My research departs from a large interest in better understanding the world of diplomacy. I believe the institution and practices of diplomacy to be of crucial importance to upholding order and stability in in the international system, which ensures peaceful relations between states. In other words, by better understanding diplomacy, we also better understand how global governance is upheld. I have approached this topic through multiple different theoretical perspectives and empirical cases.
My primary empirical case has been the European Union (EU), specifically the committees and working groups that prepare the Union’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). I have studied and in different ways interacted with this environment in my education, prior work experience (as a desk officer at the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs), public outreach activities (through participation in different projects and seminars at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs) as well as my research (multiple articles and a research monograph focusing on the everyday practices of the EU’s foreign policy).
My interest in the EU is fundamentally based on a concern of the democratic legitimacy EU foreign policy, as well as the foreign policy of individual EU member states. The “Brusselisation” of individual diplomats who eventually develop a “European” identity and sometimes even transfer their loyalty away from their member states is likely a necessary process for the possibility of a common EU foreign policy but may also contribute to an increasing democratic deficit in the Union. Better understanding this tension, as well as how it is upheld, has been at the core of my research over the past few years.
The main theoretical perspective that I have used and aimed to better understand the micro-foundations of diplomacy is practice theory, which focuses on the habitual and often unconscious ways that practitioners carry out international politics.
In addition, I have co-authored an article that seeks to identify and categorize different mechanisms of ontological insecurity – a theory which posits that states, similar to humans, experience feelings of anxiety about their status, narratives and self-perceptions. This article was recently published in International Studies Review. My current research project focuses on studying the visual dimension of diplomacy—that is, how states communicate with each other and the public through visual means and expressions. Using photo elicitation, interviews, and content analysis, the project aims to generate new insights into how visual representations influence international politics.
