How long have you been at LSE and how did you come to join the European Institute?
I’ve been here since September 2000, and arrived in a bit of complicated period in my life and the EI. I had lived in Berlin until then and my long but ultimately time-limited contract at the WZB expired that summer, so I was looking for a job. Once I arrived (but not because of my arrival, I hope!), it quickly became clear that the EI needed to rethink what it was and how it was doing things.
How has the European Institute changed during your time here?
If the words ‘permanent revolution’ mean anything, they should probably apply to the EI. We seem to be – in a good way – reinventing ourselves every few years. But I think the original big shift that I alluded to above was the most important one, since it set the stage for everything that has happened since. We professionalised our way of thinking about teaching and research, became a much more focused, coherent and collegiate group, and less hierarchical along the way. Lots of very good things happened after the summer of 2001, of course, but that initial reorganisation was the key event to me.
What has been the most memorable moment during your time at the EI?
Many moments were memorable – in both a good and a bad sense. That’s how departments develop, and how we as individuals find our place in them. As many of my colleagues have pointed out, the collegiality of the staff, which is part of that on-going process, is what makes the EI a great place.
What course or subject area have you enjoyed teaching the most?
EU443: Models of Capitalism in Europe - hands down! It’s a course that brings out the best in students and in me. Everyone can have a view on the questions underlying the course from the first week, and as we move along, and the analytics of comparative capitalism studies become clearer, this dynamic often makes students even more enthusiastic.
I have revised teaching and learning methods several times – to the point where we are now, without lectures (and no PPT!), but with very short weekly essays, Socratic seminars, and a medium-length essay assessment – and think that this is possibly the best way to teach this. That said, the Covid crisis has opened ways of using technology for blended learning, which I could imagine as a next step.
What excites you about the future of the EI?
The same things that were exciting in the past. Let’s face it, since 2010 thinking about the political economy of Europe has not exactly been a boring job. My optician once told me, after hearing what I did for a living, ‘Oh, poor guy…’. We live in interesting times, to say the least. May they last long.
What’s your favourite place on LSE campus?
In a distant past it was the front door of Cowdray House, where we used to have our offices: two minutes to my desk and one minute the George. But like many others I have not seen the George in a long time, and we moved offices (and I have been on leave for the past year). So I’m still looking!
What is your favourite place to visit in Europe and why?
I have many favourite places, depending on the mood I am in (or what I’m looking for). Riding my motorbike in the Alps. Jazz in Ghent or Montreux. The Piazzale Michelangelo in Florence. A mid-summer drink in Kerts in Budapest following a few hours in the Széchenyi baths. Barcelona never disappoints: a fantastic city with a magnificent beach. The island of Hvar in Croatia in the second September week, when you are almost alone with the dolphins. A very late afternoon Aperol Spritz on the quiet side of Venice, looking at the cemetery. A late dinner in an Istanbul kebab restaurant (washed down with some raki!). A bicycle tour of Berlin during the first warm June days. Sunday afternoon looking at the book stands on the Seine quays in Paris. Hiking high up in the Pyrenees. Sipping coffee in Sarajevo’s old town.