Tobias Greiff

I am a Professorial Lecturer in International Affairs at the Elliott School for International Affairs at George Washington University, an Instructor for International Peace and Conflict Resolution at American University in Washington, DC; as well as a Visiting Scholar and Adjunct Instructor at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University. Next to these appointments I am a Visiting Research Fellow at the Department of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania. Previous to that I held Visiting Researcher appointments at the Department of Government and the Department of Psychology at Georgetown University, Washington, DC and was a Visiting Fellow at the Balkan Institute for Conflict Resolution, Responsibility, and Reconciliation at the Sarajevo School of Science and Technology.

I have studied and researched international relations, modern history, political science, peace and conflict resolution, cultural psychology and social geography at various international universities, including Georgetown University (USA), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (GER), Technische Universität München (GER), Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (NL), the University of Erfurt (GER), and American University in Washington, DC; supported through scholarships and grants provided by the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), and the FAZit Foundation.

My current research is focused on the emergence of political agency and power in the immediate aftermath of large-scale intergroup conflicts and how the distribution and negotiation processes of power influence the stability of peace settlements (mainly in Bosnia and Herzegovina). Here I am in particular interested in how the interaction of various political actors, whose legitimacy (e.g. voter support) continues to be dependent on war-time – mainly ethno-national – loyalties, can create a new peacetime working order. To highlight potential threats resulting from the ways political powers are created in Bosnia today, I analyze how political agents use central public spaces as a stage and prop to justify, legitimize, and mobilize their constituents in reference to various ethno-national myths, symbols, and rituals. What my research on intergroup interactions in post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina demonstrates so far is that the current justifications of power pose serious threat to the overall social order of Bosnia; increasingly so since economic decline and reductions in international aid elevate war-time profiteers and logics once again.

Some of my findings have been published in "Identität und Anspruch: Die Funktionen von Symbolen in Bosniens Friedensprozess [Identity and Truth Claims: The Functions of Symbols in Bosnia's Peace Process], Marburg: Tectum Publishers 2011".

Next to my academic engagements, I am the director and founder of f-r-e-e, e.V. / f-r-e-e, Inc. (USA), a development organization involved in community building projects in post-conflict-environments. Please visit: www.f-r-e-e.eu