Ms Karoline Färber

Karoline (she/her) is a PhD researcher at the Department of War Studies. Her transdisciplinary research is situated at the intersection of feminist international relations, institutional ethnography, and international political sociology. She is interested in questions around feminist foreign policy, diplomacy and gender, diplomatic institutions and institutional change, everyday knowledge production in foreign policy as well as transdisciplinary approaches to the study of (in)security.

Her current project explores if and how feminism materialises in the everyday of German foreign policy practitioners. The project is fully funded by the German Academic Scholarship Association (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes).

Karoline has extensive teaching and research experience, with a particular focus on international relations theory and feminist approaches to the international. Before starting her PhD, she was a Personal Advisor to the State Secretary of a German State Chancellery.

Karoline is also a Deputy Features Editor at E-International Relations, a member of the Programme for Gender and International Politics at the Polis180 think tank for Foreign and European Policy, and a member of the Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy’s UK Civil Society Working Group on Feminist Foreign Policy. In addition, she serves as an Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Ambassador with the departmental EDI Committee.

Karoline holds a BA in International Relations with a minor in Social Sciences from the University of Erfurt and an MA in Conflict, Security and Development from King’s College London.

Karoline is a part of the GenDip Network on gender and diplomacy and a member of the International Relations and Ethics Research Theme at the School of Security Studies.

 

Research Interests

• Feminist foreign policy
• German foreign policy
• Diplomacy and gender
• Diplomatic institutions and institutional change
• Everyday knowledge production in foreign policy
• Transdisciplinary approaches to the study of (in)security
• Institutional ethnography
• Feminist international relations
• International political sociology

Karoline is an interdisciplinary researcher who combines an interest in feminist international relations with institutional ethnography and international political sociology. Her current research falls into three areas: Feminist foreign policy and particularly its transformative potential for foreign policy making and institutions; diplomacy and gender, with a specific focus on Germany; and everyday knowledge production in foreign policy and diplomacy.

 

Publications

• Feminist foreign policy – A new avenue for Germany? 2021. Fussnoten Podcast by M94.5 (in German).
• Angela Merkel’s feminist legacy? Moving away from the status quo in foreign policy (with Maike Laengenfelder). 2021. Polis blog.
• The Absence of Methodology in Securitisation Theory. 2018. E-International Relations. 

For a full list of publications see Karoline's PURE account

 

Thesis

Feminism(s) in the Everyday of the German Foreign Office: The Politics of Change and Resistance

During the past decades, questions around gender equality, LGBTIQ+ rights, and the representation of historically excluded folks have been increasingly centred in foreign affairs globally. In Germany, too, the Foreign Office has started a conversation about who makes foreign policy, how, and for whom. This project explores these changes and to what extent they might be informed by a global re-thinking of foreign policymaking and institutions in the wake of increasing knowledge about feminism in foreign policy.

Specifically, it is interested in the everyday knowledge production of foreign policy practitioners: how do they practice foreign policy change? What feminism(s), if any, are they inspired by? And which barriers to change exist?

Tracing if and how feminism materialises in the Foreign Office, this project sheds light on the broader power relations organising foreign policymaking day-to-day. It also critically interrogates the transformative potential of feminism in foreign policy: which potential avenues for institutional and foreign policy change exist? What are its challenges and limitations? Hence, this project will be useful for scholars and practitioners alike.

Supervisors

Dr Amanda Chisholm (primary)

Dr Didier Bigo (secondary)