Rate My Professor Tobias Bach

Tobias Bach is Professor of Political Science at the Department of Political Science, University of Oslo, a position he has held since 2018. Since 2024, he serves as Deputy Head of Department and Head of Research. Bach obtained his PhD (Dr. rer. pol.) from the University of Potsdam in 2013. His career includes Associate Professor at the University of Oslo (2015-2018), Senior Researcher at the ARENA Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo (2018-2023), Postdoctoral Researcher at the Hertie School, Berlin (2014-2015), Research and Teaching Associate at the University of Hannover, Department of Political Science (2010-2014), and Research and Teaching Associate at the University of Potsdam, Chair of Political Science, Administration and Organization (2005-2010). He has been a Fellow at the Hertie School since 2015 and has visited institutions such as the Public Governance Institute in Leuven, University of Bergen, and University of Oslo.

A political scientist specialized in Public Policy and Public Administration, Bach's research focuses on politics-administration relations and bureaucratic politics in an internationally comparative perspective. He leads the department's research group Policy, Bureaucracy, and Organization (PBO), co-chairs the national research infrastructure KODEM on coordinated online panels for research on democracy and governance in Norway, and participates in projects including Comparative Research on the Executive Triangle in Europe (CoREx), Public leadership, organizational performance, and trust in government (PART), and Infrastructure for Survey Experiments (SURVEY). His key publications include the co-edited volume The Blind Spots of Public Bureaucracy and the Politics of Non-Coordination (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), the monograph Autonomie und Steuerung verselbständiger Behörden: Eine empirische Analyse am Beispiel Deutschlands und Norwegens (Springer VS, 2014), and peer-reviewed articles such as 'The Determinants of Promotion to High Public Office in Germany: Partisan Loyalty, Political Craft, or Managerial Competencies?' (Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 2018), 'More Delegation, More Political Control? Politicization of Senior Level Appointments in 18 European Countries' (Public Policy and Administration, 2020), 'The value of paired and longitudinal surveys in public administration research' (International Review of Administrative Sciences, 2025), and 'The professional profile, competence, and responsiveness of senior bureaucrats' (Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 2025). Bach serves on the editorial boards of Public Administration and der moderne staat, and holds positions such as Vice-Chair of the COST Action CoREx and member of the International Advisory Board of the Netherlands Institute of Governance.