Dominik Balthasar, PhD

Dominik Balthasar, PhD

Associate Professor
Academic Program Director, Master in Development Management

EXPERTISE

Peace, conflict, and fragility (FCV); development policy; strategic foresight

Dominik Balthasar, PhD

Associate Professor
Academic Program Director, Master in Development Management

ACADEMIC BACKGROUND 

  • PhD in International Development, London School of Economics and Political Science
  • MSc Development Studies (Best Dissertation Award), London School of Economics and Political Science

PROFESSIONAL AND ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE

  • Independent Consultant, Freelance
  • Portfolio Manager, KfW Development Bank
  • Sector Economist Peace & Fragility, KfW Development Bank
  • Senior Researcher, swisspeace/ Swiss Peace Foundation
  • Consultant, Institute of Peace and Security Studies
  • Fellow, European Union Institute for Security Studies
  • Fellow, United States Institute of Peace
  • Fellow, Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House)
  • Lecturer, University of Basel
  • Consultant, i.a. World Bank, United Nations Development Program, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UK Department of International Development, Oxford Analytica, Saferworld
  • Researcher, Small Arms Survey
  • Teaching Fellow, London School of Economics
  • Teaching Fellow, School of Oriental and African Studies

AFFILIATIONS, AWARDS AND HONORS

  • Research Associate, Overseas Development Institute
  • Digital Executive Fellow, Geneva Centre for Security Policy
  • Member, Next Generation Foresight Practitioner Network
  • Member, Association of Professional Futurists
  • Fellow, Global Diplomacy Lab
  • Associated Researcher, swisspeace/ Swiss Peace Foundation
  • Research Grant, Swiss National Science Foundation
  • Transatlantic Post-Doc Fellowship for International Relations and Security
  • Post-Doctoral Scholarship, German Academic Exchange Service
  • Global Governance 2022 Fellow, Global Public Policy Institute
  • Post-Graduate Program for International Affairs Best Dissertation Prize, London School of Economics and Political Science
  • German National Academic Foundation
  • Cusanuswerk
  • Global Public Policy Network Award

PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATIONS

  • Certificate: Foundations in Design Thinking, IDEO U
  • Certificate: Oxford Scenarios Programme, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
  • Certificate: General Management for Juniors, Business School of St. Gallen

PEER-REVIEWED JOURNALS

  • Balthasar, D. (2019). On the (In)compatibility of peace-building and state-making: Evidence from Somaliland. The Journal of Development Studies, 55(4), 457–472. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2017.1417586 
  • Balthasar, D. (2018). State-Making in Somalia under Siyad Barre: Scrutinizing historical amnesia and normative bias. International Journal of African Historical Studies, 51(1), 141–162. 
  • Balthasar, D. (2017). Peace-building as state-building’? Rethinking liberal interventionism in contexts of emerging states. Conflict, Security & Development, 17(6), 473–491. https://doi.org/10.1080/14678802.2017.1406180 
  • Balthasar, D. (2017). State-making at gunpoint: The role of violent conflict in Somaliland’s March to statehood. Civil Wars, 19(1), 65–86. https://doi.org/10.1080/13698249.2017.1343411 
  • Balthasar, D. (2017). In search of more than a state: Trajectories of political ordering and identity plurality in Somalia. African Identities, 15(2), 171–186. https://doi.org/10.1080/14725843.2016.1227694 
  • Balthasar, D. (2015). From hybridity to standardization: Rethinking state-making in contexts of fragility. Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, 9(1), 26–47. https://doi.org/10.1080/17502977.2015.993502 
  • Balthasar, D. (2014). Somalia: Unable to escape its past? Revisiting the roots of a fractured state and elusive nation. Critical African Studies, 6(2-3), 223–239. https://doi.org/10.1080/21681392.2014.965835 
  • Balthasar, D. (2013). Somaliland’s best kept secret: Shrewd politics and war projects as means of state-making. Journal of Eastern African Studies, 7(2), 218–238. https://doi.org/10.1080/17531055.2013.777217 

BOOK CHAPTERS

  • Balthasar, D., & Tourinho, M. (2019). UN sanctions and mediation: Somalia country study. In R. Brubaker, D. Lanz, & T. Biersteker (Eds.), UN Sanctions and Mediation: Establishing Evidence to Inform Practice. United Nations University. 
  • Balthasar, D. (2019). State-building ‘off the beaten track’: Insights from Somaliland. In H. G. Ehrhart, & M. Staack (Eds.), Sicherheits- und Friedensordnungen in Afrika – Nationale und regionale Herausforderungen (pp. 187–204). Nomos: Baden-Baden. https://doi.org/10.5771/9783748900740 
  • Balthasar, D., & Osei, A. (2018). Collaborating for peace – An analysis of networks of cooperation in Somalia. In M. Keating, & M. Waldman (Eds.), War and Peace in Somalia – National Grievances, Local Conflict and Al-Shabaab. Oxford University Press: New York. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190947910.001.0001 
  • Balthasar, D., & Druey, C. (2017). Governance as context: Are conflicts part of the system? In B. Bellak, J. Devdariani, B. Harzl, & L. Spieker (Eds.), Governance in Conflict: Selected Cases in Europe and Beyond (pp. 13–36). LIT Verlag: Wien und Zürich. 
  • Balthasar, D., & Grzybowski, J. (2012). Between state and non-state – Somaliland’s emerging security order. In Small Arms Survey (Ed.), Small Arms Survey Yearbook 2012 (pp. 146–173). Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.