Research

Cascades of Enmity: Ontological Security Dynamics between the United States and Iran

(provisional working title, degree expected in 2026)

In the longstanding conflict between the US and Iran, both physical security concerns and antagonistic identity constructions are at play. This dissertation analyses the bilateral relations from 1979 to 2021 with its phases of pragmatism and confrontation. It interrogates the (dis)continuities and (in)coherences in the states' foreign policies and proposes to conceptually grasp the longevity of the conflict as a process of routinised ontological security seeking. The field of Ontological Security Studies (OSS) is flourishing in International Relations (IR). It takes up concepts from (individual) social psychology, especially the works of Anthony Giddens, on the human desire to construct a stable identity that can be defined only in relation to an Other. Transferring this approach to IR theory has inspired a fruitful yet contested field of research. The main argument is that mutual enmity can provide a stable sense of Self, thus routinising dangerous conflicts. This dissertation makes a significant contribution to the research field by building a comprehensive framework of ontological security dynamics. It then applies the theoretical framework to the bilateral relations between the US and Iran since the 1979 Revolution and locates the case study in regional conflict dynamics in the Middle East. It analyses the cascading effects in the US-Iranian relationship and takes into consideration both the social construction of state identity and hegemonic power struggles. By doing so, the dissertation helps to give a new and insightful perspective into one of the most longstanding conflicts in international politics, within in a coherent and creative IR theory framework.

Iran, proxies and missiles: Asymmetric Power Projection in the Middle East (tentative working title, degree expected in 2026)

The doctoral project centres on a simple research puzzle: despite conventional military inferiority and decades of attempts at external containment, the Iranian regime has been able to exert lasting influence in the Middle East through asymmetric means. The dissertation examines why proxies - i.e. non-state proxy militias such as Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis or Hashd al-Shaabi - as well as missiles, drones and other indirect means became effective instruments for Iran to exercise regional power and why Western and regional counter-strategies were unable to permanently contain this form of influence. The focus is on the question of how power competition, structural constraints and strategic opportunities interacted and enabled Iran to strategically utilise regional crises, fragile states and Western vulnerabilities to expand its influence. The dissertation thus focuses on an area of Iranian foreign and security policy that often takes a back seat to the focus on the nuclear programme in research and public opinion, although it is precisely this form of asymmetric power projection that has significantly shaped the conflict dynamics in the entire region. On this basis, the project develops a model of the so-called "balance of opportunity", which explains how asymmetric power projection can become strategically effective even under conditions of relative weakness.

Working title of the dissertation: "Franco-American security relations since 1990"

Since the end of the Cold War, Franco-American security relations have been characterised by dissonance and disruption. At the same time, there have been repeated rapprochements and partnership-based approaches. These contradictions need to be explained. The question of the dissertation is therefore: Why have Franco-American security relations since 1990 been characterised by such ambivalence? Studies on this or similar questions are underrepresented in German political science, while the more extensive Anglophone and Francophone research often lacks a theoretical focus. The aim of this dissertation project is therefore to conduct a rigorous theoretical investigation, drawing on Alexander Wendt's theory of social constructivism and Alastair Iain Johnston's strategic cultural research. Central to both authors is the idea that ideas, norms, cultures, identities and perceptions play a role in explaining the foreign and security policy behaviour of states. The ambivalence of Franco-American security relations can be explained by the assumption that states share certain ideas and not others. The aim of the doctoral thesis is to develop a discourse-analytically derived pattern in which cases Franco-American security and defence relations have tended to harmonise or dissonate since 1990. These assumptions are then empirically tested and compared with the results of a series of interviews with experts and contemporary witnesses.

Working title of the dissertation: "Alliance building in the Indo-Pacific"

Since the end of the Cold War, the Indo-Pacific region of the world has been subject to profound and revolutionary developments. The enormous economic, political and military rise of the People's Republic of China has significantly changed the existing regional and global balance of power. China has risen to become the dominant power in the region and is increasingly asserting its own interests in international politics, for example with the artificial creation and militarisation of islands in the South China Sea since 2015. This rise in China's power has triggered a series of alliance-building processes in the Indo-Pacific region that have the potential to change the region in the long term. The dissertation project will conduct theory-based research into the reasons, contexts and consequences of these alliance-building processes.