Dr Leonie Ansems de Vries

Dr Leonie Ansems de Vries is a Reader in International Politics, Director of the King's Sanctuary Programme and Chair of the Migration Research Group. She previously lectured at Queen Mary, University of London and the University of Nottingham in Malaysia. She holds a PhD in War Studies from King’s College London.

Her research interests include: governance and resistance in global politics, migration and refugees, critical approaches to security and conflict, and the politics of life and security. Her monograph entitled Re-Imagining a Politics of Life: From Governance of Order to Politics of Movement (Rowman and Littlefield) was published in November 2014. Her research has also appeared in journals such as Review of International Studies, International Political Sociology, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, and Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. She has also written a series of articles on the migration management and migrant struggles for openDemocracy .

She is Co-Investigator of the international ORA/ESRC-funded research project GUARDINT, which seeks to bridge the gap between increasingly transnational surveillance practices and national oversight mechanisms.

From 2015-2017, She co-led the collaborative ESRC-funded research project ‘Documenting the Humanitarian Migration Crisis in the Mediterranean’, which examined the effects of migration management practices on people seeking refuge in Europe. Other projects include a policy/research project on legal pathways to protection in Europe and the academic/arts projects 'We are in between' and 'Migrant Voices in London'.

Research Interests

• Governance and resistance in global politics
• Migration and refugees: especially migration management practices and migration struggles; refugee subjectivities; and, legal pathways to protection
• Critical approaches to security and conflict
• The politics of life and security

PhD Supervision

Leonie is happy to supervise PhD students in the following subject areas:

• Migration and Refugees
• International Relations Theory
• Critical Security Studeis
• Governance and resistance in global politics

Selected Publications

Book

2014, Re-Imagining a Politics of Life: From Governance of Order to Politics of Movement (Rowman and Littlefield International)

Research articles

2019 'The Crafting of a Paradox: Schengen inside and out (with Christina Oelgemoller and Kees Groenendijk), International Journal of Migration and Border Studies

2019 ‘Seeking Refuge in Europe: Spaces of Transit and the Violence of Migration Management (with Elspeth Guild), Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 45(12)

2018,‘Violent Governance, Identity and the Production of Legitimacy: Autodefensas in Latin America’ (with Alexander Curry), Journal of International Relations and Development

2018,‘Violent Governance, Identity and the Production of Legitimacy: Autodefensas in Latin America’ (with Alexander Curry), Journal of International Relations and Development (online first)

2018 ‘Seeking Refuge in Europe: Spaces of Transit and the Violence of Migration Management (with Elspeth Guild), Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (online first).

2017, ‘Fracturing Politics’ (with Lara Montesinos Coleman, Martina Tazzioli, Doerthe Rosenow and Rolando Vazquez), International Political Sociology, 11(1)

2016, ‘Politics of (In)visibility. Governance-Resistance and the Constitution of Refugees in Malaysia’, Review of International Studies, 42(5)

2015, ‘Opposing the Opposition? Binarity and Complexity in Political Resistance’ (with Doerthe Rosenow), Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 33(6)

2013, ‘Political Life Beyond the Biopolitical?’, Theoria: A Journal of Social and Political Theory, 60(134)

2009, ‘Hobbes, War, Movement’ (with Jorg Spieker), Global Society, 23(4)

2008, ‘(The War on) Terrorism: destruction, collapse, mixture, re-enforcement, construction’, Cultural Politics, 4(2) 

Book chapters

2013, Politics on the Line’ in Bradley Evans and Julian Reid (eds.), Fascism in Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guatarri: Securitisation, War & Aesthetics(Routledge)

2010, ‘Hobbes War Movement’ (with Jorg Spieker) in Nicholas Kiersey and Doug Stokes (eds.) Foucault and International Relations. New Critical Engagements (Routledge)

Policy Papers

2018, ‘Legal Pathways to Protection: Towards the Provision of Safe, Legal and Accessible Routes for Refugees and Vulnerable Migrants’ (with Jean-Pierre Gauci and Henry Redwood)

2017,'Strengthening the Common European Asylum System' (with Elspeth Guild) in Euromed Survey, 7th edition (European Institute of the Mediterranean)

2016, 'Documenting the Migration Crisis in the Mediterranean' (with Sergio Carrera and Elspeth Guild), CEPS Paper in Liberty and Security in Europe, No. 94