Stefan Manser-Egli is a postdoctoral researcher in sociology at the University of Amsterdam. He currently works on a three-year research project on sovereign citizens, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and hosted by the University of Fribourg, the University of Amsterdam and the University of Basel (2024-2027). His main scholarly interests lie in critical migration and integration research, nativism, sovereignty, citizenship and liberal democracy. Manser-Egli holds a PhD in Social Sciences from the University of Neuchâtel. His book Illiberal Integrationism: The Myth of Shared Values (Bloomsbury) will be published in November 2026. His work has been published in Critical Sociology, Ethnicities, Migration Studies, European Societies, Social Politics, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies and International Studies Quarterly, amongst others. He is a coordinator of the IMISCOE Standing Committee Reflexivities in Migration Studies. (ORCID)

2012 – 2015: Bachelor in International Relations, University of Geneva (CH)
2016 – 2018: Master in Political, Legal and Economic Philosophy (PLEP) and Gender Studies, University of Bern (CH)
2019 – 2024: PhD researcher and teaching assistant, Laboratoire de processus sociaux (LAPS) and nccr - on the move, University of Neuchâtel (CH)
2024 – 2026: Swiss National Science Foundation Postdoc.Mobility Fellow: «Challenging State Legitimacy: State Denialism in Liberal Democracy» 
2026 – 2027: Swiss National Science Foundation Postdoc.Mobility Return Grant: «Nativist Libertarianism: State Denialism Beyond the Margins of Society»

2026 – 2027: Swiss National Science Foundation Postdoc.Mobility Return Grant: «Nativist Libertarianism: State Denialism Beyond the Margins of Society», University of Basel (CH) 

2024 – 2026: Swiss National Science Foundation Postdoc.Mobility Fellowship: «Challenging State Legitimacy: State Denialism in Liberal Democracy», University of Fribourg (CH) and University of Amsterdam (NL)

2019 – 2024: PhD thesis «Il/liberal Integrationism. A Contradiction in Terms: Respecting the Values of the Constitution as an Integration Requirement in Switzerland», University of Neuchâtel (CH) and nccr - on the move

BOOK: Manser-Egli, S. (November 2026). Illiberal Integrationism. The Myth of Shared Values. Bloomsbury. https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/illiberal-integrationism-9798216449010/.

JOURNAL ARTICLE: Manser-Egli, S. (2026). Sovereignism as privilege: Sovereign citizens, (white) grievance and appeasement. Critical Sociology (online first): https://doi.org/10.1177/08969205261456982.

JOURNAL ARTICLE: (equal co-authors) Blankvoort, N., I. Dodevska, and S. Manser-Egli (2026). The coloniality of integration: Rethinking the science-policy nexus. Ethnicities (online first): https://doi.org/10.1177/14687968261447880.

JOURNAL ARTICLE: (equal co-authors) Sereke, W., S. Manser-Egli, and B. von Rütte (2026). “Swiss by Ancestry”: Genuine and Strategic Nativism in Naturalization Procedures. Migration Studies 14(1): https://doi.org/10.1093/migration/mnag004.

JOURNAL ARTICLE: Manser-Egli, S. (2026). Illiberal integrationism: shared values as an integration requirement in liberal democracy. Journal of Political Power 19 (1): 83–102. https://doi.org/10.1080/2158379X.2025.2538462.

JOURNAL ARTICLE: (equal co-authors) Manser-Egli, S., and P. Lutz (2025). Integration for whom? The migration bias in social norms. European Societies 1-16 (online first). https://doi.org/10.1162/euso.a.30.

JOURNAL ARTICLE: Manser-Egli, S. (2025). Integration as a totalizing institution: a moral economy of street-level knowledge production on immigrant integration. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 51 (10): 2547–2565. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2025.2461346.

DOCTORAL THESIS: Manser-Egli, S. (2024). Il/liberal Integrationism. A Contradiction in Terms: Respecting the Values of the Constitution as an Integration Requirement in Switzerland. PhD Thesis. https://doi.org/10.35662/unine-thesis-3117.

JOURNAL ARTICLE: Manser-Egli, S. (2023). Respecting the Values of the Constitution: Integration in the Community of Value(s). Frontiers in Political Science 5 (March): 1124552. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpos.2023.1124552. 

JOURNAL ARTICLE: (equal co-authors) Dahinden, J., and S. Manser-Egli (2023). Gendernativism and Liberal Subjecthood: The Cases of Forced Marriage and the Burqa Ban in Switzerland. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society 30 (1): 140–63. https://doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxab053.

JOURNAL ARTICLE: (equal co-authors) P. Lutz, A. Stünzi, S. Manser-Egli (2021). Responsibility-Sharing in Refugee Protection: Lessons from Climate Governance. International Studies Quarterly 65(2): 476–487, https://doi.org/10.1093/isq/sqab016.

JOURNAL ARTICLE: S. Egli (2017). «Es ist ein Mädchen!» Von der Sprechakttheorie zur Performativität der Geschlechter. Meta(φ) 2: 50-54. Fachschaft Philosophie, Universität Bern.

BOOK CHAPTER: S. Manser-Egli (2024). Demokratie statt Integration. In Argumentarium für ein neues Bürgerrecht, S. Baier, T. Cardoso, K. Espahangizi, S. King-Savić & B. von Rütte (eds.). Institut Neue Schweiz INES, Bern.

BOOK CHAPTER: S. Manser-Egli (2022). Liberalismus als Kulturkampf: Integration in die Wertegemeinschaft. In «Gelungene Integration»: Ethische und rechtliche Perspektiven, L. Kirchmair & G. Schweiger (eds.). Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart. 

BOOK CHAPTER: S. Manser-Egli (2020). Von ungeteilter Macht und unhinterfragter Hochwohlgeborenheit. In Macht direkte Demokratie, Stiftung für direkte Demokratie (ed.). Kölliken: buch & netz.

OP-ED: S. Manser-Egli (2025). Von der Integration zur gelebten Demokratie. terra cognita – Schweizer Zeitschrift zu Integration und Migration, Federal Commission on Migration FCM, Sommer 41/2025.

OP-ED: (equal co-authors) P. Lutz, A. Stünzi, D. Kaufmann and S. Manser-Egli (2019). Wie kann die europäische Asylpolitik reformiert werden? terra cognita - Schweizer Zeitschrift zu Integration und Migration, Federal Commission on Migration FCM, Herbst 35/2019.

DISCUSSION PAPER: (equal co-authors) P. Lutz, A. Stünzi, D. Kaufmann and S. Egli, foraus – Swiss Forum on Foreign Policy (2017). Prisoners of the Dublin Dilemma: How to reform the Common European Asylum System?, Discussion Paper, Zurich. 

BLOG: S. Manser-Egli, and P. Lutz (2025). Integration Dispensation: Why Immigrants Face Stronger Social Norms. nccr - on the move. https://nccr-onthemove.ch/blog/integration-dispensation-why-immigrants-face-stronger-social-norms/?lang=de.

BLOG: S. Manser-Egli, and P. Lutz (2025). Voor immigranten gelden strengere sociale normen. Sociale Vraagstukken. https://www.socialevraagstukken.nl/migratiesamenleving/voor-immigranten-gelden-strengere-sociale-normen/

BLOG: S. Manser-Egli (2022). The Complicity of Culturalist Knowledge Production. nccr – on the move and IMISCOE Standing Committee on Reflexivities in Migration Studies, https://nccr-onthemove.ch/blog/the-complicity-of-culturalist-knowledge-production/ (also here).

BLOG: P. Lutz, A. Stünzi, and S. Manser-Egli (2021). Making responsibility-sharing operational: Comparing asylum and climate governance. Rethinking Refuge, University of Oxford, https://www.rethinkingrefuge.org/articles/making-responsibility-sharing-operational-comparing-asylum-and-climate-gove (also in German).

BLOG: J. Dahinden and S. Manser-Egli (2021). Gendernativism in the (Il)Liberal State: The Burqa Ban in Switzerland. nccr – on the move, https://blog.nccr-onthemove.ch/gendernativism-in-the-illiberal-state-the-burqa-ban-in-switzerland/?lang=de (also in German and French).

BLOG: P. Lutz and S. Manser-Egli (2019). Schengen-Dublin als öffentliches Gut eines integrierten Europas. nccr – on the move, https://blog.nccr-onthemove.ch/schengen-dublin-als-oeffentliches-gut-eines-integrierten-europas/?lang=de.

BLOG: S. Egli (2017). «Die unterdrückte Muslimin»: von der Überheblichkeit der ersten Welt. foraus – Swiss Forum on Foreign Policy, https://www.foraus.ch/posts/die-unterdrueckte-muslimin-von-der-ueberheblichkeit-der-ersten-welt/.

BLOG: S. Egli (2015). Welche Integration? Homogene Gesellschaft als Illusion. foraus – Swiss Forum on Foreign Policy, https://www.foraus.ch/posts/welche-integration-homogene-gesellschaft-als-illusion/.

Sociology Day 2026: ‘Sovereignism as Privilege: Sovereign Citizens, (White) Grievance and Appeasement’, University of Antwerp, May, 26, 2026.

Point Presse Migrations: ‘Encourager et exiger : l’intégration, une notion ambivalente’, organisé par asile.ch & nccr – on the move, Université de Neuchâtel, May 5, 2026.

PhD Spring School 2026 ›Production of Migration‹: ‘Migration, Integration, Citizenship: Categories of Practice and Categories of Analysis in Migration Studies’ (workshop), Osnabrück University, April 15, 2026.

UvA FTS Seminar: ‘Sovereign Citizens Avant la Lettre: Old and New Sovereignism in Switzerland’ (with Johannes Truffer), Department of Sociology, University of Amsterdam, March 19, 2026.

International Conference on “Conspiratorial Sovereignism”: ‘Nativism and Indigeneity in Sovereign Citizen Ideology’, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, February 18-19, 2026.

PRIMUS seminar: ‘Il/liberal Integrationism: Shared Values as an Integration Requirement in Liberal Democracy’, discussant: Willem Schinkel, Erasmus University Rotterdam, December 4, 2025.

Dutch Association for Migration Research (DAMR) Annual Conference: ‘Illiberal Integrationism: Shared Values as an Integration Requirement in Liberal Democracy’, University of Groningen, November 27, 2025.

Conference ‘Integration and naturalisation of refugees and migrants: Agency, bureaucracy, and policy change’: ‘“Swiss by Ancestry”: Genuine and Strategic Nativism in Naturalization Procedures’, Sachverständigenrat für Migration und Integration, Berlin, November 13-14, 2025.

Kolloquium ‘Sozialer Wandel’: ‘Privileged at the margins: Die Staatsverweigererszene in der Schweiz’, Universität Basel, October 7, 2025.

ipb Annual Conference: ‘Staatsverweigerung avant la lettre: Alter und neuer Souveränismus’, ipb Annual Conference 2025: Protests and Social Movements between Innovation and Tradition, University of Bremen, October 1-2, 2025.

Centre for Migration Law: ‘Il/liberal Integrationism: Shared Values as an Integration Requirement in Liberal Democracy’, Radboud University, Nijmegen, September 2, 2025. 

22nd IMISCOE Annual Conference: ‘The Scientism of Integration: Colonial Modernity Logics Within the Integration Science-Policy Nexus’, Paris-Aubervilliers, July 1-4, 2025.

22nd IMISCOE Annual Conference: ‘Essentially Migranticized: Immigrant Integration Research Beyond Redemption’, Paris-Aubervilliers, July 1-4, 2025.

Doktorandenkolloquium: Departement für Zeitgeschichte, La Ferrière. ‘Rechts/alternativ? Alte Eidgenossen und neue Staatsverweigerer’, University of Fribourg, May 15-16, 2025.

Workshop: IMISCOE Standing Committee Reflexivities in Migration Studies: Heading towards the future!, Centre for Migration Research (CMR), University of Warsaw, May 9-10, 2025.

REFUFAM Conference: ‘The Scientism of Integration: Colonial Modernity Logics Within the Integration Science-Policy Nexus’, Odisee, University of Applied Sciences, Brussels, April 23-24, 2025.

SNLS Conference: 2nd Conference of the Swiss Network for Law and Society (SNLS). ‘Challenging State Legitimacy: State Denialism in Liberal Democracy’, University of Bern, February 10-12, 2025. 

Forschungskolloquium Soziologie: ‘Geteilte Werte als Integrationskriterium in der liberalen Demokratie: ein Widerspruch?’, University of Bern, October 30, 2024.

Workshop: Rechtsalternative Bewegungen und Milieus nach 1945. ‘Gegen die Legitimität des Staates: Staatsverweigerer in der liberalen Demokratie’, University of Fribourg, October 18, 2024.

Workshop with Alex Sager: Political Theory and Methodological Nationalism, University of Geneva, May 13-14, 2024.

IKG Forum Bielefeld: ‘The Scientism of ‘Integration’: Co-production of Colonial Modernity Logics Within the Integration Science-Policy Nexus’, University of Bielefeld (Germany), October 5, 2023.

Tübingen Conference (presenter): ‘Shared Values as an Integration Requirement: Precarious Liberalism or What Democracy Is Really Like’, University of Tübingen (Germany), September 14, 2023.

Tübingen Conference (organizer): Migration Studies and Social Theory: Problematizing Ontologies, De-Centering Migration, University of Tübingen (Germany), September 14-15, 2023.

ECPR General Conference: ‘Respecting the Values of the Constitution: Integration in the Community of Value(s)’, Charles University (Prague), September 4-8, 2023.

ECPR General Conference: ‘The Science-Policy Nexus: Colonial Modernity Logics of Cultural Distance and Knowledge Production in European Integration Regimes’, Charles University (Prague), September 4-8, 2023.

6th Neuchâtel Graduate Conference of Migration and Mobility Studies: ‘Precarious Liberalism: Shared Values as an Integration Requirement’, University of Neuchâtel, July 11-12, 2023.

20th IMISCOE Annual Conference: ‘Integration as a Total Institution: Moral Economies of Knowledge Production on Immigrant Integration’, University of Warsaw, July 3-6, 2023.

20th IMISCOE Annual Conference: ‘Integration Expectations for Whom? Experimental Evidence from Switzerland’, University of Warsaw, July 3-6, 2023.

European Social Science History Conference: ‘The Scientificity of ‘Cultural Distance’: Colonial Modernity Logics in the Integration Science-Policy Nexus’, University of Gothenburg, April 12-15, 2023.

ESA RN35 Midterm Conference: ‘The Crisis of Integrationism: The Normativity of Immigrant Integration Research’, University Federico II (Naples), March 30-31, 2023.

Workshop: The Governance of Immigrant Integration: Critical Perspectives, University of Neuchâtel, February 9, 2023.

10th Doctoral Seminar of the Centre of Migration Law (CDM): ‘Respecting the Values of the Constitution: Integration in the Community of Value(s)’, Centre Loewenberg, October 13-14, 2022.

ECPR General Conference: ‘Respecting the Values of the Constitution: Integration in the Community of Value(s)’, University of Innsbruck (online), August 22-26, 2022.

5th Neuchâtel Graduate Conference of Migration and Mobility Studies: ‘Respecting the Values of the Constitution: Integrationism in the Community of Value(s)’, University of Neuchâtel, July 7-8, 2022.

19th IMISCOE Annual Conference: Organizing and Chairing the Panel ‘Problematizing Integration Discourses in Policy and Research’, University of Oslo, June 29 – July 1, 2022.

IMISCOE Standing Committee Reflexivities in Migration Studies PhD Peer Feedback Session: ‘Respecting the Values of the Constitution: Integrationism in the Community of Value(s)’ (online), May 27, 2022.

nccr on the move Research Day: ‘Respecting the Values of the Constitution:
Integrationism in the Community of Value(s)’, University of Neuchâtel, May 25, 2022. Discussant: Anna Korteweg.

nccr on the move Research Day: ‘Respecting the Values of the Constitution: Genealogy of an Integration Requirement’, University of Neuchâtel, January 28, 2022. Discussant: Stefanie Boulila.

Conference of the Swiss Association for Gender Studies: ‘Gendernativism and Liberal Subjecthood: The Cases of Forced Marriage and the Burqa Ban in Switzerland’, University of Zurich, November 26-27, 2021.

2nd Mirnet Conference “New Dynamics of East–West Migration and Migrant Integration Within Europe and Beyond”: ‘Respecting the Values of the Constitution: Integrationism and Boundary Liberalism in Switzerland’, University of Sussex, November 15-16, 2021.

9th Doctoral Seminar of the Centre of Migration Law (CDM): ‘Respecting the Values of the Constitution: Integrationism and Boundary Liberalism in Switzerland’, Schloss Münchenwiler, September 2-3, 2021.

15th ESA Conference: ‘Integrationism and Boundary Liberalism in Switzerland’, Barcelona (online), August 31 – September 3, 2021.

15th ESA Conference: Chairing two panel sessions by the ‘RN35 - Sociology of Migration’: The Reordering of Borders and Mobilities and Claiming rights, changing politics, redefining citizenship, Barcelona (online), August 31 – September 3, 2021.

18th IMISCOE Annual Conference: ‘Integrationism and Boundary Liberalism in Switzerland’, Luxembourg (online), July 7-9, 2021.

4th Neuchâtel Graduate Conference of Migration and Mobility Studies: ‘Integrationism and Boundary Liberalism in Switzerland’, University of Neuchâtel (online), July 1-2, 2021.

nccr on the move Research Day: ‘Integrationism and Boundary Liberalism in Switzerland’, University of Neuchâtel, May 7, 2021. Discussant: Saskia Bonjour.

IMISCOE PhD Led Workshop on Norms and Values: ‘Integrationism and Boundary Liberalism in Switzerland’, Malmö University (online), April 28-29, 2021.

Conference: The Moral Economies of Knowledge Production on Migration: Conflicts, Values, Positionalities (online): ‘In the Name of Liberalism? Respecting the Values of the Constitution, Integrationism and Boundary Liberalism in Switzerland’, IMIS, University of Osnabrück, December 2-4, 2020.

17th IMISCOE Annual Conference (online): ‘Gender Nationalism and the (Il)liberal State: The Cases of the ‘Burqa Ban’ and ‘Forced Marriage’ in Switzerland’, July 1-2, 2020.

nccr on the move Research Day: ‘Gender Nationalism and the Liberal State: The Cases of the ‘Burqa Ban’ and ‘Forced Marriage’ in Switzerland’, University of Neuchâtel, January 2020. Discussant: Saskia Bonjour.

RESPOND Conference: ‘Responsibility-sharing in refugee protection: Lessons from climate policy’, Newnham College, Cambridge, October 2019.

3rd Neuchâtel Graduate Conference of Migration and Mobility Studies: ‘Common but Differentiated Responsibilities in Asylum Policy’, University of Neuchâtel, September 2019.

nccr on the move Interdisciplinary Workshop: Discrimination in Citizenship Policy and its Implementation: ‘Ius Sanguinis, Soli, Doni, Nexi: Citizenship According to Which Normative Principle(s)?’, University of Neuchâtel, June 2019.

[selection]

Horizons – The Swiss Research Magazine, 04.12.2025. More Swiss than the Swiss.

Tagesanzeiger, 26.10.2025. Claudio Zanetti gründet Verein – Experte warnt vor «verschwörungs­theoretischen Ansichten».

Radio Bern, 24.03.2025. Was ist bekannt über Staatsverweigerer*innen in der Schweiz?

SRF Sternstunde Philosophie, 08.12.2024. Selbst schuld! Wie weit reicht Eigenverantwortung?

Tagesanzeiger, 23.05.2023. Initiative «Für ein modernes Bürgerrecht»: Erleichterte Einbürgerung soll nach fünf Jahren möglich werden.

Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 22.02.2021. Liberale müssen die Vollverschleierung aushalten.

SRF Sternstunde Philosophie, 21.06.2020. Jung gegen Alt? Der philosophische Stammtisch.

Babanews, 12.02.2020. Ausländerstimmrecht – «Macht ist etwas, das man nicht gern teilt».