Logo of the Department of Environmental Sociology with a focus on Transformation Research
Department of Social Sciences
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Dr. Kerrin Langer

Kerrin Langer vor unscharfem Hintergrund, wie sie in die Kamera lacht.

Research Focus

My research examines the historical and contemporary relationships between the military and the environment. I employ a combination of historical, sociological and IR methods and theories to analyse the interactions between the military and the ecosphere over time. In addition, I investigate the significance of energy transformations for the military and explore the question of why armed forces not only want to become green, but should.

 

OrcidID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-1641-3707

Further Information about Dr. Kerrin Langer

Publications

(* with peer review)

Editorships

*Müller, Thomas/Albert, Mathias/Langer, Kerrin (2024): Comparisons in global security politics. Representing and ordering the world. Bristol: Bristol University Press. Available online

Contributions to Journals and Edited Volumes
(incl. Working Paper)

*Langer, Kerrin (2024): „The old world fought, the modern world counts“ - Naval armament policies, force comparisons and international status, 1889 – 1922. In: Müller, Thomas/Albert, Mathias/Langer, Kerrin (Eds.). Comparisons in global security politics. Representing and ordering the world, Bristol: Bristol University Press. Available online
*Müller, Thomas/Albert, Mathias/Langer, Kerrin (2022): Practices of comparison and the making of international orders. In: Journal of International Relations and Development 25 (3), pp. 834-859.
*Albert, Mathias/Langer, Kerrin (2020): Die Geschichte des Streitkräftevergleichs in der internationalen Politik: Machtvergleiche und die Macht des Vergleichens. In: Zeitschrift für Internationale Beziehungen 27 (2), pp. 34- 64.
Albert, Mathias/Engelschalt, Julia/Epple, Angelika/Kauffmann, Kai/Langer, Kerrin et al. (2019): Vergleichen unter den Bedingungen von Konflikt und Konkurrenz. Bielefeld: Universität Bielefeld, SFB 1288 (Praktiken des Vergleichens. Working Paper des SFB 1288; 1; Available online).

Conference Reports and Reviews

Langer, Kerrin/ Nagel, Johannes/ Rohé, Niko (2019): Comparing Militaries in the Long 19th Century. In: Militaergeschichtliche Zeitschrift 78 (2), pp. 453-459.

Presentations and Talks

 (*invited, **with peer review)
 
Conferences and Workshops

** 09/2025 Seemacht und Energie. Der Metabolismus der Marine im Wandel der Zeit. 55. Deutscher Historikertag, University of Bonn.
** 08/2025 Military Metabolism(s) – A Conceptual Framework. 18. EISA Pan-European Conference on International Relations, University of Bologna.
03/2025 Umwelt, Klima und der Metabolismus von Seestreitkräften [The Environment, Climate and the Metabolism of Naval Forces].  „Dreizack" - Maritime wissenschaftliche Netzwerk und Nachwuchstagung, German Maritime Academy/Institute for Security Policy, Kiel University.
**03/2025 (Not) All is Fair in Love and War: Military Violence, Nature and the Concept of Ecocide in the Context of Norbert Elias' Theory of the Civilizing Process. Conference "A Climate of (De-)Civilization? Shifting Dynamics between Nature and Society", Dortmund (with Dr. Frank Reichherzer, Potsdam).
*02/2025 Iron Trinity. Rachel Carson Center Research Forum, München (with Dr. Frank Reichherzer, Potsdam).
*11/2024 Von der "Great White Fleet" zur "Great Green Fleet" - Militär-Umwelt-Beziehungen im Wandel der Zeit [From the "Great White Fleet" to the "Great Green Fleet" - Military-Environmental Relations Through Time]. Research seminar „Sozialgeschichte und soziale Bewegungen des Instituts für soziale Bewegungen" of the Institute for Social Movements in cooperation with the Chair of Technology and Environmental History, Ruhr University Bochum.
**04/2024 Revisiting Great Power Status in the late 19th Century. Annual Conference of the International Studies Association, San Francisco (with Dr. Thomas Müller, Bielefeld).
**09/2023 German Naval Policy and the Russian Navy in the 1980s. McMullen Naval History Symposium, United States Naval Academy, Annapolis MD.
*05/2023 Die Frage nach der Formel. Die Rüstungskontrollverhandlungen des Völkerbunds, das Deutsche Reich und die Messbarkeit militärischer Macht. Workshop „Reichswehr und Technik“, Bundeswehr Center of Military History and Social Sciences, Potsdam.
*04/2022 “The old world fought, the modern world counts” – Wettrüsten, Abrüsten und Rüstungsvergleiche, 1889-1922. Conference „Seemacht – Ideologie, Realität, Repräsentation“, Wilhelmshaven.
09/2021 „The old world fought, the modern world counts“ - Naval armament policies, force comparisons and international status, 1889 – 1922. Workshop “Comparisons in Global Security Politics”, Bielefeld University.
**09/2021 “A surprisingly intensive interest” – The press, German public opinion and the Washington conference 1921 – 1922. McMullen Naval History Symposium, United States Naval Academy, Annapolis MD.
**04/2021 Navalism in the Age of Empire. Annual Conference of the International Studies Association, online.
**03/2019 Military Power Comparisons in a Globalising System of Great Powers, 1860s- 1910s. Annual Conference of the International Studies Association, Toronto, (with Dr. Thomas Müller, Bielefeld).
11/2018 Naval Force Comparisons and the Expansion of the German Imperial Navy in German Reichstag Debates, 1871 – 1914. Workshop “Comparing Militaries in the Long 19th Century”, Bielefeld University.
**04/2018 Military Force Comparisons: Observing and Constituting World Politics through Historical Practice. Annual Conference of the International Studies Association, San Francisco (with Prof. Dr. Mathias Albert, Bielefeld).
**04/2018 Power Comparisons in the Age of Imperialism, 1880s to 1910s. Annual Conference of the International Studies Association, San Francisco, (with Dr. Thomas Müller, Bielefeld).