Dr. Susanne Garritzmann
Post-Doc in the Cluster project „Students’ perceptions of inequality and fairness
Portrait
Susanne Garritzmann (*1988) is a researcher in the working group on Policy Analysis and Political Theory at the University of Konstanz.
Susanne’s research focuses on political inequality, political participation, education policy and education systems, welfare states, and applied methods.
In her dissertation, Susanne suggests a new comparative perspective on the well-known relationship between education and political participation: She argues that education systems affect the distribution of resources relevant for turnout, and thereby contribute to cross-national variation in turnout inequality. Her inter-disciplinary approach combines political behavior and electoral studies with comparative research on education systems and draws upon insights from sociology and educational economics.
In 2018, Susanne was manager of the successful proposal for the newly established Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality” at the University of Konstanz. She continues to work in the Cluster – but now as a researcher, studying political inequality in one of the Cluster’s projects.
Besides her research and administrative tasks, Susanne has taught seminars on various topics, such as political participation, education policy in international comparison, or comparative welfare states.
Before starting her dissertation, Susanne graduated from the MA double degree program European Master in Government at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, and the University of Konstanz. Previously, she studied Politics and Economics at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität in Münster, and gained practical experience in different policy fields in Germany, Vietnam, and Myanmar.
Research interests
- Education systems and political inequality: How do differences in the institutional set-up of national education systems moderate turnout inequality? Which education system institutions are conducive to a more equal distribution of resources relevant for political participation?
- Education politics in Baden Württemberg: Which reforms has the Green-Red coalition government of Baden-Württemberg initiated since 2011, and with which consequences? How did education policy and politics change since 2016, when the Greens entered a coalition with the CDU?
- Education in autocracies: Which political leaders provide their citizens with education, and why? How do regimes use education for legitimation purposes, and which political/educational institutions do they use in this regard?