Prof. Dr. Thorsten Bonacker

Thorsten Bonacker
Jannis Kohlt

Deputy Executive Director

Contact information

+49 6421 28-24574 +49 6421 28-24528 thorsten.bonacker@staff 1 Ketzerbach 11
35032 Marburg
F|20 Institutsgebäude (Room: 103 resp. +1/0030)

Organizational unit

Philipps-Universität Marburg Zentrum für Konfliktforschung (ZfK)

At the University Marburg, I was entrusted with the academic coordination of the European University for Peace, Justice and Inclusive Societies (EUPeace) as the President’s Delegate. This alliance, comprising nine universities from Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Czech Republic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Turkey, aims to strengthen the social responsibility of universities in addressing conflicts—both within societies and in international relations—through teaching, research, and academic dialogue.

I am also the spokesperson for the Collaborative Research Center 138 “Dynamics of Security. Security in historical perspective”. We are investigating how ideas of security have changed historically and how they are expressed in the development and implementation of political measures. We are particularly interested in the mutually dependent processes of the representation and production of security in their respective historical contexts. 

As part of the regional research center “Transformations of Political Violence” (TraCe), I investigate atmospheres of political violence in post-war societies and deal with affect-theoretical approaches in violence research. TraCe is an interdisciplinary research network of five Hessian research institutions: the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF), the Goethe University Frankfurt, the Justus Liebig University Giessen, the Philipps University Marburg and the Technical University Darmstadt. I represent the Marburg site on the Center's Board of Directors.

Funded by the DAAD, I lead the SDG partnership program “Southeast Asian University Partnership for Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation”, in which we work together with the Civil Peace Service (GIZ), the UNPAZ University (East Timor), the Mindanao State University - Iligan Institute of Technology (Philippines) and the National University in Battambang (Cambodia) on the development of curricula for courses in peace and conflict research.

Research

My research sits at the intersection of Sociology and Political Science, specifically within the field of International Political Sociology and International Relations. I have a longstanding interest in peace and conflict research theories and methodologies, as well as in critical security studies. My current work focuses on international administration practices in post-colonial and post-war societies, the role of victims in addressing past mass violence, and sexual and reproductive rights as a global site of contention. Methodologically, I employ theory-driven and case-comparative research designs, with a regional emphasis on Central and Southeast Asia, particularly Cambodia and Timor-Leste. Additionally, as part of the regional research center Transformations of Political Violence, I explore the role of affects and the atmospheric dimensions of political violence.

Teaching

Reguraly I am teaching classes on introduction of peace and conflict studies, methods of conflict analysis, violent conflicts in the 20th and 21st century and an ongoing research seminar on international rule in postwar and postcolonial societies.
Other topics of courses and for the supervision of theses are: postcolonial statebuilding, military intervention, transitional justice & peacebuilding, regional conflict in Southeast Asia, interstate conflicts after 1945, contentious politics in postwar societies, international organisations in peace and conflict, critical security studies

Since 2010 I have organised a series of summer schools in Central Asia. I am also the acadmic co-director of the Hessen International Summer University.

  • Vita

    Thorsten Bonacker studied sociology, psychology, philosophy, and cultural studies at the University of Marburg from 1990 to 1996. Afterward, he served for three years as a research assistant to Professor Stefan Müller-Doohm at Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1999. Following this, he joined the Institute of Sociology at Philipps University Marburg as a research assistant while also teaching as a substitute professor of Sociology in Oldenburg. In 2004, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at Marburg and, in 2007, received an award for excellent teaching from the Hessian Ministry of Science and Art. In 2008, Dr. Bonacker declined an offer for a professorship in Political Science at the University of Augsburg, choosing instead to continue as Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies in Marburg. He has also taught as a guest lecturer at universities in Innsbruck, Frankfurt, and Almaty.

  • Current research projects

  • Recently finished projects

  • Selected publications

    Bonacker, T. 2025: Classification and Compensation. How the Conflict Type Shapes Reparations in Post-War Justice. Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, 1–22.  https://doi.org/10.1080/17502977.2025.2492937 (open access)

    Falschebner, P./ Willems, E./ Bonacker, T 2024: Collective Agency in Reparation Politics: A Contentious Politics Perspective on Victim Mobilisation in Northern Ireland, in: Global Society, https://doi.org/10.1080/13600826.2024.2428173 (open access)

    Bonacker, T. 2024: Violent Conflicts in Central Asia, in: Jakob Lempp & Sebastian Mayer (ed.): Central Asia in Multipolar World. Internal Change, External Actors, Regional Cooperation, Cham: Springer, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-63727-8, 217-228.

    Bonacker, T. 2022: Trusteeship as Affective Arrangement. Exploring Affective Practices of an International Bureaucracy, in: an Lüdert, Maria Ketzmerick, Julius Heise (Hg.): The United Nations Trusteeship System. Legacies, Continuities, and Change, 190-212.

    Kolah Ghoutschi, S./ de Luna, A./ Bonacker, T. 2021: Translating Sexuality Education in Ethiopia and Kenya: A Multi-Sited Approach, in: Australian Feminist Law Journal 47, 251-282.

    Bonacker, T./ Lottholz, P. 2022: The Post-Imperial Politics of Security and Depoliticisation: Comparing Discourses and Practices of Ordering Across Central Asia, in: Europe-Asia-Studies, online first: https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2021.202021

    Lottholz, P./ Bonacker, T. 2022: Understanding the Post-Imperial Politics of Security, Stability and Ordering in Central Asia: An Introduction, online first: https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2021.2020492

    Bonacker, T. 2021: Reporting Security: Postcolonial Governmentality in the United Nations’ Trusteeship System, in: International Political Sociology, https://doi.org/10.1093/ips/olab030

    Bonacker, T./ Distler, W. 2021: Securitisation in World Politics. The Conflict on the Self-Determination of East Timor at the United Nations, in: International Quarterly for Asian Studies 52: 1-2, 35-54

    Bonacker, T & Sydiq, T 2020: The International and the Construction of Opposition in Iran, in: R. Ouaissa, F. Pannewick & A. Strohmeier (Hg.): Re-Configurations. Contextualising Transformation Processes and Lasting Crises in the Middle East and North Africa, Springer (open access) 65-81.

    Bonacker, T & Zimmer, K 2019: The Localization of Sexual Rights in Ukraine, in: Radzhana Buyantueva & Maryna Shevtsova (Hg.): LBTQ+ Activism in Centralk and Eastern Europe, Cham: Palgrave, 153-184.

    Bonacker, T (2019): Security Practices and the Production of Center-Periphery-Figurations in Statebuilding, in: Alternatives, online first: https://doi.org/10.1177/0304375418821479

    Bonacker, T/ Distler, W/ Ketzmerick, M 2018: Securitisation and Desecuritisation of Violence in Trusteeship Statebuilding, in: Civil Wars, online first: https://doi.org/10.1080/13698249.2018.1525675

    Bonacker, T 2018: The Militarization of Security. A Systems Theory Perspective, in: Critical Military Studies, online first: DOI:10.1080/23337486.2018.1505383

    Bonacker, T/ Brodocz, A 2017: Introduction: Authority Building in International Administered Territories, in: Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding 11:4, 395-498

    Bonacker, T/ Distler, W/ Ketzmerick, M (Hg.) 2017: Securitization in Statebuilding and Intervention, Baden-Baden: Nomos.

    Bonacker, T/ Liebetanz. D 2017: How Dynamics of Security Contribute to Illiberal Statebuildung: The Case of Tajikistan, in: Bonacker, T/ Distler, W/ Ketzmerick, M (Hg.) (2017): Securitization in Statebuilding and Intervention, Baden-Baden: Nomos, 245-270

    Bonacker, T/ Ketzmerkick, K 2017: How Security Dynamics Shaped Trusteeship Statebuilding: The French Adminstration of Cameroon, in: Bonacker, T/ Distler, W/ Ketzmerick, M (Hg.) (2017): Securitization in Statebuilding and Intervention, Baden-Baden: Nomos, 155-182.

    Bonacker, T/ von Heusinger, J/Zimmer, K 2017: Localization in Development Aid. How Global Institutions enter Local Lifeworlds, London/ New York

    Bonacker, T  2015: The Inclusion of Victims and the Globalization of Criminal Law, in: Boris Holzer/ Fatima Kastner/ Tobias Werron (ed): From Globalization to World Society. Neo-Institutional and Systems-Theoretical Perspectives, London/ New York: Routledge, 107-127

    Bonacker, T/ Kowalewski, S 2014: Peacebuilding and Human Rights, in: Anja Mihr & Mark Gibney (ed.): The SAGE Handbook of Human Rights, London: Sage, 875-894 

    Bonacker, T/ Safferling, C (ed.) 2013: Victims of International Crimes: An Interdisciplinary Discourse, Den Haag: Asser Press/ Springer Verlag.

    Bonacker, T/ Buckley-Zistel, S 2013: Transitions from Violence - Analyzing the Effects of Transitional Justice, Focus Section on the Impact of Transitional Justice, in: International Journal of Conflict and Violence 7 (1)

    Bonacker, T 2013: Global Victimhood. On the Charisma of the Victim in Transitional Justice Processes, in: World Political Science Review 9, 1, 97-121

    Bonacker, T/ Safferling, C. (ed.) 2013: Victims of International Crimes: An Interdisciplinary Discourse, Den Haag: Asser Press/ Springer Verlag.

    Bernshausen, S./ Bonacker, T 201): A Constructivist Perspective on Systemic Conflict Transformation. In: Daniela Körppen, Norbert Ropers & Hans J. Giessmann (eds.): The Non-Linearity of Peace Processes. Theory and Practice of Systemic Conflict Tranformation, p. 23-38

    Bonacker, T/ Diez, T/ Gromes, T/ Groth, J/ Pia, E 2011: Human Rights and the (De)Securitization of Conflict, in: R Marchetti/ N Tocci (ed.): Civil Society, Conflicts and the Politicization of Human Rights, Tokio: United Nations University Press, 14-46

    Bonacker, T/ Braun, C/ Groth, J 2011: The Impact of Civil Society on Conflict: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis, in: R Marchetti/ N Tocci (ed.): Civil Society, Conflicts and the Politicization of Human Rights, Tokio: United Nations University Press, 220-242.

    Bonacker, T/ Form, W/ Pfeiffer, D 2011: Transitional Justice and Victim Participation in Cambodia: A World Polity Perspective

    Bonacker, T/ Wagner, U. 2010: Genocide Prevention and the Dynamics of Conflict, in: C Safferling/ E Conze (ed): The Genocide Convention. Sixty Years after its Adoption, Den Haag: Asser Press, 99-110

    Bonacker, T 2007: Debordering by Human Rights. The Challenge of Postterritorial Conflicts in World Society. In: Stephan Stetter (ed.): Contradictions! Territorial Conflicts in World Society, London: Routledge, p. 21-36

    Bonacker, T/ Gromes, T 2007: Securitisation as a Tool for Analysing the Role of Human Rights-Related Civil Society in Ethno-Political Conflicts, Working Paper Series, Center for Conflict Studies, Marburg.

    Bonacker, T 2006: Disclosing Critique. The Contingency of Understanding in Adornos Interpretative Social Theory, in: European Journal of Social Theory 9.

    Bonacker, T 2006: What Do We Have in Common? Modernity and the Paradoxes of Postnational Integration, in: Studies in Social and Political Thought 10, p. 73-97.

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