The many faces of GESIS
Vita
I am a political scientist at GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences in Cologne, where I lead the team Survey Data Augmentation. Before joining GESIS, I was senior researcher at the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), interim professor for political science at the University of Konstanz, and a postdoctoral researcher at Heidelberg University. In 2014, I obtained my PhD with a thesis titled A nudge too far? The effects of democracy aid on democratization and political instability from the Department of Government at the University of Essex. My first degree is a Diplom in Regional Studies Latin America from the University of Cologne.
Research
In my current research, I conduct real-world experiments on how to improve democratic participation and citizen-state relations. I also work on measuring regime change and state capacity, developing methods to combine different types of data at various levels of spatial and temporal aggregation. My overall goal is to contribute to better understanding how democracies changes and how negative consequences of such change can be mitigated. I have published my research in The Journal of Politics, Governance, Studies in Comparative International Development, Third World Quarterly, and other international, peer-reviewed journals.Publications
Journal article
Ziaja, Sebastian, Markus Geray, David Sebudubudu, and Armin von Schiller. 2024. "E-government and citizen-state relations: Evidence from a randomized information campaign with the Botswana Unified Revenue Service." Governance online first. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/gove.12893.
Carlitz, Ruth, and Sebastian Ziaja. 2024. "Harmony or cacophony? A disaggregated analysis of aid fragmentation." Studies in Comparative International Development 59 (1): 176-198. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12116-023-09386-z.
Hackenesch, Christine, Svea Koch, and Sebastian Ziaja. 2022. "Beyond rich and poor: Identifying global development constellations." Development Policy Review 40 (6): e12628. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/dpr.12628.
Ziaja, Sebastian. 2020. "More Donors, More Democracy." Journal of Politics 82 (2): 433-447. doi: https://doi.org/10.1086/706111.
Ziaja, Sebastian, Jörn Grävingholt, and Merle Kreibaum. 2019. "Constellations of state fragility: an empirical typology." Studies in Comparative International Development 54 (2): 299-321. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12116-019-09284-3.
Elff, Martin, and Sebastian Ziaja. 2018. "Method factors in democracy indicators." Politics and Governance 6 (1): 92-104. doi: https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v6i1.1235.
Grävingholt, Jörn, Sebastian Ziaja, and Merle Kreibaum. 2015. "Disaggregating state fragility: A method to establish a multidimensional empirical typology." Third World Quarterly 36 (7): 1281-1298. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2015.1038340.
Faust, Jörg, Jörn Grävingholt, and Sebastian Ziaja. 2015. "Foreign aid and the fragile consensus on state fragility." Journal of International Relations and Development 18 (4): 407–427. doi: https://doi.org/10.1057/jird.2013.23.
Ziaja, Sebastian. 2012. "What do fragility indices measure? Assessing measurement procedures and statistical proximity." Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft 1 (6): 39–64. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12286-012-0123-8.
Chapter in an edited book
Dreher, Axel, Valentin Lang, and Sebastian Ziaja. 2018. "Foreign Aid." In The Oxford Handbook of Governance and Limited Statehood, edited by Anke Draude, Tanja Börzel, and Thomas Risse, 394-415. Oxford University Press. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198797203.013.19.
Anheier, Helmut, Sonja Kaufmann, and Sebastian Ziaja. 2018. "Ten years after: the global financial and economic crisis - impact and implications." In The Governance Report 2018, edited by Hertie School of Governance, Oxford University Press. https://www.hertie-school.org/en/governancereport/govreport-2018.
Monograph
Fabra Mata, Javier, and Sebastian Ziaja. 2009. Users' Guide on Measuring Fragility. German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). https://www.die-gdi.de/uploads/media/usersguide_measure_fragility_ogc09_0.pdf.
Working and discussion paper
Lorch, Jasmin, Sebastian Ziaja, and Jörn Grävingholt. 2024. Constellations of State Fragility: Improving International Cooperation through Analytical Differentiation. IDOS Policy Brief 5/2024. Bonn: German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS). doi: https://doi.org/10.23661/ipb5.2024.
Birkenmaier, Lukas, Jessica Daikeler, Leon Fröhling, Tobias Gummer, Clemens Lechner, Vanessa Lux, Jan Schwalbach, Henning Silber, Bernd Weiß, Katrin Weller, Christof Wolf, Dennis Abel, Johannes Breuer, Stefan Dietze, Dimitar Dimitrov, Holger Döring, Anna Hebel, Oshrat Hochman, Stefan Jünger, Alexia Katsanidou, Julian Kohne, Tanja Kunz, Frank Mangold, Brigitte Mathiak, Joachim G. Piepenburg, Reinhard Pollak, Markus Quandt, Beatrice Rammstedt, Joss Rossmann, Sebastian Schellhammer, Anne-Kathrin Stroppe, Felix Soldner, Sebastian Stier, Claudia Wagner, Oliver Watteler, Julia Weiß, Benjamin Zapilko, and Sebastian Ziaja. 2024. Defining and Evaluating Data Quality for the Social Sciences: Position Paper. GESIS Papers 2024/06. doi: https://doi.org/10.21241/ssoar.96764.
Presentation at a conference
Ziaja, Sebastian, Svend-Erik Skaaning, and Ivet Solanes Ros. 2024. "A survey-based index of civil liberty around the globe, 1990-2022." Politik in der Polykrise - 29. Wissenschaftlicher Kongress der Deutschen Vereinigung für Politikwissenschaft, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, 2024-09-25.
Ziaja, Sebastian, Svend-Erik Skaaning, and Ivet Solanes Ros. 2024. "Citizen vs. expert assessments of civil liberty." Workshop Multi-Data Perspectives on Democracy, GESIS - Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften, Köln, 2024-07-03.
Ziaja, Sebastian, Svend-Erik Skaaning, and Ivet Solanes Ros. 2024. "Citizen vs. expert perceptions of civil liberty around the globe." 14th Annual Conference of the European Political Science Association, Komed, Köln, 2024-07-05.
Jünger, Stefan, Dennis Abel, Anne-Kathrin Stroppe, Sebastian Ziaja, and Alexia Katsanidou. 2023. "The uncertain geographic context problem and the unknown effect of extreme weather on climate change attitudes: Panel on "Weather Extremes and Climate Change"." GESIS International Expert Workshop on "Earth Observation Data in the Social Sciences", GESIS - Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften, Köln, 2023-12-14.
Ziaja, Sebastian, Markus Geray, David Sebudubudu, and Armin von Schiller. 2022. "Reducing perceptions of inequality via electronic governance: A field experiment from Botswana." European Political Science Association (EPSA) Annual Conference, Prague, 23.-25.06.2022, 2022-06-24.
Presentation not at a conference
Ziaja, Sebastian, and Antonia May. 2024. "Can a citizen council increase community-wide support for democracy? Taskforce A Next-Generation Randomized Citizen Council for Encouraging Political Participation at the Local Level” (NexCiCo)." Kick-Off Veranstaltung „Transformationswissen über Demokratien im Wandel“ der VolkswagenStiftung, Schloss Herrenhausen, Hannover, 2024-11-04.