Elena Dressler

Associate Fellow

Elena Dressler is an Asso­ciate Fellow in the Research Depart­ment Intrastate Conflict at PRIF. She is also a research assis­tant at TU Darm­stadt and a doctoral candidate in the DFG Research Training Group “Stan­dards of Gover­nance.” Her research focuses on trans­national organized crime and corres­ponding strate­gies to combat it and their effects. Her regional focus is Latin Ame­rica.

CV

| since 10/2025
Associate Fellow at PRIF

| since 04/2025
Research Assistant at the Chair of International Relations under Prof. Markus Lederer and Doctoral Candidate in the DFG Research Training Group “Standards of Governance” at Darmstadt Technical University and Goethe University Frankfurt

| 2021–2025
Master of Arts in International Studies / Peace and Conflict Research, Goethe University Frankfurt/Main, Technical University of Darmstadt, and Universidad Complutense de Madrid

| 2021–2025
Student Assistant at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF) under Prof. Dr. Nicole Deitelhoff (until 2023) and Prof. Jonas Wolff (from 2022)

| 2021–2022
Student Assistant at the Chair of International Politics under Prof. Dr. Sandra Destradi, University of Freiburg

| 2018–2021
Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Law (minor), Goethe University Frankfurt/Main and Universidad Externado de Colombia

Publications

  • India’s Response to the Pandemic: Populism as an Explanatory Factor
    | 2025
    Dressler, Elena; Plagemann, Johannes (2025): India’s Response to the Pandemic: Populism as an Explanatory Factor, Die Friedens-Warte, 95: 1–2, 17–39.
    Publication
  • From political instability to “internal armed conflict”
    | 2024
    Dressler, Elena; Wolff, Jonas (2024): From political instability to “internal armed conflict”. Ecuador’s multiple crisis, Revista de Ciencia Política, Online First. DOI: 10.4067/s0718-090x2024005000107
    Publication

  • Populism and the Centralisation of Foreign Policy Decision-Making
    | 2025
    Dressler, Elena; Destradi, Sandra; Jumle, Vihang; Plagemann, Johannes; Santiago, Alyssa; Schleehauf, Ronald (2025): Populism and the Centralisation of Foreign Policy Decision-Making, in: Cadier, David; Chryssogelos, Angelos; Destradi, Sandra (eds), Routledge Handbook of Populism and Foreign Policy.
    Publication

  • Freie Fahrt für harte Hand? Ecuadors militärischer Kampf gegen das Verbrechen geht in die zweite Runde
    | 2025
    Dressler, Elena; Wolff, Jonas (2025): Freie Fahrt für harte Hand? Ecuadors militärischer Kampf gegen das Verbrechen geht in die zweite Runde, PRIF Blog.
    Publication
  • Von der Insel des Friedens zum Kriegszustand: Hintergründe der Gewalteskalation in Ecuador
    | 2024
    Wolff, Jonas; Dressler, Elena (2024): Von der Insel des Friedens zum Kriegszustand: Hintergründe der Gewalteskalation in Ecuador, PRIF Blog.
    Publication