Alexander Schulan

E-Mail: alexander [at-Zeichen] schulan [punkt] eu

Dr. Alexander Schulan is an associated doctoral student at the Munich School for Ethics in Practice (MKEP) and research associate within the working group climate ethics, sustainability and global justice at the department of philosophy at Kiel University. He earned his M.A. in Philosophy at LMU Munich with a thesis on ethical aspects of the precautionary principle. He studied Economics (Diplom) with a minor in logic and philosophy of science at LMU Munich and the University of Warwick. And, he holds a PhD in Empirical Economics from Technical University of Darmstadt. 

Research Interests

• Climate Ethics

• Climate Justice

• Intergenerational Justice

• Democracy

Dissertation Project

Dissertation: Climate Justice and Democracy – Democracy as a criterion in adaption finance

The research question of my thesis is whether a democratic government is a justified criterion in the prioritisation of adaption finance. Empirical evidence indicates that democratic and not corrupt countries tend to use adaption finance more effective. Furthermore, democratic countries allow for more participation of local affected persons in the implementation of adaption measures. To answer the research question, the democracy criterion will be related to other criteria in adaption finance like good governance and respect for human rights. Based on recent debates in climate ethics and political philosophy, arguments in favour and against the democracy criterion will be analysed.

Furthermore, neo- and cultural imperialistic as well as postcolonial criticism of democracy as a form of government will be considered. The answer on the research question also depends on the possibility to operationalise the democracy criterion by indices of democracy, for example the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) indices provided by the University of Gothenburg. The analysis will verify the underlying theory of democracy indices, check the validity of the data base of the indices and conclude whether democracy indices provide a robust measurement of democracy.

Ethics in Practice

The ethics in practice project focuses on the practical aspects of discounting of climate damages and  intergenerational climate justice. In cooperation with project partner Munich Re, questions of climate ethics are discussed together with expertise from the fields of sustainability, economics and climate science. Specifically, in the interplay of practical and theoretical normative considerations, it should be discussed whether the (partial) shifting of the costs of mitigating climate change to future generations in the form of debts is ethically justified.

Publications:

• Behavioural Economics of Security. European Journal for Security Research, October 2019, Volume 4, Issue 2, pp 273–286.
• Der Wert der Sicherheit, erste Ergebnisse einer Befragung von Bevölkerung und Experten. Working paper, 2019.
• Kosten-Nutzen-Analyse in der Kriminalprävention. Mit H. Entorf (2018). In: Evidenzorientierte Kriminalprävention in Deutschland. Ein Leitfaden für Politik und Praxis. Herausgeber: M. Walsh, B. Pniewski, M. Kober und A. Armborst, Springer VS. S. 369-382.

• Status Quo der Bewertung von Sicherheitsmaßnahmen – Evidenz aus Experteninterviews. Mit H. Entorf, working paper, 2017.

• Ökonomische Bewertungsverfahren zur Evaluierung von Sicherheitsmanagement: Ein einleitender Überblick. Mit H. Entorf, working paper, 2017. 
• The effects of the macroeconomy on the yield curve in the short and medium term and on the relative attractiveness of the main asset classes: three empirical essays. Dissertation, 2009.