Anja Mihr


Anja Mihr is a German political scientist and human rights researcher. She works in the areas of Transitology, Transitional Justice, Cyber Justice, Climate Justice, Governance and Human Rights Regimes. She has taught in universities in Germany, the United States, Italy, China and the Netherlands and at the OSCE Academy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Her main work focuses on human rights, governance, and transitional justice, looking at the interlinkage between institutions, and organizations and the way human rights realization can be leveraged.
Mihr has served on international academic and NGO advisory committees on human rights. From 2002 to 2006 she was a member of the Executive Board of Amnesty International Germany.

Education

Mihr graduated from Free University in Berlin. Her doctoral thesis on the Impact of Amnesty International's human rights work in the GDR during the period of the Cold War until 1989 was published in 2001.

Career

Mihr is the founder and director of the Center on Governance through Human Rights at the Berlin Governance Platform. From 2018-2023, Mihr was appointed DAAD Professor for Human Rights, Democratization, Transitology, International Relations, Transitional Justice, at the OSCE Academy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
Her recent works include studies on Glocal Governance. She is a political consultant and advisor on Transitional Justice, Cyber Justice, and Climate Justice, and has held various professorships in this field. She has been Professor for Public Policy at the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy at Erfurt University in Germany, and Associate Professor at the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. She has been Head of Rule of Law at The Hague Institute for Global Justice.
Mihr was appointed as a member of the Scientific Committee of the EU [Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA)] from 2018 -2023, and in 2023 she received the by UCCHR.

Research

In Mihr's 2017 book on , she develops a theory to explain the impact of Transitional Justice measures in the context of political regime consolidations. The core essence of this theory is to explain, how after a radical rupture or war, the new political system and its actors are able and willing to implement measures that allow political institutions and actors to democratically progress and increase their quality of democracy, or not.
In her works in glocal governance ], Mihr develops an analytical framework to assess how local actors and institutions implement global and international norms in order to govern effectively, without the interference of state authorities or governments.

Publications

  • Amnesty International in der DDR, Der Einsatz für Menschenrechte im Visier der Stasi, Chrs. Links Verlag, Berlin, 2002.
  • The UN-Decade for Human Rights Education and the Inclusion of National Minorities, , Peter Lang Verlag, Frankfurt/ Berlin, 2009.
  • Human Rights Awareness, Education and Democratization: The challenge for the 21st Century, in: Journal of Human Rights, Volume 8, Issue 2, April 2009, Routledge, Francis & Taylor Group, London, pp. 177–189.
  • The Impact of Amnesty International's Policies and Campaigns During the Cold War – the Case Study of East Germany, in: Wilco de Jonge, Brianne McGonigle-Leyh, Anja Mihr and Lars van Troost, 50 Years of Amnesty International, Reflections and Perspectives, SIM Special 36, University of Utrecht, 2011, pp. 21–50.
  • Human Rights in the 21st Century; Continuity and Change since 9/11 , Palgrave Macmillan, 2011
  • Mihr/Gibney: Handbook of Human Rights, 2 vol. SAGE Publication, London et al., 2014
  • The SAGE Handbook of Human Rights 2014
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  • Hasan Khan/ Mihr Europe-Central Asia Relations, New Connectivity Frameworks, Europe-Asia Connectivity Series, Palgrave, 2023