Publications

Books

Abels, Joscha (2023). The Politics of the Eurogroup. Governing Crisis and Conflict in the European Union. Routledge: RIPE Series for Global Political Economy. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003386476

Journal articles (peer reviewed)

Abels, Joscha (2026): Privatised technological sovereignty. The IRIS² space project and state-capital relations in the European Union. In: Journal of European Public Policy, online first. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2025.2608178

Abels, Joscha; Babic, Milan (2026): Cable wars? Mapping the political economy of submarine cables in an era of geoeconomic competition. In: Globalizations, online first. https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2025.2599691

Abels, Joscha (2026): Private network realignment. State strategies versus market-driven globalization in the subsea cable network. In: Global Policy 17 (1). https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.70118

Abels, Joscha; Bieling, Hans-Jürgen; Haas, Tobias; Sieron, Sandra; Simon, Jenny (2026): Die neue globale Geoökonomie: Umrisse einer kritischen Perspektive. In: PROKLA. Zeitschrift für kritische Sozialwissenschaft 56 (2).https://doi.org/10.32387/prokla.v56i223.2244

Bieling, Hans-Jürgen; Flemmer, Riccarda; Abels, Joscha; Futterer, Andrea (2026): Infrastructural perspectives on global ordering: A research agenda on the infrastructure-orders-nexus. In: International Political Sociology 20 (4). https://doi.org/10.1093/ips/olag032

Abels, Joscha (2025): Making ‘strategic autonomy’ rhyme with ‘fiscal austerity’? Unresolved conflicts of (geo)economic ideas in EU infrastructure policy. In: Competition & Change 29 (2). https://doi.org/10.1177/10245294241277255

Abels, Joscha (2025): Failing forward in European economic governance. The cyclicality of European integration and institutional competition in the COVID-19 crisis. In: Journal of Common Market Studies 63 (2). https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.13588

Abels, Joscha (2024): Private infrastructure in geopolitical conflicts. The case of Starlink and the war in Ukraine. In: European Journal of International Relations 30 (4). https://doi.org/10.1177/13540661241260653

Abels, Joscha; Bieling, Hans-Jürgen (2024): Drivers and limits of the geoeconomic turn in EU infrastructure policy. In: Politics and Governance 12: article 8127. https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.8127

Abels, Joscha (2024): Does the current crisis mark the end of the EU’s austerity era? Competing political projects in European fiscal governance. In: Comparative European Politics 22. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41295-023-00346-4

Abels, Joscha; Bieling, Hans-Jürgen (2024): The geoeconomics of infrastructures. Viewing globalization and global rivalry through a lens of infrastructural competition. In: Globalizations 21(4). https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2023.2264667

Abels, Joscha; Bieling, Hans-Jürgen (2023): Infrastructures of globalisation. Shifts in global order and Europe's strategic choices. In: Competition & Change 27(3-4). https://doi.org/10.1177/10245294221130119

Abels, Joscha; Bieling, Hans-Jürgen (2022): Jenseits des Marktliberalismus? Europäische Industrie- und Infrastrukturpolitik im Zeichen neuer globaler Rivalitäten. In: PROKLA. Zeitschrift für kritische Sozialwissenschaft 52(3). https://doi.org/10.32387/prokla.v52i208.2004

Abels, Joscha (2019): Power behind the curtain. The Eurogroup’s role in the crisis and the value of informality in economic governance. In: European Politics and Society 20(5). https://doi.org/10.1080/23745118.2018.1542774

Abels, Joscha (2018): Ein Europa der Finanzministerien? Die Eurogruppe im Projekt der austeritätspolitischen Restrukturierung der Eurozone. In: PROKLA. Zeitschrift für kritische Sozialwissenschaft 48(3). https://doi.org/10.32387/prokla.v48i192.905

Editorships

Special Issue “The Global Politics of Big Tech”, Politics and Governance, co-edited with Silvia Weko and Steven Rolf. Forthcoming, 2027.

Special Issue “Transnational Infrastructure and Geoeconomic Competition”, Globalizations, co-edited with Hans-Jürgen Bieling and Jan Ruck. 2026.

Special Issue “Kritik der Geoökonomie”, PROKLA. Zeitschrift für kritische Sozialwissenschaft, co-edited with Hans-Jürgen Bieling, Tobias Haas, Sandra Sieron, Jenny Simon. 2026.

Chapters in edited volumes

Abels, Joscha (2025): Outer space infrastructures and global order. How the control over satellite constellations reshapes state-business relations. In: Bieling, Diez, Flemmer, Futterer (eds.): Transnational Infrastructures and the Transformation of Global Orders. Springer VS. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-74846-2_12

Abels, Joscha; Bieling, Hans-Jürgen; Kassem, Sarrah (2024): Re-regulating the European high-tech capitalism? The EU’s digitalization strategy at a turning point after the COVID-19 pandemic. In: Janusch et al. (eds.): Turning Points. Challenges for Western Democracies in the 21st Century. De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111272900-015

Abels, Joscha; Hasenclever, Andreas (2022): Die Säulen internationaler (Un-)Ordnung. Kontinuität und Wandel intergouvernmentaler Organisationen. In: Lütz, Menzel (eds.): Internationale Organisationen. Konzepte, Theorien und Fallbeispiele. Springer VS. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-39371-7_3

Abels, Joscha (2019): Machtzentrum hinter dem Vorhang. Die informelle Eurogruppe und ihre erneuerte Rolle im Euroregime. In: Bieling, Guntrum (eds.): Neue Segel, alter Kurs? Die Eurokrise und ihre Folgen für das europäische Wirtschaftsregieren. Springer VS. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-25037-9_4

Other publications

Abels, Joscha (2026): Konflikte um Datennetze – im Weltraum und unter dem Meer. In: POLITIKUM 11(4): 48–55. https://doi.org/10.46499/2590.3625

Abels, Joscha (2025): Europe and the Second Cold War in submarine cable networks. Second Cold War Observatory, SCWO Dispatch 2025.4. https://www.secondcoldwarobservatory.com/dispatch-2025-4

Abels, Joscha (2022): Globaler Wettbewerb um Infrastrukturen. Eine neue Form der Geopolitik? In: POLITIKUM 8(2): 4–12. https://doi.org/10.46499/2032.2372

Under review & forthcoming works

Abels, Joscha; Weko, Silvia: The political economy of tech oligarchy. Layering and personalization of infrastructural power in cloud and AI-defense. (journal article, under review)

Abels, Joscha; Ruck, Jan; Meyer, Mario: European integration as network contestation. The geopolitics of electricity grid (de-)synchronization in Eastern Europe and the Baltics. (journal article, under review)

Abels, Joscha; Bieling, Hans-Jürgen; Ruck, Jan: Introduction. Transnational Infrastructures in Geoeconomic Competition. (journal article, introduction to SI, forthcoming)

Abels, Joscha; Nock, Philip J.; Ruck, Jan: Financing strategic autonomy: The politics of financial de-risking and the EU semiconductor strategy. (chapter for edited volume, forthcoming)

Abels, Joscha; Ruck, Jan; Weko, Silvia: The hydrogen reset? The materiality of the European Union’s energy diplomacy in Morocco and Namibia. (chapter for edited volume, forthcoming)

Media appearances

Interview for Constellations: “Europe’s satcom reset: Sovereignty, NATO-aligned multi-orbit defense and the IRIS² industrial push”, 11 August 2026, Link

Article with The Conversation: “How apocalyptic worldviews are moving from the fringes to the corridors of power”, 14 July 2026, Link

Interview for The Continent: “Eye in the sky, knife in the back”, 13 June 2026, Link

Interview for Fast Company: “Is Starlink authoritarian-proof?”, 16 January 2026, Link

Featured in report by Belfer Center: “Striving to Excel? The Rise of South Africa as an Ambitious Global South Agenda Setter”, 20 November 2025, Link

Article with The Conversation: “In the sky over Iran, Elon Musk and Starlink step into geopolitics – not for the first time”, 26 June 2025, Link

Interview for newspaper Le Monde: “Avec Starlink, Elon Musk étend son influence sur la planète… et dans l’espace”, 6 April 2025, Link

Online discussion by Network 20/20: “Undersea Cables & Starlink: The Hidden Conflicts of Global Connectivity”, 25 March 2025, Link

TV-interview for Al Jazeera English: “Starlink is revolutionary tech, but there are red flags”, 25 December 2024, Link

Interview for Podcast New Books Network: “The Politics of the Eurogroup: Governing Crisis and Conflict in the European Union”, 30 June 2023, Link