In political science from the University of Mainz (magna cum laude) and his M.A.
in political science, sociology and public law from that university, which he graduated with summa cum laude.
From 2004 to 2006 he was an assistant professor at the Naval Postgraduate School's National Security Affairs Department.
He has published more than 150 articles and book chapters in English and German which have also been translated into Spanish, Indonesian, Korean, and Russian.
He taught and conducted research from 1996 to 2001 at the Johannes Gutenberg-University in Mainz and the University of Heidelberg, both in Germany.