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School of Politics and International Relations

Dr Linda Monsees

Linda

Post-Doctoral Fellow

Email: l.monsees@qmul.ac.uk
Room Number: Arts One, 2.24
Website: https://twitter.com/MonseesLinda

Profile

Linda is a researcher of international politics interested in security technology and the impact of technologised practices  on democracy. Her research combines empirical analyses of phenomena, such as encryption or fake news, with conceptual work on core political ideas, such as the public or politicisation.  She joined SPIR in January 2020 where she leads a project on “the public and cybersecurity”, funded by the Fritz-Thyssen Foundation in Germany. She is involved in the doingIPS research network, in light of her interest in rethinking political practices.

Before coming to London, Linda held positions as a post-doctoral researcher at Goethe University Frankfurt (Cluster of Excellence ‘Normative Orders’) and the Center for Advanced Internet Studies (Bochum, Germany).  She received her PhD in 2017 from the Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences, with a thesis on the politics of digital encryption. The thesis has evolved into a book manuscript and has been published with Routledge, as part of their New Security Series, under the title ‘Crypto-Politics: Encryption and Democratic Practices in the Digital Era’ (2020).

As part of her current project, Linda is investigating ‘fake news’ with a particular focus on its impact on democracy and the way public discourse presents fake news as a common threat to society; the first output of which is an article forthcoming in Critical Studies on Security.

She also regularly participates in public engagement projects, presenting her research and wider questions concerning digital technology and its impact on society.

Research

Research Interests:

Reconfigurations of the public, science and technology studies, philosophy of technology, digital encryption, surveillance, privacy.

Examples of research funding:

Linda’s research has received financial support by a variety of institutions including the German Academic Exchange Agency, the Center for Advanced Internet Studies and the International Studies Association. The Fritz-Thyssen Foundation funds her current project through a full time scholarship.

Publications

Monograph       

Monsees, Linda (2020) Crypto-Politics: Encryption and Democratic Practices in the Digital Era. New Security Series, Routledge.

 

Article   

Monsees, Linda (2019) Public Relations: Theorizing the Contestation of Security Technology. Security Dialogue.10.1177/0967010619870364

Monsees, Linda (2018) Uncertainty and Risk in the Discourse on Encryption. Mediatization Studies 2(1).125-138.

Monsees, Linda. ‘A War Against Truth’ – Fake News as Threat for Democratic Society? (forthcoming at Critical Studies on Security)

 

Book Chapters     

Lindskov Jacobsen, Katja and Linda Monsees (2019) The Co-Production of Agency. In: Hoijtink, Marijn and Matthias Leese. eds. Technology and Agency in International Relations. Routledge.24-41

Monsees, Linda and Ole Wæver (2019) Theory is Technology - Ole Wæver in conversation with Linda Monsees. In: Acuto, Michele, Madeline Carr and Carolin Kaltofen. eds. Technologies of International Relations. Palgrave Macmillan.13-23.

 

In Preparation:

Taking the Trouble – Science and Technology Studies and International Security (special issue edited with Rocco Bellanova and Katja Lindskov Jacobsen, Critical Studies on Security)

From Complexity to Complexities – Engaging Science and Technology Studies in the Study of Global Governance (under review at Complexity, Governance & Networks)