Nicole Deitelhoff

When peace and conflict researcher Nicole Deitelhoff argues in favor of the rules-based order, her attention is not only focused on those who are obviously breaking this order – such as Russia. She is also concerned with how the Western world deals with the rules it has developed itself. Deitelhoff heads the International Institutions program area at the Leibniz Institute for Peace and Conflict Research (PRIF) and is a sought-after expert in both specialist circles and the mass media. Russia’s war against Ukraine prompted PRIF to launch a new project, which Deitelhoff is also leading: It deals with the question of how and what we learn from the history of the Cold War and what crisis resolution mechanisms we develop. The researcher says of herself that she is a “very pessimistic optimist”; she rejects black-and-white thinking and advocates objective debate. She began her academic career at TU Darmstadt, got really fired up about the field during her studies in the USA and is now one of the most renowned peace researchers in Germany.