Dr Matthias Kranke

• Global governance
• International organisations
• Sustainability
• Economic Growth and post-growth
• Quantification (numbers, indicators, rankings, benchmarks)
• Futurisation (futures, anticipatory global governance)

‘Growth vs. sustainability: The politics and psychology of a goal conflict in international organisations’, co-principal investigator (with Laura Henn, University of Hohenheim/University of Kassel), funded by the Andrea von Braun Foundation (2022–23)

‘The Global Politics of Post-Growth’, coordinator of scientific network involving over 20 scholars, funded by the German Research Foundation (2022–24)

Boundary work in global politics (with Maren Hofius, University of Hamburg)

The global history and politics of biocultural diversity (with Javier Francisco, University of Freiburg)

Sustainability discourses of international organisations (with Thilo Wiertz, University of Freiburg)

Post-growth bureaucracies (with Jacob Hasselbalch, Copenhagen Business School)

Growth infrastructures (with Malcolm Campbell-Verduyn, University of Groningen)

05/2022–10/2023: Research project, Andrea von Braun Foundation (~€26,690), co-principal investigator (with Laura Henn): ‘Growth vs. sustainability: The politics and psychology of a goal conflict in international organisations’

01/2022–12/2024: Scientific Network, German Research Foundation (€43,470), applicant and coordinator for 20 members plus 6 permanent associates: ‘The Global Politics of Post-Growth’ (#466076465)

10/2021–09/2024: Member of the Young Academy for Sustainability Research (€3,000 individual + €180,000 collective research funding for sixteen members), Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Freiburg

09/2018–08/2021: Early Career Fellowship, Leverhulme Trust (FEC ~£298,493), principal investigator: ‘Pitching Expertise: How International Organisations Establish Their Authority’ (#ECF-2018-506; terminated by the PI in 09/2019 as part of the move to the University of Kassel)

02/2017–03/2017: James Bryce Fund for International Political Science ($1,495), research funding, American Political Science Association Centennial Center for Political Science and Public Affairs, Washington, DC

02/2017: Best Graduate Student Paper Award ($100), International Political Economy Section, International Studies Association Annual Convention

04/2015–07/2015: James Bryce Fund for International Political Science and Ed Artinian Fund for Publishing ($900), office space funding, American Political Science Association Centennial Center for Political Science and Public Affairs, Washington, DC

10/2013–03/2017: ‘Giving to Warwick’ DARO Scholarship (> £60,000), 3.5-year doctoral research scholarship, University of Warwick

03/2013: University Prize Scholarship (> £54,000), 3-year doctoral research scholarship, University of Sheffield (declined)

04/2009: Vice-Chancellor’s Commendation for academic excellence in post-graduate coursework, Macquarie University, Sydney

Dr Matthias Kranke joined the research group 'Global Cooperation and Diverse Conceptions of World Order' in April 2023 and will be a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre until September 2023.

The Elephant in the Room: Economic Growth and Sustainability in the Anthropocene

The project addresses the following two interrelated questions about practices of world-making and world-ordering around the contested growth–sustainability nexus:
1. How do transnational actors envisage and narrate the link between (green) growth and environmental sustainability (RQ1)?
2. How do such visions and narratives align to reproduce or alter the existing hierarchies, which are still grounded in the aspirational norm of economic growth (RQ2)?
The project builds on ongoing work on the role of international organisations (IOs) in global governance.

• European International Studies Association (EISA)
• German Political Science Association (DVPW)

Since 2019: 11 seminars at BA and MA level, Institute of Political Science, University of Kassel

2009–12: 8 seminars at BA and MA level, Otto Suhr Institute, Free University of Berlin

Kranke, Matthias, and Thilo Wiertz. 2023. ‘Transformative talk? The sustainability discourses of international organisations.’ Paper presented at the workshop ‘Critical Junctures: Challenges and Opportunities for “Great Green Transformations”’, Käte Hamburger Kolleg / Centre for Global Cooperation Research, University of Duisburg-Essen, 6–7 March.

Kranke, Matthias. 2023. ‘Die Rolle internationaler Organisationen in der 
(Post-)Wachstumsdebatte’ [‘The Role of International Organisations in the (Post-)Growth Debate’]. Invited speaker, presentation delivered at the symposium ‘50 Jahre Grenzen des Wachstums – Wie weiter?’ of the Association of German Researchers, Bertelsmann Repräsentanz, Berlin, 18 February.

Kranke, Matthias, Svenja Quitsch, and Jacob Hasselbalch. 2023. ‘New Metrics or New Goals? The “Beyond GDP” Network in the EU and the OECD.’ Paper presented at a virtual colloquium of the Chair for Transnational Governance, Technical University Darmstadt, 6 February.

Kranke, Matthias. 2022. ‘Imagining Net Zero: International Organisations and Decarbonised Futures.’ Paper presented at the ‘Imaginaries’ workshop, Copenhagen Business School, 1–2 December.

Chertkovskaya, Ekaterina, Jacob Hasselbalch, and Matthias Kranke. 2022. ‘Organization beyond growth: post-growth in the global political economy.’ Paper presented at a Political Economy Group seminar, Copenhagen Business School, 30 November.

Hasselbalch, Jacob, and Matthias Kranke. 2022. ‘Blinded by growth: The sustainability paradox in global politics.’ Paper presented at Lund University, 30 November.

Berten, John, and Matthias Kranke. 2022. ‘Authority through the future: Prognostic expertise in global governance.’ Paper presented at the ‘Contested Futures in World Politics: Institutions, Actors, and Objects’ workshop, Berlin, 24–25 November.

Hasselbalch, Jacob, and Matthias Kranke. 2022. ‘Blinded by growth: The sustainability paradox in global politics.’ Paper presented at the virtual workshop ‘Blinded by growth: The sustainability paradox in global politics’, 29–30 September.

Kranke, Matthias. 2022. ‘Shaping the transformation? The agency of individuals in international organisations.’ Presentation delivered at the kick-off conference of the Kassel Institute for Sustainability ‘Challenges of Sustainability Research’, University of Kassel, 14–16 September.

Kranke, Matthias. 2022. ‘Ontological security for twin organisations: Everyday boundary work at the Bretton Woods institutions.’ Paper presented at the virtual section of the European International Studies Association Pan-European Conference on International Relations, 31 August.

Kranke, Matthias and David Yarrow. 2022. ‘Constructing urgency through quantified futures: Demographic projections and the politics of macroeconomic “gaps”.’ Paper presented at the second virtual workshop ‘Governing global challenges through quantified futures’, 27–28 June.

Kranke, Matthias. 2022. ‘The Wicked Problem of Scaling Post-Growth up.’ Presentation delivered at the symposium ‘Frontiers of International Political Economy’, University of Kassel, 22–24 June.