Thomas Fetzer has been in CEU's Department of International Relations since 2010, first as Assistant Professor, then, from 2014 onward, as Associate Professor. Between 2021 and 2024, he served as Head of Department. Fetzer received his PhD from the European University Institute in Florence (Department of History and Civilization) in 2005. Before joining CEU, he held post-doctoral research and teaching positions at the Max-Planck Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung in Cologne (2006), the London School of Economics (2007-2008) and the University of Warwick (2009).
Fetzer's research interests are related to two main fields. On the one hand, he has been exploring the social and cultural dimensions of international economic relations, with particular emphasis on the significance of nationalism and national identity, and on multinational firms as social and cultural 'microcosms' of the global economy. On the other hand, his research addresses the significance of history and memory for international politics, especially focusing on recent shifts associated with global order transformation.
Fetzer's scholarship is highly interdisciplinary, and he has published extensively across a wide range of academic fields. Fetzer's book, Paradoxes of internationalization: British and German trade unions at Ford and General Motors, was published by Manchester University Press in 2012. He has co-edited two volumes, Nationalism and the Economy: Explorations into a Neglected Relationship (CEU Press, 2018), and Collective Memory of Economic Crises and Transformations (forthcoming in Palgrave Macmillan Memory Studies Series). His work has appeared in numerous academic journals listed in the Q1 quartile of SCImago SJR rankings of various sub-disciplines, including Global Studies Quarterly, Journal of International Relations and Development, Nationalities Papers, Territory, Politics, Governance, Business History, Journal of European Public Policy, Labor History, European Journal of Industrial Relations, Contemporary European History.
Selected recent publications:
- ‘Introduction’ (with Ivan Nikolovski), in The Russo-Ukrainian War and Memory Politics in International Relations (co-edited with Ivan Nikolovski), Global Studies Quarterly Special Forum, forthcoming December 2025.
- ‘Mnemonic Zeitenwende? Memory narratives and German foreign policy in the wake of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine’, in The Russo-Ukrainian War and Memory Politics in International Relations (co-edited with Ivan Nikolovski), Global Studies Quarterly Special Forum, forthcoming December 2025.
- ’Introduction‘ (with Stefan Berger), in Collective Memory and the Economy (co-edited with Stefan Berger), palgrave Macmillan, Memory Studies series, forthcoming February 2026, https://link.springer.com/book/9783032090935
- ’Harking Back to the ‘Golden Age’ of National Economies: German Memory Narratives in Times of Economic Internationalization’, in Collective Memory and the Economy (co-edited with Stefan Berger), palgrave Macmillan, Memory Studies series, forthcoming February 2026, https://link.springer.com/book/9783032090935
- 'Multinational Corporations and Labour', in Cambridge Companion to the History of Multinationals and Society, Cambridge University Press, forthcoming December 2025, https://resolve.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-companion-to-the-history-of-multinationals-and-society/270A48FF69F75A50BFC3610F95D66283
- 'Epistemic positionalities and war-time knowledges about the international - a reflection from a digital classroom' (with Xymena Kurowska, Maksym Yakovliev and Kateryna Zarembo), in: Oxford Handbook of Knowledge and Expertise, Oxford University Press, forthcoming December 2025, https://www.waterstones.com/book/knowledge-and-expertise-in-international-politics/berit-bliesemann-de-guevara/katarzyna-kaczmarska/9780192871145
- ‘Teaching International Political Economy in Times of War’, Journal of Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society, 10 (1), 2024, pp. 85-102, https://www.ibidem.eu/en/Journals/Journal-of-Soviet-and-Post-Soviet-Politics-and-Society/Journal-of-Soviet-and-Post-Soviet-Politics-and-Society-oxid.html
- ‘Beyond economic nationalism: Towards a new research agenda for the study of nationalism in political economy’, Journal of International Relations and Development, 25 (1), 2022, pp. 235-59, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41268-021-00227-x
- 'Nationalism in left-wing ideologies of political economy', in: Andreas Pickel (ed.), Handbook of Economic Nationalism, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2022, pp. 65-81, https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/handbook-of-economic-nationalism-9781789909036.html?srsltid=AfmBOoqJdiE1-tYWvgllgU09Eib9Q-XU_zoL77JLvduRGtyjaw-b2YhA
-‘Nationalism and Economy’, Nationalities Papers, 48 (6), 2020, pp. 963-73, https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/nationalities-papers/article/abs/nationalism-and-economy/52EA2BA3A994FB0C965B0629697A750E
