Moritz Weiss

Jean Monnet Fellow

Email: [email protected]

Tel. [+39] 055 4685 734

Office: Villa Raimondi, VR032

Biographical Note

Moritz Weiss is a Jean Monnet Fellow at the European University Institute's RSCAS in 2019/2020 and a senior lecturer in International Relations at the LMU University of Munich. His research focuses on institutional theorizing, the political economy of defense-industrial policies and technological innovation. He has recently completed a comparative research project on the governance of defense industries that was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (WE 3653/4-1). Among others, Moritz has published in Security Studies, Review of International Political Economy, Governance, Journal of European Public Policy, Journal of Common Market Studies, European Journal of International Security, and Journal of Global Security Studies.

Research Project

The Institutional Foundations of ‘Old’ And ‘New’ Security Industries

Moritz' research at RSCAS will investigate the institutional foundations of traditional defense and cybersecurity industries. While scholarship has so far shied away from comparing these sectors, the variation between ‘old’ and ‘new’ industries will allow for insights into (i) the effects of distinct institutional configurations; (ii) the varying impact of networks and vested interests; and (iii) the different technological determinants of policy-making. Thus, Moritz will analyze institutionalized coordination between public and private actors in several pilot studies. As institutional effects are normally theorized as opportunities and constraints, they are indirect and leave actors a choice. Hence, he aims to contribute to theory-building in International Relations by developing mechanisms that specify the conditions of when institutions shape policies.