my professional journey
I am a Senior Assistant Professor at the Institute of Political Science of Leiden University and Fellow of the International Migration Institute (IMI).
Originally from Vienna, I studied Comparative Politics at SciencesPo Paris (2012, honors) and received my PhD (2019, cum laude) in Political Sociology from the University of Amsterdam. Prior to that, I worked at the International Migration Institute at Oxford University. I have also experience working for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), European Commission, International Center on Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), French Institute of International Relations (IFRI) and Bertelsmann Foundation. In Spring 2024, I will be Visiting Fellow at the Robert Schuman Center of the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence, Italy.
Since 2011, I am also involved in Asylos, an NGO providing Country of Origin research for lawyers representing asylum seekers across Europe.
I speak German, French and English proficiently, and Dutch, Portuguese and Arabic at intermediate levels.
my research interests
I am researching migration politics from a comparative perspective, with a particular focus on the role of political regimes in immigration policymaking. My work seeks to advance migration policy theory and to connect it with broader social science research on modern statehood and political change, particularly dynamics of democratization and autocratization. Hereby, I hope to contribute to the wider academic effort of bridging theorizations of socio-political processes in the ‘Global South’ and the ‘Global North’.
I have conducted extensive field research on the politics of migration in Morocco and Tunisia, as well as large-scale data collection and coding of migration policies in Europe and beyond. I also lived one year in Cairo and regularly spend time in Brazil. I am currently involved in two large-scale research projectst on the role of knowledge in European migration politics as well as the link between autocratization and immigration policy worldwide.
check out my new book!
“The Politics of Immigration beyond Liberal States is a ground-breaking book. It should be important reading, not only for migration and North Africa scholars but also for all of those in IR and comparative politics who have realized that international migration has become one of the most prominent fault lines in global North-South politics and, at the same time, increasingly, the clearest area of practical convergence between liberal democracies and autocracies.”
Irene Fernández-Molina in The Middle East Journal
“The result is a work that not only offers a wealth of new empirical detail, but which also provides fascinating insights into the many-faceted roles of the bureaucracy and bureaucrats, civil society institutions and their activists, as well as national identity in the
Laurie Brand in Perspectives on Politics
construction and implementation of immigration policy in these two North African states.”
my community services
- Young Academy Leiden Member – University of Leiden (2022-onwards)
- Book Review Editor – International Migration Review (2021-2024)
- Executive Committee Member and Treasurer – Ethnicity, Migration and Nationalism Section of the International Studies Association (ENMISA) (2021-2023)
- Research Advisory Committee Member – Institute of Political Science, University of Leiden (2021-onwards)
- Recruitment Committee Member – Institute of Political Science, University of Leiden (2020-2022)
- Advisory Committee Member – European Forum Alpbach Political Symposium (2020-2021)
- Board of Trustees Member – Asylos, research for asylum (2017-onwards)
I regularly review articles for: British Journal of Political Science, Oxford Bibliographies, Political Geography, Global Policy, European Journal of International Relations, International Migration, Political Research Exchange, Mediterranean Politics, Political Studies Review, Comparative Migration Studies, Journal of North African Studies, Journal of Refugee Studies, Revue Migration Revue Européenne des Migrations Internationales, Oxford Middle East Review, Migration Studies, Politics & Religion, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.
KATHARINA NATTER 