Introducing the FUS Faculty: Bernd Bucher

Associate Professor, Political Science

Ph.D. University of St. Gallen, Switzerland
M.A. Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany

Office: Lowerre Academic Center, Office 16
Phone: +41 91 985 22 63
Email: bbucher@fus.edu

Bernd Bucher received his Ph.D. from the University of St. Gallen in 2011 and held the position of a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Bielefeld (faculty of sociology) prior to joining Franklin University Switzerland in 2015.

His primary research interests are located at the intersection of IR theory and sociology. Power, language and contestation practices as well as security dynamics are central to his research which utilizes (historical) discourse analysis and draws on qualitative methods.

He has successfully published in leading academic journals and is currently part of a number of individual and collaborative research projects which focus on applying processual-relational thinking to IR. Bernd Bucher regularly peer reviews for leading academic journals and actively participates in leading international professional associations and conferences.

2024-2025 Courses

POL 216T	Contemporary Global Challenges (Vienna)	FALL 2024
To better understand (some of) the major challenges humanity faces today, this course introduces students to the underlying structures and the key actors that shape global relations. As such, this travel course will provide an opportunity to engage with the main building-blocks of the contemporary international order and to inquire into the interactions among states, international organizations and non-governmental actors. Some of the key topics covered in class and in Vienna include: interstate war, deterrence and contemporary shifts in the nuclear order; the challenges underlying the political need to address energy security, fight climate change, and enable development; and the relationship between human rights, intervention, and state sovereignty.
POL 321	International Organization	FALL 2024
The focus of this course is the development of supra-national and international agencies and entities. The United Nations, the European Union, the IMF, the World Bank, trading blocs, and other specialized agencies are studied as examples-in light of increasing economic interdependence in the international system.
POL 101	Introduction to International Relations	SPRING 2025
This course provides the basic analytic tools necessary for the understanding of international relations. After a brief introduction to the realist and liberal approaches to the study of international relations, the course covers various fundamental concepts, such as national power, foreign policy, conflict, political economy, international trade, and international organizations.
POL 301	Theories of International Relations	SPRING 2025
This course concentrates on the major approaches, models and theories in the study of international relations. Micro and macro theories, deductive and inductive methods are explored from historical, political and economic perspectives. The relations between the major powers in the twentieth century are examined for their relevance in the study of international politics.
POL 302	Political Philosophy	SPRING 2025
This course is designed to familiarize students with the major currents of political philosophy. It covers a broad range of central thinkers from the major philosophers of ancient Greece up to the proponents of modern-day liberalism. The course situates political philosophies in their historical context of emergence and thereby provides an overview of the history of the central ideas which are at the heart of thinking about politics, society and justice. The reading of primary and secondary sources serves as the basis for in-depth class discussions and a critical engagement with the normative underpinnings of societal organization.

Research interests:

Professor Bucher’s work focuses on processual-relational thinking in IR, the role of norms in politics, and the development of international society through multi-actor practices.

Publications:

Monographs:

Bucher, Bernd (2011) Processual-Relational Thinking and Figurational Sociology in Social Constructivism: The Rogueization of Liberal and Illiberal States. Bamberg: Difo Druck.

Articles in peer-reviewed journals:

Bucher, Bernd and Julian Eckl (2020) Football’s Contribution to International Order: The Ludic and Festive Reproduction of International Society by World Societal Actors (with Julian Eckl). International Theory.

Bucher, Bernd (2018) Borders. Inequalities. Legitimacy. Intervalla: A platform for intellectual exchange.

Bucher, Bernd and Ursula Jasper (2016) ‘Revisiting ‘identity’ in International Relations: From identity as substance to identifications in action. European Journal of International Relations. doi:10.1177/1354066116644035.

Bucher, Bernd, Martin Koch and Jochen Walter (2015) UN-Simulationen in der politikwissenschaftlichen Hochschullehre (Using UN Security Council simulations in teaching introductory courses to IR). Zeitschrift für Didaktik der Gesellschaftswissenschaften. 6(2): 136-149.

Bucher, Bernd (2015) Moving beyond the substantialist foundations of the agency-structure dichotomy: Figurational thinking in International Relations. Journal of International Relations and Development. AOP. doi:10.1057/jird.2015.12.

Bucher, Bernd (2014) Acting Abstractions: Metaphors, narrative structure and the eclipse of agency. European Journal of International Relations 20(3): 742-765.

Bucher, Bernd (2012) Figurational Sociology and the Democratic Peace - Holy Allies and Liberal Threats. Human Figurations 1(2). http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.11217607.0001.208

Contributions to edited volumes:

Bernd, Bucher (2014) Liberal Rogues: The pitfalls of Great Power Collaboration and the Stigmatization of Revolutionary Naples in Post-Napoleonic Europe. In: Wagner, Wolfgang, Wouter Werner and Michal Onderco (eds.) Deviance in International Relations. Theorizing the Significance of so-called Rogue states.

Non-peer reviewed contributions:

Bernd, Bucher (2015) Historical International Relations. Academic Foresights No. 14 - July-December 2015.

Awards and Honors:

2015 Travel grant by the German Academic Exchange Service.

2014 Nomination for best conference paper: Von Normerosion und Normkontestation zu Normenkonkurrenz und Normenpolitik. DVPW-Sektion Internationale Politik. Magdeburg, 25.09 - 27.09.2014.

2013 Research grant: research assistance for 6 months and an associated travel grant by the faculty of sociology (University of Bielefeld).

2013 Travel grant by the German Academic Exchange Service.

2011 Travel grant by the International Studies Association.

Current projects:

The role of non-state actors in the development of 19th Century International Society (with Mathias Albert, University of Bielefeld).

Primary Institutions and sovereignty as intertwined processes (with Thomas Müller, University of Bielefeld).

Moving from norm diffusion and norm erosion towards a theoretical framework of norm politics.

The ontological implications of the United States rogue state discourse in the 1990s.