Welcome!

Hello! I’m a Research and Teaching Fellow (Maître-Assistant) in International Relations and Security at the University of Geneva. In July 2021, I defended my PhD thesis in International Relations/Political Science at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies Geneva, summa cum laude.

I research how international organizations (IOs) shape the provision of security, with a focus on the African Union. My focus lies on the politics of resource mobilization in IOs. In my doctoral dissertation, I theorized the effects of diversified IO funding on the agency of IO secretariats, through comparative case studies on the African Union. I am particularly interested in interview-based and participatory methods and have conducted close to 200 interviews with diplomats, IO officials, military staff and civilian experts from Africa and elsewhere.

My research is published in the Journal of Common Market Studies, West European Politics, International Spectator and by Routledge.

I am affiliated with the Global Governance Centre at the Geneva Graduate Institute, the United Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies, and am on the steering board of the Geneva Africa Lab.

Occasionally, I provide media commentary on African international relations. I also work with public sector organisations, think tanks and civil society organisations on multilateralism, IO funding, and African Union affairs.

In my free time, I love to hike in the mountains – it runs in the family.

Contact me on ueli.staeger [at] unige.ch or find me on Twitter.