Dr. Sebastian Heidebrecht, BA MA
Publications
Monograph
Heidebrecht, S. (2025). European Central Bank reform after the financial crisis: Technocratic empowerment. London: Routledge. Available here.
Edited Works
Falkner, G.; Heidebrecht, S.; Obendiek, A. & Seidl, T. (2024). Digital sovereignty - Rhetoric and reality. Journal of European Public Policy, 31(8). Available here.
Heidebrecht, S./Kaeding, M. (eds.) (2018). The political role of the European Central Bank: Reflections on contemporary developments in the monetary union, Special Issue of Credit and Capital Markets – Kredit und Kapital (CCM), 51(1). Available here.
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
Heidebrecht. S. (2025). How and Why EU Institutions Promote the Digital Euro: The Politics of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). Journal of Common Market Studies (JCMS). (Forthcoming)
Heidebrecht, S. (2025). Digital policy as a driver of integration: Spillover effects and European Commission empowerment. Politics and Governance, 13, Article 10474, 1-21. Available here.
Falkner, G., Heidebrecht, S., Obendiek, A., & Seidl, T. (2024). Digital sovereignty – Rhetoric and reality. Journal of European Public Policy, 31(8) 2099-2120. Available here.
Heidebrecht, S. (2024). Platform accountability in the European Union: The cases of data protection and digital services regulation. Politique européenne, 81, 142–168. Available here.
Donnelly, S., Ríos Camacho, E., & Heidebrecht, S. (2024). Digital sovereignty as control: The regulation of digital finance in the European Union. Journal of European Public Policy, 31(8), 2226-2249. Available here.
Schoeller, M. G., & Heidebrecht, S. (2024). Continuity despite crises: Germany’s euro policy in the light of the pandemic, war, and inflation. Journal of European Public Policy, 31(9), 2509-2533. Available here.
Heidebrecht, S. (2024). From market liberalism to public intervention: Digital sovereignty and changing European Union digital single market governance. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 62(1), 205-223. Available here.
Heidebrecht, S., & Schoeller, M. (2022). The Austrian-German relationship in EMU reform: From asymmetric partnership to increased independence. German Politics, 31(2), 240–262. Available here.
Heidebrecht, S. (2019). Balancing independence and legitimacy: How the European Parliament holds the European Central Bank to account. Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft (ZPol), 29(3), 393–410. Available here.
Heidebrecht, S. (2018). Solidifying consensus: An inquiry into the expertise of European monetary policy makers. Credit and Capital Markets – Kredit und Kapital, 51(1), 127–150. Available here.
Heidebrecht, S. (2017). Trying not to be caught in the act: Explaining European Central Bank’s bounded role in shaping the European Banking Union. Journal of Contemporary European Research, 13(2), 1125–1143. Available here.
Heidebrecht, S. (2015). Wie transparent ist die Europäische Zentralbank? Eine international vergleichende Betrachtung vor dem Hintergrund weitreichender Neuerungen zum Januar 2015. Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft (ZPol), 4, 501–526. Available here.
Other Journal Articles
Heidebrecht, S. (2025). A digital euro: Balancing innovation, autonomy and trust. European View. Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 165-166. Available here.
Heidebrecht, S. (2018). Central bank independence: Economic common sense and economic device. Economic Sociology – The European Electronic Newsletter, 19(2), 25–31. Available here.
Heidebrecht, S., & Kaeding, M. (2018). The political role of the European Central Bank: Between European politics and national constraints. Credit and Capital Markets – Kredit und Kapital, 51(1), 1–13. Available here.
Book Chapters
Heidebrecht, S. (2026). Understanding the shaping of digital related policies beyond the regulatory state: A research agenda. In J. Magone (Ed.), A research agenda for European Union studies. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. (Forthcoming)
Heidebrecht, S., & Puller, A. (2025). Europawahlen im Umfeld populären Euroskeptizismus: Die österreichische Doppelwahl und ihre Bedeutung für die EU? In M. Kaeding, A. Hoppe, & M. Müller (Eds.), Die Europawahl 2024: Eine Wende nach Rechts im Schatten des Krieges (pp. 481-492). Springer Nature. Available here.
[English] Heidebrecht, S., & Puller, A. (2025). European elections in the context of popular Euroscepticism: The Austrian double election and its significance for the EU. In M. Kaeding, M. Müller, & A. Hoppe (Eds.), The 2024 European Parliament elections: The future of Europe (pp. 387-396). Cham: Springer. Available here.
Deters, H., & Heidebrecht, S. (2025). The single market and environmental policy: Catalysts and constraints. In A. R. Zito & E. Domorenok (Eds.), De Gruyter handbook on European Union environmental policy. Berlin: De Gruyter. (Forthcoming)
Heidebrecht, S. (2025). Digital policy and the strengthened role of the European central executive. In Online encyclopedia on contemporary European studies. (Preprint; forthcoming). Available here.
Heidebrecht, S. (2021). Technocratic governance at the centre of the European Economic and Monetary Union: Exploring the accountability of expert-based decision-making in the European Central Bank. In A. Arcuri & F. Coman-Kund (Eds.), Technocracy and the law: Accountability, governance and expertise (pp. 109–130). London: Routledge. Available here.
Heidebrecht, S. (2020). Der Euro und die Europawahl 2019: Wie die großen Europäischen Parteien die Eurozone reformieren wollen, und warum. In M. Kaeding, M. Müller, & J. Schmälter (Eds.), Die Europawahl 2019 (pp. 277–287). Wiesbaden: Springer VS. Available here.
Book Reviews
Heidebrecht, S. (2019). Book review: The Banking Union and Constitution: Beacon for Advanced Integration or Death-Knell for Democracy? S. Grundmann & H.-W. Micklitz (Eds.). Hart. Journal of Common Market Studies, 57(6), 1450–1451. Available here.
Heidebrecht, S. (2018). Book review: Tangled governance: International regime complexity, the Troika, and the Euro Crisis by C. R. Henning (2017). OUP. Journal of Common Market Studies, 56(4), 990. Available here.
Other Publications (working papers, blogs, etc.)
OObendiek, A., Heidebrecht, S., Falkner, G., & Seidl, T. (2024). Digitale Souveränität: Zwischen Rhetorik und Realität. Makronom. 25 September 2024. [Digital Sovereignty. Between Rhetoric and Reality, Makronom Blog of 25 September 2024]. Available here.
Obendiek, A., Falkner, G., Heidebrecht, S., & Seidl, T. (2024). Digital sovereignty in the EU – Separating rhetoric from reality. EUROPP – European Politics and Policy (LSE Blog). Available here.
Heidebrecht, S., Falkner, G., Obendiek, A., & Seidl, T. (2024). Digitale Souveränität: Rhetorik und/oder politische Realität? Der Standard vom 01.08.2024, Politikwissenschaftsblog. [Digital Sovereignty: Rhetoric and/or political reality? Political Science Blog in the Austrian Newspaper Der Standard, 1 August 2024] Available here.
Heidebrecht, S. (2023). EU digital single market governance: More public intervention, more responsibility. Ideas on Europe – JCMS Blog. Available here.
Heidebrecht, S. (2022). Mapping continuity and change of goals, protagonists and instruments of EU digital single market governance over three decades. EIF Working Paper. Available here.
Heidebrecht, S. (2016). Quo vadis EZB? Unkonventionelle Geldpolitik und die Bedeutung gesellschaftlichen Vertrauens durch europäische demokratische Institutionen. Regierungsforschung – Meinung & Analyse. Available here.
Heidebrecht, S. (2015). Die Europäische Zentralbank im Jahr 2015: Eine Analyse der drei „historischen“ Neuerungen bei der EZB. Regierungsforschung – Meinung & Analyse. Available here.
Heidebrecht, S., & Kaeding, M. (2014). Nach der Europawahl 2014: Neue Machtkonstellationen im Europaparlament und seinen Ausschüssen. Regierungsforschung – Meinung & Analyse. Available here.
Heidebrecht, S. (2014). Eine Annäherung an die Unabhängigkeit und Transparenz der Europäischen Zentralbank. Aus der Wissenschaft für die Politik. Universität Duisburg-Essen Blog.
Dissertation
Heidebrecht, Sebastian (2019): Stabilising the Euro Area: Monetary Politics in Crisis. Monetary Policy, Institutional Central Bank Choices and the Appointment of Central Bankers in the European Union, University of Duisburg-Essen (currently also in preparation for submission to an international series on contemporary European studies).
