Dr. Daniel Tjarks

Professional career

• Since september 2025: research associate in the department of european socail research at the University of Saarland  

Scientific career

• 2021-2025: PhD in ‘Development Studies’ at the University of Lisbon, scholarship of the ‘Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia’
• 2020-2021: Master studies in political economy at the University of Amsterdam
• 2016-2020: Bachelor studies in political science and History at the University of Tübingen

Research focus

Daniel Tjarks conducts research at the intersection of human geography, political economy and political science. His work focuses on urbanisation, urban policy, development processes and multi-level governance. In his doctoral thesis, ‘Who governs in and beyond the metropolis? A multilevel governance assessment of power in urban Angola’, he analysed power structures and politics in the Angolan urban system.

Publications

• Tjarks, D. (2025) Great urban transformations. Exploring ‘offensive countermovements’ in Polanyi’s instituted economy. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space. 
  doi.org/10.1177/23996544251349300
• Tjarks, D. (2024) International agencies and the implementation of the New Urban Agenda: Evidence from the United Nations in Angola. Journal of Urban Affairs.
  doi.org/10.1080/07352166.2024.2404592
• Tjarks, D. (2024) Seeing beyond the metropolis: metropolitan bias and the Angolan system of cities. Space and Polity Vol. 28, 1, pp.60-80.
  doi.org/10.1080/13562576.2024.2304828
• Tjarks, D. (2024) The Angolan system of cities in late Portuguese colonialism: demography, economy, and policy. E-Journal of Portuguese History, Vol. 22, 2, pp.149-174.
  doi.org/10.1163/16456432-bja10005