Dr. Carola Westermeier
- Dr. Carola Westermeier
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Akademische Rätin
- im SoSe 2024 beurlaubt
- Adresse
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Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen
Institut für SoziologieProfessur Allgemeiner Gesellschaftsvergleich
Karl-Glöckner-Str. 21E
35394 Gießen
- Kontakt
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Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen
Institut für Soziologie
Karl-Glöckner-Str. 21E
35394 Gießen
Büro Philosophikum II, Haus E, Raum 216☎ 0641 99-23303Homepage www.carola-westermeier.com
Sprechstunde während der Vorlesungszeit:Dienstag von 14 bis 15 Uhr (vorherige Anmeldung per Email)
Vita
- Curriculum Vitae
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Short Bio
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Co-Project Lead Project Financial Infrastructures and Geoeconomic Security at the Collaborative Research Center Dynamics of Security, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen
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Head of the research project Money as Data at the Centre Responsible Digitality (ZEVEDI) and part of project eFin & Democracy – Democracy issues of the digitalised financial sector.
- Associate Editor Finance and Society Journal
- Visiting Professor (Professurvertretung) of Interntional Relations and International Political Economy | Goethe-University Frankfurt
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Research Fellow | Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society, 03/2022
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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
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Forschung
- Research
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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.
Lehre
- Lehre
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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 EconomySome previously supervised theses // einige betreute Arbeiten hier
Teaching
Sommersemester 2023
Fachbereich 03 Justus-Liebig-Universität GießenSeminar: (Finanz-)Ökonomie verstehen und vermitteln
MA-Seminar: In Tech we trust? Technologie, Märkten und staatliches Handeln
Wintersemester 2022/2023
Fachbereich Gesellschaftswissenschaften, Goethe-Universität FrankfurtMA-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 FrankfurtBA-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 FrankfurtVorlesung 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 GiessenOnline-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 AmsterdamSupervision 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)
Publikationen
- Publikationen
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Journal Articles
- The money tree: Exploring central bank digital currency blockchain imaginaries. Anthropology Today, 39 (4) 2023, with Lana Swartz, https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8322.12827
- From Flows Towards Updates. Security Regimes and Changing Technologies for Financial Surveillance. Review of International Studies, online first, doi:10.1017/S0260210522000493
- Infrastructural Geopolitics. International Studies Quarterly, 66(3) 2022, with Marieke de Goede. https://doi.org/10.1093/isq/sqac033
- After the boom: Finance and society studies in the 2020s and beyond. Joint Editorial for Finance and Society, 2022, 8(2): 93-109, with Amin Samman, Nina Boy, Nathan Coombs, Sandy Hager, Adam Hayes, Emily Rosamond, Leon Wansleben. https://doi.org/10.2218/finsoc.7761
- Safe assemblages: Thinking infrastructures beyond circulation in the times of SARS-CoV2. Journal of International Relations and Development, 25(6) 2021, pp. 324–344, with Andreas Langenohl. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41268-021-00240-0
- Von globalisierter Vernetzung zu neuer Fragmentierung? Finanzinfrastrukturen als geopolitische Spannungs- und Kriegsfelder, in: Politikum 2/2022, pp. 14-21. https://doi.org/10.46499/2032.2373 Leseprobe
- Money is Data – the Platformization of Financial Transactions. Information, Communication & Society, 23(14) 2020, pp. 2047-2063.
https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2020.1770833 - The value of transactions in the new data economy, in: Finance and Society, 6(2) 2020, pp. 157–162.
https://doi.org/10.2218/finsoc.v6i2.5277 - Between Public and Private: The Co-production of Infrastructural Security. Politikon 35(5) 2020, pp. 62-80, with Amina Nolte.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02589346.2020.1712831 Open Access here: Link UvADare - A Bank and a Think Tank? The Bank of International Settlements and the Introduction of Macroprudential Regulation. Policy and Society 37(2) 2018, pp. 170-187. https://doi.org/10.1080/14494035.2018.1450090
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.
Online
- Vortrag am Hambruger Institut für Sozialforschung zum Thema “Das Geld(system) der Zukunft? Digitale Zentralbankwährungen zwischen Fragmentierung und internationaler Kooperation” in der Reihe Geldpolitik im Umbruch”, organisiert von der Forschungsgruppe Monetäre Souveränität. Video: https://youtu.be/6VGltJyfwGc?feature=shared
- Vortrag bei re:publica 2023: Brauchen wir den Digitalen Euro oder (wie) geht Geld demokratisch? https://youtu.be/e-YNSj1rEZI
- From follow the money towards infrastructural geopolitics: How financial technologies enable (changing) security regimes, in: BISA Analysis 11/2022, https://www.bisa.ac.uk/articles/follow-money-towards-infrastructural-geopolitics-how-financial-technologies-enable
- Der Wert des (digitalen) Geldes, in: Soziopolis. Gesellschaft beobachten, 9/2020,
https://www.soziopolis.de/lesen/buecher/artikel/der-wert-des-digitalen-geldes - Die Sicherheitsversprechen digitaler Technologien, in: Soziopolis. Gesellschaft beobachten, 04/2020, mit Andreas Langenohl https://www.soziopolis.de/beobachten/gesellschaft/artikel/die-sicherheitsversprechen-digitaler-technologien
- Den Staat wieder spüren – Heimat und Infrastruktur, in: Theorieblog – politische Theorie, Philosophie und Ideengeschichte, 10/2018, mit Amina Nolte, https://www.theorieblog.de/index.php/2018/10/den-staat-wieder-spueren-heimat-und-infrastruktur
Medien
- Wie der digitale Euro unser Finanzsystem verändern wird, Vortrag bei Deutschlandfunk Nova Hörsaal: https://www.deutschlandfunknova.de/beitrag/geld-wie-der-digitale-euro-unser-finanzsystem-veraendern-wird
- Den digitalen Euro als öffentliches Gut entwicklen, in Tagesspiegel Background: https://background.tagesspiegel.de/digitalisierung/den-digitalen-euro-als-oeffentliches-gut-entwickeln
- Live Interview mit Deutschlandfunk Kultur, 06/2023: https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/die-re-publica-2023-und-das-geld-der-digitale-euro-als-demokratische-waehrung-dlf-kultur-1722f5ac-100.html
- Interview im Tagesspiegel: Digitales Geld ist eine Technologie, die gestaltbar ist https://www.carolawestermeier.org/s/Tagesspiegel-Interview-Digitaler-Euro.pdf
- Podcast zu Weltpolitik und dem internationalen Finanzsystem. IQ - Wissenschaft und Forschung, Bayerischer Rundfunk: https://www.br.de/radio/bayern2/sendungen/iq-wissenschaft-und-forschung/podcast-weltpolitik-und-das-finanzsystem-wie-zahlen-wir-in-zukunft-100.html
- Interview mit dem Podcast Die Lage der Nation zum Digitalen Euro, 11/2022.
https://lagedernation.org/podcast/ldn312-wahlwiederholung-in-berlin-buergergeld-debatte-raketeneinschlag-in-polen-digitaler-euro-interview-carola-westermeier-us-midterms-trump-tritt-an-un-klimakonferenz-praeventiv-knast-fuer/?t=39%3A07 - Wirtschaftssanktionen -Wie wirksam sind die Daumenschrauben? In IQ - Wissenschaft und Forschung, Bayerischer Rundfunk, 11/2022
- Podcast Talk Social Science To Me, Folge 4 Finanzpolitik, Sanktionen, Blockchain 03/2022, https://talksocialscience.uni-frankfurt.de/
- Kryptowährungen im Krieg. Kann Russland mit Bitcoin Sanktionen umgehen? in: Der Tagesspiegel, 06.03.2022.
- Wandelt sich der Bitcoin vom ‘Friedensgeld’ zur Kriegswährung? in: Spiegel Online, 03.03.2022
- Wie Bitcoin und Co. Im Ukraine-Krieg plötzlich Aufwind erhalten, in: Handelsblatt 01.03.2022.
- Rise of the platforms, Interview mit New Money Review Podcast, 6/2020 https://newmoneyreview.com/index.php/2020/06/23/rise-of-the-platforms/
Mitgliedschaften
- Mitgliedschaften
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Mitgliedschaften
- Vorstandsmitglied SFB Dynamiken der Sicherheit, seit 01/2022
- Sprecherin der Arbeitsgruppe Theorie im Sonderforschungsbereiches 138 "Dynamiken der Sicherheit"
- Deutsche Vereinigung für Politikwissenschaft (DVPW), Sektion Politische Ökonomie, Arbeitskreis Soziologie der internationalen Beziehungen
- Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie und der Sektion Wirtschaftssoziologie
- International Studies Association (ISA)
- European International Studies Association (EISA)
- Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE)
- Mitglied des International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (bis 2018)
- (Promotions-)Stipendiatin des Studienwerks Klaus Murmann der Stiftung der Deutschen Wirtschaft
- Assoziertes Mitglied im DFG-Forschungsnetzwerk Soziologie ökonomischen Denkens