Josef Hien

I am from Munich (Germany), studied in Erlangen-Nuernberg, Bologna, Duke University and recieved my PhD from the European University Institute in Florence. I had post-doc positions at the Max Planck Institute for the study of societies in Cologne, the Collegio Carlo Alberto in Turin, the Wissenschaftszentrum in Berlin, the University of Milan and the University of Stockholm. I joined Miun in 2019.

My writings are about the connection between culture and politics (especially in political economy). I am also interested in political ideologies, different strands of neoliberalism, Christian Democracy, conservatism, European integration (especially the economic side), Catholic social teaching, political Protestantism and welfare state studies.

In 2014 I was awarded the A.SK young researcher prize at the Wissenschaftszentrum in Berlin.
In 2017 my article (written with C. Joerges) “Das Aktuelle Europäische Interesse an Der Ordoliberalen Tradition.” Leviathan 45, no. 4 (2017): 459–93. was nominated for the best German language social science article by the journal Leviathan.
In 2022 I was awarded the Herbert Gottweis Prize for Best Paper of 2021 in the Journal Critical Policy Studies for “Culture and tax avoidance: the case of Italy” Critical Policy Studies, 15(2), 247–268.

I was on medical leave in parts of 2024, most of 2025 and am still on the way back to regaining full work capacity in 2026 due to a brain tumor and want to thank the medical team at Karolinska university hospital in Stockholm and the rehab profs at the brain damage rehabilitation center at Danderyds hostpital in Huddinge for getting me back on the research and teaching track again.

While trying to get my head back together I work at the moment on two externally funded projects:

”Cultures of care: Why countries in Western Europe choose different actors to counter the care crisis” (me PI) funded by the Swedish Research Council.

The second project is led by Ludvig Norman (SU). It is called

“How and why do democracies regulate social media platforms and what are the consequences?” It is funded by the Wallenberg foundation.

If you got any questions on the projects or my publications don’t hesitate to contact me via email.

I just published a book that might interest you:

Books
Hien, J. (2025) How Economic Ideas Evolve: The impact of Religion on the German and Italian Welfare States, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Nominated by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for the ECPR Stein Rokkan Price 2026.

Edited Books

Hien, J. and Joerges, C (2018, eds.) Responses of European Economic Cultures to Europe’s Crisis Politics: The Example of German-Italian DiscrepanciesRobert Schumann Center, EUI, Florence.

Hien, J. and Joerges, C. (2017, eds.) Ordoliberalism, Law and the Rule of Economics, Oxford and Portland: Hart Publishing, 325 pages (reviews in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Book roundtable at LSE London).


Peer Reviewed Journal Articles

Hien, J. (2024) The Rise and Fall of Ordoliberalism, Socio Economic Review, Vol 22:4, pp. 1947-1966.

Hien, J. and Norman, L. (2023) Public Broadcasting and Democracy’s Defense: Responses to Far-Right Parties in Germany and Sweden, Democratization. Vol 30:6, pp. 1160-1181.

Akaliyski, P., Hien, J. and Wenzle, C. (2022) A Community of Shared Values? Dimensions and Dynamics of Cultural Integration in the European Union. European Union Politics. 44:4, 569-590.

Hien, J. (2021) Culture and tax avoidance: the case of Italy, Critical Policy Studies, vol. 15: 2, pp. 247-268. Winner of the Herbert Gottweis Prize for Best Article in Critical Policy Studies Year 2021

Hien, J. and Wolkenstein, F. (2021) Where does Europe end? Christian Democratic ideology and the boundaries of Europe. Journal of Common Market Studies. 59: 1623– 1639.

Hien, J. (2020) European integration and the reconstitution of socio-economic ideologies: Protestant ordoliberalism vs social Catholicism, Journal of European Public Policy. 27:9, 1368-1387.

Hien, J. (2020) A Cultural Political Economy Approach to the European Crisis. Journal of Common Market Studies. 58: 1056– 1073.

Hien, J. and Kneip, S. (2020) Faith based welfare providers in an age of social diversity. German Politics. 29:2, 244-261.

Hien, J. and Joerges, C. (2020). Cultural Political Economy and Conflicts Law – A new way to approach the Eurozone crisis Global Perspectives 1 (1). https://doi.org/10.1525/gp.2020.13301

Hien, J. (2019) The Religious Roots of the European Crisis. Journal of Common Market Studies. Vol. 57, No 2, 185-204. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.12635

Hien, J. and Joerges, C. (2018) Dead Man Walking? Current European Interest in Germany’s Ordoliberal Tradition, European Law Journal. Vol 24, No. 2-3, 142-162. https://doi.org/10.1111/eulj.12277

Hien, J. (2018) Konfessionelle Konfliktlinien in der Eurokrise: Wie protestantische, orthodoxe und katholische Solidarität die Krise verschärfen, Sozialer Fortschritt. (67). 477-500. https://doi.org/10.3790/sfo.67.6.477

Hien, J. and Schroeder W. (2018) Editorium: Ökonomisierung und Religion in Deutschland. Was bleibt? Sozialer Fortschritt (67). 407-413. https://doi.org/10.3790/sfo.67.6.407

Hien, J. and Joerges, C. (2017) Das aktuelle Interesse and der ordoliberalen Tradition. Leviathan Vol 45, No 4, 459-493. Nominated as best article in the Leviathan 2017 for the Thyssen Award.

Hien J. (2017) From private to religious patriarchy: gendered consequences of faith based welfare provision in Germany. Politics & Religion. Vol 10, No 3, 515-542. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755048317000086

Hien, J. and Kneip, S. (2017), The times, are they a-changin’? Die besondere Stellung konfessioneller Wohlfahrtsverbände in Zeiten gesellschaftlicher Pluralisierung, Leviathan, Vol. 45, No 1, 81-110. https://doi.org/10.5771/0340-0425-2017-1-81

Hien, J. (2017) The European sovereign debt crisis and the danger of ideational monocultures, New Perspectives, Vol. 25, No 2, 115-124.

Hien, J. (2016) L’Ordoliberalismo e la ricerca della sacralita, Bibliotheca della Liberta, Vol 215, No 1, 27-40.

Hien, J. (2013), The Ordoliberalism that never was, Contemporary Political Theory, Vol 12, No 4, 349-358.

Hien, J. (2013), Unsecular Politics in a Secular Environment: The Case of Germany’s Christian Democratic family policy, German Politics, Vol 22, No 4, 441-60.

Edited Journal Special Issue:

Hien, J. and Schroeder, W. (2018, eds.) Ökonomisierung und Religion in Deutschland. Was bleibt? Special Issue, Sozialer Fortschritt (67).



Book chapters

Hien, J. (2022) Social Market Economy and the Order of Freedom, chapter in the Oxford Handbook on Ordoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hien, J. (2018) A Cultural Political Economy approach to the European Crisis. Responses of European Economic Cultures to Europe’s Crisis Politics: The Example of German-Italian Discrepancies. E-Book. Cadmus: Robert Schumann Center, EUI, Florence, 80-98.

Hien, J. and Joerges, C. (2018) Introductory Explanations. Responses of European Economic Cultures to Europe’s Crisis Politics: The Example of German-Italian Discrepancies. E-Book. Cadmus: Robert Schumann Center, EUI, Florence, 6-20.

Hien, J. (2018) Faith-based Organizations as Part of the Welfare State: The Evolution of Caritas and Diakonie in Germany.In: Manuel, Paul and Glazer. Miguel, Caring Societies, Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan. 205-228.

Hien, J. (2018) A New Thirty Years’ War? The Protestant Roots of Ordoliberalism and the Re-emergence of the North-South Conflict. In: Dold, Malte and Krieger, Tim (eds.) Ordoliberalism before, during and after the Eurozone Crisis: Between Realpolitik and Economic Utopia, Abingdon: Routledge.

Hien, J. (2018) Tax Evasion in Italy: A God Given Right. In: Steinmo, S. (ed.), A Leap of Faith, Oxford: Oxford University Press. http://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/58344?show=full

Hien, J. (2017) Ordoliberalism and the Quest for Sacrality. In: Hien, J. and Joerges, C. (eds.) Ordoliberalism, Law and the Rule of Economics, Oxford: Hart Publishing, 261-272.

Hien, J. (2018) Introduction. In: Hien, J. and Joerges, C. (eds.) Ordoliberalism, Law and the Rule of Economics, Oxford: Hart Publishing, 1-12.

Hien, J. 2014, Christian Democratic Party Feminization: The German CDU and the male breadwinner model. In: Childs, S. and Celis, K. (eds.) Gender, Conservatism and Political Representation, Colchester: ECPR Press.

Trechsel, A. and Hien, J. (2013), Einige Gedanken zur Geburtsstunde der Europäischen Bürgerinitiative, in: Platipodis, B. and Good, A. (eds.) Direkte Demokratie, Bern: Stämpfli.

Hien, J. (2012) Schuldenkrise – Eurokrise – EU Krise?, in: Vogt-Spira, G. (ed.) Die Zukunft Europas, Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag.

Working papers
Hien, J. and Joerges, C. (2018) Dead Man Walking? Current European Interest in Germany’s Ordoliberal Tradition, European University Institute Law Department Working Paper series.

Hien, J. (2014), The Return of Religion? The Paradox of Faith-Based Welfare Provision in a Secular Age, MPifG Discussion Paper 14/9.

Hien, J. (2013) Competing Ideas: The Religious Foundations of the Italian and German Welfare States, Collegio Carlo Alberto Working Paper 342.

Reports

De Witte, B.; Trechsel, A.; Damjanovic, D.; E. Hellquist and Hien, J. (2010) Legislating after Lisbon: New opportunities for the European Parliament, EUDO Report 2010/1, Florence: Robert Schumann Centre.

Miscellaneous:

Hien, J. (2022) Book Review: Hien, J. (2021). Rezension: Gab es eine Ordoliberalisierung Europas? Thomas Biebrichers Rekonstruktion des Neoliberalismus wirft wichtige Fragen auf. Ethik und Gesellschaft, : 2, ss. 1-10.

Hien, J. (2021) Book Review: The Nine Lives of Neoliberalism edited by Dieter Plewhe, Mirowski Philip and Quinn Slobodian. Verso. Forthcoming in Critical Policy Studies.

Hien, J. (2019) Book Review of The Economics of Religion in India by Sriya Iyer, Harvard University Press (2019) Economic Sociology. Vol 21, No 1 | November 2019

Hien, J. (2018) Book Review: Joyce Marie Mushaben: Becoming Madam Chancellor: Angela Merkel and the Berlin Republic, EUvisions 9/4/2018, Section: Intellectual Europe.

Hien, J. (2018) Book Review: Joyce Marie Mushaben: Becoming Madam Chancellor: Angela Merkel and the Berlin Republic. Forthcoming in Femina Politica, 2018.

Hien, J. (2017) Biogarphies of the Euro, Bookreview of Architects of the Euro edited by Kennth Dyson and Ivo Maes (2016), Oxford University Press, Euvisions, 18/9/2017, Section: Intellectual Europe Review.

Hien, J. (2017) Econocracy Inside the State, Bookreview of The Power of Economists within the State by Johan Christensen, Stanford University Press (2017) , Euvisions, 17/7/2017, Section: Intellectual Europe Review.

Hien, J. (2017) Una Crisis che durera a lungo, Il Mulino 10/1/2017.

Hien, J. (2016) Orodliberalism as an Irritating German Idea, Euvisions, 21/10/2016, Section: Intellectual Europe Review.

Hien, J. (2016) The Reason why the crisis is here to stay, bookreview of The Future of the Euro edited by Mark Blyth and Mathias Matthijs (2015) Oxford University Press. Euvisions, 28/07/2016. Section: Intellectual Europe Review.

Hien, J. (2016) The Religious foundations of the European Crisis. Euvisions, 12/05/2016. Section: Focus.

Hien, J. (2010), The European Citizens’ Initiative, EUI Review (1) 23-5.