Born in 1968, Ralph Rotte has studied political science/international relations, economics and geography. In 1991 he graduated from the Munich School of Political Science, before obtaining his degree in economics at the University of Munich in 1993. In 1995 he received a doctorate degree in political science from the University of the German Armed Forces Munich for his dissertation on the international political and economic system after the Cold War. From January 1999 to May 2000, he was a fellow of the German Science Foundation (DFG) and worked on a project on the theoretical, empirical and historical problems of the liberal and democratic peace in an economically interdependent, "globalizing" but still multicultural world.

Before joining SELAPO, University of Munich, in September 1993, Ralph Rotte worked as an analyst at the European Center for International Security in Starnberg, Germany. From 1992 to 2000 he was affiliated to the Institute for International Relations of the University of the German Armed Forces, Munich. He was also a lecturer for international relations at the University's Faculty of Social Sciences from 1997 to 2000, and a research affiliate of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), London from 1997 to 2001. In 1998 he joined the IZA network as a research affiliate and in August 1998 he became a research fellow. In 2000/2001, he worked at the Hanns Seidel Foundation, Munich, as head of the research section for economic policy and international political economy. Since fall 2001, he has been a professor for political science/international relations at RWTH Aachen University.

Ralph Rotte's main research interests include international political economy, international relations theory and history, and applied econometrics. His publications include recent books like Migration Policy and the Economy: International Experiences (edited with P. Stein, 2002), Vom "Zwiespalt der Kulturen" zum "Clash of Civilizations": Das exemplarische Scheitern des Liberalen Friedens 1914 und seine Lehren für die internationale Politik der Gegenwart (2002) or International Perspectives on Education Policy (2006), and articles in journals such as European Journal of International Relations, Public Choice, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Applied Econometrics, War in History, Journal of Population Economics, International Migration Review, Paedagogica Historica, Schmollers Jahrbuch, Review of Development Economics, Defence and Peace Economics or German Politics.