Christoph Stefes

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Institutional Affiliation 

University of Colorado Denver

Education

Doctor of Philosophy in International Studies
University of Denver, Korbel School of International Studies

Master of Arts in International Studies
University of Denver, Korbel School of International Studies

Bachelor of Arts in History and German Studies
Universität Tübingen, Germany

Regional and Thematic Interests

Democracy and democratization, autocratic regimes, political corruption, politics of energy transitions, environmental politics and policies, European/EU politics, post-Soviet/Russian politics

Profile

Christoph H. Stefes is a professor of comparative public policy and politics. He has been with CU Denver since 1999 and moved from the Political Science Department, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences to the School of Public Affairs in 2024. He has also taught in Tbilisi (Georgia), Sarajevo (BiH), Beijing (PRC), and Berlin (Germany). In his teaching and research, Christoph focuses on political regimes and regime transitions, corruption, environmental politics, and green energy transitions.

Christoph is the author and editor of numerous books and articles, including Fighting Environmental Crime in Europe and Beyond: The Role of the EU and Its Member States (2017, Palgrave, with Ragnhild Sollund) and Germany's Energy Transition: A Comparative Perspective (2016, Palgrave, with Carol Hager), and Understanding Post-Soviet Transitions: Corruption, Collusion and Clientelism (2006, Palgrave). He has published in various journals, including Energy Policy, European Policy Analysis, and Review of Policy Research. He is a Senior Associate at the Berlin-based Ecologic Institute, and he has directed CU Denver’s study-abroad program in Berlin since 2014. He has received teaching and research awards from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Selected Publications

Gerschewski, J., W. Merkel, A. Schmotz, C. H. Stefes, and D. Tanneberg. Critical Junctures and the Survival of Dictatorships. In progress.

Gerschewski, J. and C. H. Stefes (Eds.) Termites in the Basement. Institutional Decay and Reequilibriation in Autocratic Regimes. Under review.

Hager, C. and C. H. Stefes (Eds.) 2016. Green Pioneers: Germany’s Energy Transition (New York: Palgrave Macmillan).

Sollund, R., C. H. Stefes, and A. Germani (Eds.) 2016. Fighting Environmental Crime in Europe and Beyond: The Role of the EU and Its Member States (New York: Palgrave Macmillan).

Nodia, G. and  C. H. Stefes (Eds.) 2015. Security, Democracy and Development in the Southern Caucasus and the Black Sea Region (Frankfurt/M: Peter Lang).

Wooden, A. and  C. H. Stefes (Eds.) 2009. The Politics of Transition in Central Asia and the Caucasus (New York: Routledge).

Stefes, C. H. 2006. Understanding Post-Soviet Transitions: Corruption, Collusion and Clientelism (New York: Palgrave Macmillan).

Barrios, H. and C. H. Stefes (Eds.). 2006. Einführung in die Comparative Politics (Munich: Oldenbourg).