Andreas Wimmer

Andreas Wimmer serves as the Lieber Professor of Sociology and Political Philosophy at Columbia University, where he joined in 2015. Previously, he taught at Princeton University and the University of California Los Angeles (2003-2012). He has held numerous visiting positions at prestigious institutions including Oxford University, Harvard University, and Kyoto University.

Wimmer's research adopts a long-term historical and globally comparative perspective, examining nation-state formation, ethnic boundary making, and political conflict. His work spans anthropology, sociology, and political science, utilizing diverse methodologies from qualitative to quantitative approaches. He has pursued this agenda through case studies from both developing and developed worlds, including comparative historical analyses of Swiss, Iraqi, and Mexican nation-state formation.

His recent publications reveal a strong focus on diffusion processes, geopolitical rivalry, nationalism, and contemporary social movements. Wimmer's work demonstrates a consistent pattern of examining how ideas and institutions travel across the world and their long-term consequences, with increasing attention to experimental methods and large-scale comparative data.

His scholarly contributions have been recognized with prestigious awards including:

• Stein Rokkan Prize for Comparative Social Science Research
• Barrington Moore Book Award from the American Sociological Association
• Life-time achievement awards from sections of the American Sociological Association and International Studies Association
• Heisenberg Fellowship from the German Research Foundation

Wimmer serves as deputy editor of Sociological Science and associate editor of the American Political Science Review. He also edits the book series Studies in Global and Comparative Sociology for Princeton University Press. His research demonstrates ongoing engagement with policy-relevant questions about immigration, ethnic conflict prevention, and nation-building processes around the world.