalization. The Role of Inter-parliamentary Institutions, Houndsmille, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, S. 166-188.

Rüland, J., Manea, M.-G. & Born, H (eds.) (2013): The Politics of Military Reform. Experiences from Indonesia and Nigeria, Heidelberg: Springer.

Rüland, J. & Bechle, K. (2013): “Defending state-centric regionalism through mimicry and localisation: regional parliamentary bodies in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Mercosur,” Journal of International Relations and Development 2013: 1-28.

Rüland, J. (2013): “Constructing Regionalism Domestically: Local Actors and Foreign Policymaking in Newly Democratized Indonesia, Foreign Policy Analysis

Rüland, J. (2012): “The Limits of Democratizing Interest Representation: ASEAN’s Regional Corporatism and Normative Challenges,” European Journal of International Relations

Rüland, J. (2010): “Balancers, Multilateral Utilities or Regional Identity Builders? International Relations and the Study of Interregionalism,” Journal of European Public Policy 17(8): 1268-1280.

Rüland, J. (2009): “Deepening ASEAN Cooperation through Democratization? The Indonesian Legislature and Foreign Policymaking,” International Relations of the Asia-Pacific 9(3): 373-402.

Jetschke, A. & Rüland, J. (2009): “Decoupling Rhetoric and Practice: The Cultural Limits of ASEAN Cooperation,” The Pacific Review 22(2): 179-203.

Research Projects

Constructing Regionalism Domestically: Local Actors and Foreign Policymaking in Indonesia

ASEAN in International Organizations

Parliaments and Security Sector Governance

Democratization through Migration?

Constructions of the West through International Relations Scholars: Indonesian Views