Caroline Holmqvist
Senior Lecturer
- Caroline.Holmqvist@fhs.se
- +46 8-55342895
- Department of Political Science
About Caroline
- Engelsk beskrivning om dig själv
-
Senior Lecturer
Department of Political Science
My work explores the politics and ethics of contemporary violence, spanning political science, International Relations (IR), and the study of war and security. In my understanding, examining power, violence and war necessarily entails interrogating the human condition itself; our ethical and political relationships; and our individual and societal relationship to technologies of power and violence. My research follows two main tracks.
The first track of my research concerns the ways in which war and violence is understood and rationalized in liberal political discourse. War touches the deepest existential predicaments, and it is intimately connected with political upheaval and change. Studying the rationalization of war, I contend, helps us to understand the societies that wage war – the ideas and ideals professed by political and military leaders and, importantly, the epistemic or conceptual categories on which they rely for their understanding of social life, politics, and violence.
The second track of my research coalesces around philosophies of materiality, ethics, and aesthetics of violence. Against the background of philosophies of phenomenology, I have pursued questions of ontology in relation to war and violence. This has involved exploring the relationship between the material, the ideational and the human; interrogating human experience; and ultimately developing a robust ethical critique. Empirically, my work focuses on technology and violence, notably surveillance technologies, algorithmic warfare and, more recently, nuclear weapons.
In recognition of my contributions to the study of international politics, I was awarded the Eric Remacle Chair in Peace Studies at Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium 2015-2016. I have also held visiting researcher positions at the Centre for International Studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and the School of Political Science, Government and International Affairs at Tel Aviv University (TAU).
I have a background in policy research at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). My research into the use of private security companies in conflict zones was pioneering and lead to multiple-year consultancy work, notably for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva (Holmqvist 2005).
Recent publications
- Bell, C. and Holmqvist, C., ‘Assemblages’ (with Colleen Bell) in Oxford Handbook of International Political Sociology, eds. Stacie E. Goddard and George Lawson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2025).
- Holmqvist, C., ‘The end of reciprocity’ in War and Aesthetics: Art, Technology, and the Futures of Warfare, edited by Jens Bjering, Anders Engberg-Pedersen, Solveig Gade and Christine Strandmose Toft (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2024).
Previous appointments
- Visting Scholar, School of Government, Political Science and International Affaris, Tel Aviv University (2018-2020)
- Chair in Peace Studies, Université libre de Bruxelles (2015-2016)
- Research Fellow, Centre for International Studies, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) (2011-2013)
- Researcher, Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI) (2009-2010; 2014-2017)
- Researcher, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) (2004-2006).
Latest publications
-
The End of Reciprocity?Part of War and Aesthetics : Art, Technology, and the Futures of Warfare
-
Always already war power, police powerPart of London Review of International Law
-
Undoing War : War Ontologies and the Materiality of Drone WarfarePart of Millennium