Research Institute for Sustainability Helmholtz Centre Potsdam

Thomas Kalinowski

Dr. Thomas Kalinowski

Senior Fellow

Thomas Kalinowski is fellow at RIFS and a professor of political science at the Graduate School of International Studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, South Korea. He received his doctoral degree in political science at the Free University of Berlin in 2004.

At Ewha he teaches International Political Economy, Comparative Political Economy, International Organizations, International Environmental Governance, Sustainable Development, and Development Cooperation. Prof. Kalinowski worked at numerous academic institutions in Berlin, Berkeley, Providence, Honolulu, Tokyo, Cologne, Den Haag, Hamburg, Jeju, and Heidelberg. Recent publications include works on the political economy of financial crisis and crisis management, sustainable governance, the political economy of climate change, the Green Climate Fund (GCF), sustainable governance, the diversity of capitalism and the transformation of the East Asian developmental state.

His latest book "Why International Cooperation is Failing: How the Clash of Capitalisms Undermines the Regulation of Finance" has just been published as a paperback by Oxford University Press. His current research project at the RIFS is on the role of the Green Climate Fund in financing climate mitigation and adaptation in the Global South.

Blog Posts

zum Blog
to the Blog Posts

Education

  • 2004 Ph.D. in Political Science, Freie Universitaet Berlin, Germany
  • 1998 Diplom (M.A.) in Political Science, Freie Universitaet Berlin, Germany
  • 1995 Vordiplom (B.A.) in Political Science, Law, and Communication Science, Philipps Universitaet Marburg, Germany

Professional Experience

  • Since July 2022 Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), Potsdam
  • Since Sep 2017 Professor, Graduate School of International Studies, Ewha University, Seoul (tenured)
  • Sep '12 - Aug '17 Associate Professor at the Graduate School of International Studies, Ewha University, Seoul
  • Aug '15 - Jul '17 Department Chair of Ewha Graduate School of International Studies
  • Sep '07 - Aug '12 Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of International Studies, Ewha University, Seoul
  • Sep '06 - May '07 Visiting Assistant Professor at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island
  • Dec '05 - Aug '07 Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California in Berkeley
  • Apr '05 - Sep '05 Lecturer at the Humboldt Universitaet Berlin
  • Feb '05 - Apr '05 POSCO Visiting Fellow, East-West-Center, Honolulu, Hawaii
  • Sep '04 - Nov '05 Researcher at World Economy Ecology and Development, a Berlin based development NGO
  • Mar '99 - Aug '04 Research Associate (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter), Institute of Political Science, Freie Universitaet Berlin

Short Term Visiting Scholar Positions

  • Jan-Aug 2019 Visiting Scholar at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA), Hamburg, Germany
  • July '15 - Aug '16 Visiting Professor at the Institute of Political Science and Research Fellow at the Research Center for Distributional Conflict and Globalisation, Heidelberg University
  • Jan - June 2015 Visiting Scholar at the Jeju Peace Institute, Korea
  • July - August 2013 Visiting Scholar at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin (WZB)
  • Dec '12 - Feb '13 Visiting Scholar at the Freie Universitaet Berlin
  • July - Aug '12 Visiting Scholar at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin (WZB)
  • June - Aug '11 Visiting Scholar Erasmus Mundus Master Program in Public Policy at the International Institute of Social Studies, The Hague
  • Jan - May '11 Visiting Scholar at the Max Planck Institute for the Studies of Societies (MPIfG) in Cologne
  • July - Aug '10 Visiting Scholar at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies in Hamburg
  • Dec '09 - Feb '10 Visiting Scholar, Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo
  • Dec '08 - Feb '09 Visiting Scholar, German Development Institute, Bonn
  • Aug '02 - Oct '02 Visiting Scholar at the Seoul National University, South Korea
  • Aug '01 - Oct '01 Visiting Scholar at the Seoul National University, South Korea
  • Feb '00 - Sep '00 Visiting Scholar at the Samsung Economic Research Institute, Seoul, South Korea

  • International Political Economy
  • International Organizations
  • Sustainable Development
  • Development Cooperation
  • Climate Finance
  • Green Climate Fund
  • East Asia

Publications at the RIFS

2023

Journal articles

2022

Reports and further scientific publications

Media articles, blog posts

Publications prior to joining the RIFS

Monograph

Selected Peer Reviewed Journal Articles

  • The politics of climate change in a neo-developmental state. The case of South Korea, International Political Science Review, 2021, 42 (1), https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0192512120924741
  • Institutional Innovations and Their Challenges in the Green Climate Fund: Country Ownership, Civil Society Participation and Private Sector Engagement, Sustainability, 2020, 12 (21), https://doi.org/10.3390/su12218827
  • Only Shallow? Public Support for Development Cooperation in South Korea, Asian International Studies Review, 2020, 21(2), https://doi.org/10.16934/isr.21.2.202012.29 [SCOPUS] (with Ha Na Kim)
  • Can a Comparative Capitalism Approach Explain Fiscal Policy Activism?, Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, 2017, 40(3), https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01603477.2016.1273068 [SSCI] (with Vladimir Hlasny)
  • South Korean Development Cooperation in Africa: The Legacy of a Developmental State, Africa Spectrum, 2016, 51(3), (with Min Joung Park), https://journals.sub.uni-hamburg.de/giga/afsp/article/view/987
  • Trends and mechanisms of corruption in South Korea. The Pacific Review, 2016 29(4), https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09512748.2016.1145724
  • Second Image IPE: The political economy of East Asia's global role in macroeconomic coordination, International Politics, 2015, 52(6), https://dx.doi.org/10.1057/ip.2015.18
  • Crisis management and the diversity of capitalism. Fiscal stimulus packages and the East Asian (neo-)developmental state, Economy and Society, 2015, 44(2), https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03085147.2015.1013354
  • Investigating Commonalities and Changes in Labor and Financial Relations in East Asia, Korea Observer, 2014, 45(4): 493-521 (with Suyoun Jang).
  • Regulating International Finance and the Diversity of Capitalism, Socio-Economic Review, 2013, 11(3): 471-496, https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ser/mws023
  • Korea's search for a global role between hard economic interests and soft power, European Journal of Development Research, 2012, 24(2): 242-260 https://dx.doi.org/10.1057/ejdr.2012.7 (with Hyekyung Cho)
  • Bank Nationalization, Restructuring and Reprivatization, The Case of Korea since the Asian Financial Crisis. Korea Observer, 2010, 41 (1). (with Hyekyung Cho).
  • The Political Economy of Financial Market Liberalization in South Korea: State, Big Business, and Foreign Investors. Asian Survey, 2009, 49 (2):221-242. https://dx.doi.org/AS.2009.49.2.221 (with Hyekyung Cho).
  • The politics of market reforms: Korea's path from Chaebol Republic to market democracy and back. Contemporary Politics, 2009, 15 (3):287-304. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13569770903118770
  • From Developmental State to Developmental Society? The Role of Civil Society Organizations in Recent Korean Development and Possible Lessons for Developing Countries. Asian International Studies Review, 2009, 10 (1):53-71.
  • Korea's Recovery since the 1997/98 Financial Crisis: The Last Stage of the Developmental State. New Political Economy, 2008, 13 (4):447-462. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13563460802436616
  • State-Civil Society Synergy and Cooptation: The Case of the Minority Shareholder Movement in Korea. Korea Observer, 2008, 39 (3):339-367.
  • Democracy, Economic Crisis, and Market Oriented Reforms. Comparative Sociology, 2007, 6:344-373. https://dx.doi.org/10.1163/156913307X216303

  • Department Chair of the Graduate School of International Studies from August 2015 to July 2017
  • Coordinator of the Ewha GSIS Development Cooperation Major (2013-15 and 2018-)
  • Director of the Ewha GSIS EU Research Centre since 2008
  • Co-chair of the international cooperation committee, member of International Trade and Cooperation Center (IITC) committee, foreign students committee, scholarship committee, various recruitment committees
  • Regional coordinator for East Asia of the Bertelsmann Sustainable Governance Indicator in 2022
  • Since 2012, expert in the Bertelsmann Transformation Index project
  • Since 2006, expert in the Bertelsmann Sustainable Governance Indicator project

  • Editorial Board of Korea-Europe Review since 2021
  • Editorial Board of Asian International Studies Review since 2007