Institute of Political Science

Lea Augenstein, M.A.

Since December 2019, Lea Augenstein has been a research associate in the International Relations / Peace and Conflict Research section. She studied political science and public law (Bachelor of Arts) as well as peace research and international politics (Master of Arts) at the University of Tübingen. During her master studies she spent one semester abroad at the University of Bologna. She completed her studies in February 2019 with a master thesis on global ideas of justice from a postcolonial perspective.

She gained practical experience through her work as a student assistant at the Institute of Political Science during her studies. After completing her Master's degree, she also worked as a certified assistant at the International Centre for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities (IZEW) in Tübingen.
Lea Augenstein's dissertation project deals with the resistance practices of immigrants on the European border. The focus is on the question of how and by what means immigrants encounter and undermine the exercise of power by the European Union (EU), which is expressed through stricter controls, arrests and violations of rights, among other things. She argues that these encounters at the European border create transnational and transcultural negotiating spaces in which identities and scope for action are renegotiated on both sides. Theoretically, the work follows postcolonial theories, which it transfers to the situation of immigrants and modifies accordingly.

Lea Augenstein has been editor of the Zeitschrift für Internationale Beziehungen (ZIB) since December 2019.

Research Interests

  • European migration and border policy
  • Poststructuralism and Postcolonial Theories
  • Critical security studies
  • Theories of global justice
  • European foreign policy

Awards & Prizes

Susan Strange Young Scholar Award (2020): Award for excellent final theses by female students with a research focus on international relations, granted by the Center for Global Studies at the University of Bonn as part of the project "EmPOWER! Politics, Policy, and Personality".