Consultation hour
during the lecture period
Tuesday 10 to 11 a.m
only with pre-registration by e-mail
CV
Lisa-Marie Geltinger is an assistant professor and doctoral candidate at the Chair of International Politics and Transatlantic Relations at the University of Regensburg. She completed her Master's degree in democracy studies at the University of Regensburg in 2019 with a thesis on "North Korea's nuclear and missile strategy and its international adversaries". Her research and teaching focuses on German, European and American foreign and security policy, deterrence and defence, and regional power conflicts in the Middle East. Her work focuses on Iran's foreign and security policy and the question of how the Islamic Republic has been using proxies, missiles, drones, its nuclear programme and narratives for decades to exert regional influence and put pressure on existing orders.
Her academic work combines theoretical analysis with practical insights on the ground. During her studies, she gained international experience in Washington, Jordan and Ukraine during the Maidan protests. She also spent research and dialogue periods in Washington, D.C., Hungary, Belgium and Israel, including at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. These experiences still characterise her approach today: security policy is not just a subject of academic debate, but a field that can only be truly understood through the interplay of research, teaching and political practice.
At the University of Regensburg, she teaches on current issues of international politics and security. She has led the Washington Summer Symposium on U.S. Foreign Policy since 2024 and is once again accompanying a group of around 15 to 20 students to Washington, D.C. This year, it is particularly important to her to convey complex foreign and security policy topics in an understandable way and to provide students with direct insights into international politics through excursions, seminars and practice-oriented formats.
In addition to her research and teaching activities, Lisa-Marie Geltinger is a regular speaker at academic and security policy events and is an Associate Fellow of the internationally networked think tank Center for Middle East and Global Order (CMEG) and part of the Hanns Seidel Foundation's Future Leaders Programme HSS-Nexus. She is also involved in scientific and academic networks, including the Cologne Forum for International Relations and Security Policy (KFIBS) based in Brühl (Rhineland) and Philopolis - Freunde der Politikwissenschaft e.V. at the University of Regensburg.
Research
Ongoing doctoral project
Iran, proxies and missiles: Asymmetric Power Projection in the Middle East (tentative working title, degree expected in 2026)
The doctoral project centres on a simple research puzzle: despite conventional military inferiority and decades of attempts at external containment, the Iranian regime has been able to exert lasting influence in the Middle East through asymmetric means. The dissertation examines why proxies - i.e. non-state proxy militias such as Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis or Hashd al-Shaabi - as well as missiles, drones and other indirect means became effective instruments for Iran to exercise regional power and why Western and regional counter-strategies were unable to permanently contain this form of influence. The focus is on the question of how power competition, structural constraints and strategic opportunities interacted and enabled Iran to strategically utilise regional crises, fragile states and Western vulnerabilities to expand its influence. The dissertation thus focuses on an area of Iranian foreign and security policy that often takes a back seat to the focus on the nuclear programme in research and public opinion, although it is precisely this form of asymmetric power projection that has significantly shaped the conflict dynamics in the entire region. On this basis, the project develops a model of the so-called "balance of opportunity", which explains how asymmetric power projection can become strategically effective even under conditions of relative weakness.
Teaching
Current
Washington Summer Symposium on U.S. Foreign Policy (advanced seminar) summer semester 2026
Completed
The USA and the Islamic Republic of Iran - Foreign Policy, Rivalry and Regional Order in the Middle East (exercise) WiSe 2025/26
Washington Summer Symposium on U.S. Foreign Policy (advanced seminar) SoSe 2025
Security and Deterrence in the 21st Century (exercise) WiSe 2024/25
Introduction to International Politics (basic course)summer term 2024
The Middle East in the Crosshairs of Iranian Power Politics (exercise)
Washington Summer Symposium on U.S. Foreign Policy (advanced seminar)
Workshop organised by Philopolis e.V.: Writing applications
- but the right way! (Workshop)
Practical consolidation of academic work in political science (seminar)
Political science (seminar)
Introduction to international politics (basic course)winter term 2023/24
Practical specialisation of academic work in political science
Political science (seminar)
Workshop organised by Philopolis e.V.: Writing applicationssummer semester 2023
- but the right way! (Workshop)
Practical consolidation of academic work in political science
Political science (seminar)
Introduction to international politics (basic course)winter term 2022/23
Introduction to International Politics (basic course)summer term 2022
Introduction to International Politics (basic course) winter semester 2021/22
Introduction to International Politics (basic course)summer term 2021
Introduction to International Politics (basic course)winter term 2020/21
Introduction to International Politics (basic course) winter semester 2019/20
Research into the causes of war in international politics -
How do wars arise and how can they be prevented?
(Exercise)
Internationally organised crime (research seminar,
together with Lorena Menes Corrales)
Publications
Publications/Media contributions
Geltinger, Lisa-Marie: Iran, proxies and missiles: Asymmetric Power Projection in the Middle East (ongoing doctoral project, tentative working title; dissertation, expected Degree 2026).
Geltinger, Lisa-Marie: "Iran expert: 'We must not let the regime blackmail us'", interview on ZDFheute live with Alica Jung, 28 September 2025, online at: https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjN-2MlUnXM (external link, opens in a new window)
Geltinger, Lisa-Marie: "Regensburg expert on the Iran war: 'Europe is just an onlooker'", interview in Mittelbayerische, 26 June 2025, online at: https: //www.mittelbayerische.de/nachrichten/bayern/regensburger-expertin-ueber-den-iran-krieg-europa-ist-nur-zaungast-18937658 (external link, opens in a new window)
New dynamics after the US elections www.youtube.com/watch
Geltinger, Lisa-Marie: Interview for the German online portal web.de on the "Republicans' election programme", November 2024, online at: https: //web.de/magazine/politik/wahlen/us-wahl/trumps-wahlprogramm-39933506 (external link, opens in a new window)
Geltinger, Lisa-Marie: "US Iran policy under President Obama and the 2015 nuclear agreement - an opportunity for diplomacy?", in: Arnautović, Sascha / Matlé, Aylin / Wiedekind, Jakob (eds.): Transatlantische Perspektiven unter Obama und Trump. A comparative study on the question of continuity and change in US foreign and security policy, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden 2023, pp. 361-393, online at: https: //kfibs.org/category/us-wahl_2020/ (external link, opens in a new window)
Lectures
Lectures and moderations (selection)
Upcoming lectures
"Die nationale Sicherheitsstrategie der USA und ihre Implikationen für Europas Sicherheit", lecture as part of the May conference at the Benedictine monastery in Rohr, 1-3 May 2026.
Lecture at the 43rd Laufer Forum on "Iran at war: causes, goals, consequences", 25 April 2026.
Lecture in the web talk series of the Bayerische Landeszentrale für politische Bildungsarbeit on the topic "War against Iran", 9 June 2026.
Previous lectures and moderations (selection)
"Zeitenwende im Klassenzimmer", lecture at the Academy for Political Education in Tutzing, 24 February 2026.
"America First! How alone is Europe with Trump?", online lecture for the Foreign and Security Policy Working Group of the CSU (ASP), 19 February 2026.
"Monroe Doctrine, Cuba, Panama. Washington's foreign policy interests in Latin America at a glance", lecture at the Academy for Political Education in Tutzing, 7 February 2026.
"Iran, the West and the Limits of Diplomacy", lecture at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University, Washington, D.C., August 2025.
Interview with Anton Hofreiter, Member of the German Bundestag, at the Academic Election Party for the US presidential elections in front of over 2,000 guests in the Audimax of the University of Regensburg, November 2024.
Moderation of the panel discussion "Die Bundeswehr in der Zeitenwende - aktueller Sachstand und die Rolle der Reserve" with retired Inspector General Eberhard Zorn, Brigadier General Thomas Hambach and Thomas Erndl, MdB, KulturForum Oberalteich, October 2024.
Iran's Secret Wars", lecture at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University, Washington, D.C., August 2024.
"Der Nahostkonflikt und die Rolle Iran im Spiegel amerikanischer Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik", lecture at the Tutzinger Nachwuchsakademie - Studientage der Politischen Bildung at the Akademie für Politische Bildung in Tutzing, 2024.
Moderation of the event "Lessons from Afghanistan for Germany's future networked engagement" as part of the CSU working group "Foreign and Security Policy Dialogue Upper Palatinate" in Schmidmühlen, 2024.
"Die Außenpolitik der USA: Akteure, Strukturen und Strategien im Spiegel ausgewählter Theorien der Internationalen Politik", lecture as part of the accompanying course sequence in preparation for the First Teacher Examination in Politics and Society (in-depth) at the Academy for Political Education in Tutzing, 2024.
"Kampf um die regionale Vormachtstellung zwischen Iran und Saudi-Arabien", lecture as part of the multi-day seminar "Sicherheitspolitische Herausforderungen im Mittleren Osten und in Nordafrika - Chancen für eine regionale Friedensordnung?" in Kloster Banz (Bad Staffelstein) for the division "Internationale Studierende und Promovierende" at the Institute for the Promotion of Gifted Students of the Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung e. V., Munich, 2023.
"Europäische Soft und Hard Power - die Gemeinsame Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik der EU", lecture as part of the multi-day event "Aufbauakademie Europa: Europa erfahren, EU kennenlernen" at Kloster Banz (Bad Staffelstein) for the division "Internationale Studierende und Promovierende" at the Institut für Begabtenförderung der Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung e. V., Munich, 2023.
"The European Union in Ten Years? Workshop on Methods of Strategic Foresight and Management", moderation of the breakaway sessions on the development of scenarios and strategy options, organised and coordinated by the Institute for European and Transatlantic Dialogue of the Hanns-Seidel-Foundation e. V., Munich, 2022.
"Theories of International Relations", lecture at Luitpold-Gymnasium Munich in preparation for the Abitur examination in social studies, 2022.
"International Security Forum Bonn 2021", moderation of the breakaway sessions as part of the Strategic Foresight Online Workshop "Strategic China", organised by the Center for Advanced Security, Strategic and Integration Studies (CASSIS) of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn in cooperation with the Institute for European and Transatlantic Dialogue of the Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung e. V., Munich, 2021.