Prof. Dr. Manon Westphal

Academic Career and Research Areas

Prof. Westphal (*1986) conducts research in the fields of democratic theory and realist political theory, which is practice-oriented and emphasizes the need to engage with empirical research. Her main areas of interest include principles of political conflict regulation and the challenges of power concentration and polarisation in democracy. She is particularly interested in democratic innovations, understood as processes and institutions that open up new possibilities for citizens to exert political influence.

Prof. Westphal studied political science, modern and contemporary history and communication science in Münster and Auckland. She completed her doctorate at the University of Münster in 2016. Before her appointment as Professor of Political Theory and Philosophy at the Technical University of Munich in 2025, she was a DFG fellow and lecturer at the University of Amsterdam, a postdoc in the research network "Cultures of Compromise" and Interim Professor of Political Theory at the University of Münster.

Awards

• Dissertation Prize of the German Political Science Association (DVPW) of the year 2019 (2020)