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Dr. Carola Westermeier

Dr. Carola Westermeier

Akademische Rätin

  • im SoSe 2024 beurlaubt
Adresse

Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen
Institut für Soziologie

Professur Allgemeiner Gesellschaftsvergleich

Karl-Glöckner-Str. 21E
35394 Gießen

Kontakt

Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen

Institut für Soziologie

Karl-Glöckner-Str. 21E

35394 Gießen


Büro Philosophikum II, Haus E, Raum 216
☎ 0641 99-23303

Homepage www.carola-westermeier.com


Sprechstunde während der Vorlesungszeit:
Dienstag von 14 bis 15 Uhr (vorherige Anmeldung per Email)

Vita

Curriculum Vitae

Short Bio


 

Previous Positions

  • Visiting Professor (Professurvertretung) of Interntional Relations and International Political Economy | Goethe-University Frankfurt

     

  • Research Fellow | Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society, 03/2022

  • Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Department of Political Science | University of Amsterdam, Part of project FOLLOW at the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR), supported by a Consolidator Grant of the European Research Council (ERC), led by prof. Marieke de Goede, 01/2019-12/2020

Forschung

Research

My research is based at the intersections of economic sociolohy, international political economy, and (critical) security studies.
My empirical focus lies on financial security and the politics of (data) infrastructures.

See my personal homepage for more


Research Project Financial Infastructures and Geoeconomic Security

Team: Prof Andreas Langenohl, Dr. Carola Westermeier, Tim Salzer, Roxana Ehlke

Funding period: 2022-2025

The project investigates interdependencies between securing financial transactions and articulations of geopolitical security. It analyses currents projects and politics of that aim to secure financial transactions and those that aim to build alternatives to the current payment system wich is perceived to be US-dominated.

The project investigates technology-driven companies that offer financial transactions which are emerging in the European Union, China and Russia. These companies often interact with governments and other authorities to offer and expand their services. The project also inquires the role of central banks as providers and regulators of payment services. However, this ‘traditional’ position of central banks is challenged and central banks also find themselves cooperating with political institutions to maintain and expand their role in the field of payments.

These projects and politics need to be contextualized as part of broader geopolitical perceptions of (financial) security that problematize the US-hegemony within financial and payment systems.

Funded by Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft as part of SFB/Transregio 138 „Dynamiken der Sicherheit“


Research Project Money as Data

Project responsibility

Dr. Carola Westermeier

Research assistant

Marek Jessen

Every day, we use different means of digital payments. Whether payments are made by debit card, credit card or via app – all these payment methods have one feature in common: they leave traces. Transactions data is most valuable as it allows several conclusions to be drawn about personal life and actual behaviour.  Data-driven platforms whose business model is based on the monetisation of data and payment service providers share an interest in the use of financial transaction data. Despite the sensitivity of transaction data, little is yet known about its commercial use. In particular, the question on which technologies enable which data usage has not yet been addressed.

This is the starting point of the ad-hoc project. It aims to provide an overview of the use of transaction data by different financial actors. Based on case studies, criteria for the responsible processing and usage of transaction data are to be developed. To this end, a classification scheme is being developed to show in a ‘data protection scoring’ what impact the various payment types have on data protection.

The question of how financial actors use transaction data is also closely linked to questions of regulation and has strong normative implications: In the course of a regulatory-induced market liberalisation, EU regulations have significantly facilitated access to transaction data and thus simplified market access for FinTechs and BigTechs. The project thus combines regulatory matters with the analysis of technological design and normative implications. With its analysis of how transaction data is currently used commercially, the project develops the basis for discussions on how transaction data could be used in the future.

 More: https://zevedi.de/en/topics/money-as-data/

Research Project on Tokenized Finance at Centre Responsible Digitality

The legally secure linking of assets with blockchain tokens (tokenization) is a central field of innovation and application of blockchain technology. Tokenization makes it possible to create a security in the functional sense that does not require the classic paper document. It is of particular significance in financial markets, as it may lead to a much larger group of assets becoming marketable and tradable. Tokenization also renders certain intermediates unnecessary and allows for further process automation, which could result in visible efficiency benefits. Tokenization has a key role to play especially with regard to Decentralized Finance (DeFi). The project group is conducting comprehensive research on the legal and technical aspects and policy implications of tokenization and its impact on financial markets.

Find more

Lehre

Lehre

Supervision

I supervise BA and MA theses in the folliwing subject areas: 
Economic Sociology, (Critical) Security Studies, Social Studies of Finance, (Financial) Technologies and Infrastructures, The Digital Economy 

Some previously supervised theses // einige betreute Arbeiten hier

Teaching

Sommersemester 2023
Fachbereich 03 Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen

Seminar: (Finanz-)Ökonomie verstehen und vermitteln

MA-Seminar: In Tech we trust? Technologie, Märkten und staatliches Handeln

Wintersemester 2022/2023
Fachbereich Gesellschaftswissenschaften, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt

MA-Seminar Geo-Economics - The (new?) nexus of Geopolitics and Economics (in English)

BA-Seminar Forschungsseminar Digitale Politische Ökonomie

Vorlesung Grundlagen der Finanzmärkte für die Sozialwissenschaften

Kolloquium und Betreuung von Master- und Bachelorarbeiten

Sommersemester 2022
Fachbereich Gesellschaftswissenschaften, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt

BA-Seminar Theorien, Themen und Grenzen der Internationalen Politischen Ökonomie

BA-Seminar (New) Money. The Social and Political Role of Money in Modern Society (englisch)

MA-Seminar Finance and Security – Konzeptionelle und empirische Perspektiven auf die Verschränkungen von Sicherheit und Finanz

Kolloquium und Betreuung von Master- und Bachelorarbeiten

Wintersemester 2021/2022
Fachbereich Gesellschaftswissenschaften, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt

Vorlesung Grundlagen der Finanzmärkte für die Sozialwissenschaften,

BA-Seminar Digitaler Kapitalismus? Fachbereich Gesellschaftswissenschaften

MA-Seminar Infrastrukturen zwischen Staat und Markt

Kolloquium und Betreuung von Master- und Bachelorarbeiten

Sommersemester 2021
Fachbereich Sozial- und Kulturwissenschaften, Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen

Online-Lecture Series Financial Infrastructures in Cooperation with Prof. Dr. Barbara Brandl, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt

Online MA-Seminar Lebensadern der Wirtschaft? Aktuelle Forschung zu globalen (Finanz-)Infrastrukturen

Online BA-Seminar Soziologie der digitalen Ökonomie

Summer Term 2020
University of Amsterdam

Supervision of interdisciplinary BA course The Rise of ‘New’ Security Threats, Non-State Actors and the Limits of International Law im Program PPLE - Politics Psychology Law Economics der University of Amsterdam. One supervised student won the Edgar du Perron prize for Best Bachelor Thesis of 2020)

Find full list here // Alle Lehrveranstaltungen hier

Publikationen

Publikationen

Journal Articles


Book Projects

  • The Cambridge Global Companion to Financial Infrastructure, contract with Cambridge University Press, co-editors Malcolm Campbell-Verduyn (Groningen) and Barbara Brandl (Frankfurt), to be published in 2024.
  • Monograph The Hegemony of Financial Stability in Europe. Prepared for Routledge RIPE Series in Global Political Economy, Routledge.

Edited Volume

Sicherheitsakteure. Epochenübergreifende Perspektiven zu Praxisformen und Versicherheitlichung, Nomos 2018, mit Horst Carl. 
https://www.nomos-shop.de/academia/titel/sicherheitsakteure-id-96685/


Chapters (selection)

  • Das konnektive Zuhause und die Öffentlichkeit: Der Umgang mit der Pandemie im infrastrukturellen Imaginären, in: Kornelia Hahn, Andreas 
    Langenohl (Hrsg.): Öffentliches Leben: Gesellschaftsdiagnose Covid-19, Springer Verlag 2022, S. 221-242.
  • Financial Stability as Hegemony, in: Andreas Langenohl, Regina Kreide (Hrsg.): The Power Dynamics of Securitization: From the Early Modern Period until the Present, Nomos 2018, S. 91-134, mit Hannah Broecker 
  • A Dilemma of Trust in Financialised Knowledge – Expertise on Financial Regulation following the Global Financial Crisis, in: Andrea Schneiker et al. (Hrsg.): Transnational Expertise: Internal Cohesion and External Recognition of Expert Groups, Nomos 2018, S. 127-154.

Full List here


Online


Medien

Full List and links here


 


Mitgliedschaften

Mitgliedschaften

Mitgliedschaften