@European University Institute

Dear visitor,

I am a researcher in the field of international relations. Thank you for visiting this site. This website is however no longer maintained. Please visit my independent site at http://bueger.info

Below you find information regarding my person and research (last update Nov 2010).

/ Short Bio

Christian Bueger graduated from the Goethe University of Frankfurt  and joined the  Department of Political and Social of the European University Institute, Florence, Italy in 2005. In 2010 he was awarded a PhD in political science by the department. The thesis titled "The new spirit of technocracy? Ordering Practice in United Nations Peacebuilding" was supervised by Friedrich Kratochwil. Board members included, Iver Neumann (NUPI), Gunther Hellmann (Frankfurt) and Pascal Vennesson (EUI). Before joining the EUI Bueger was  a Research Associate at the Institut für Sozialforschung at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, where I was working in a research project on the 'micro politics of bioethical expertise institutions' . As a Visiting Lecturer in the Faculty of Social Sciences (University of Frankfurt), he taught seminars on international relations theory, security theory and post-positivist policy studies. His Publications have appeared in journals such as International Studies Perspectives, Journal of International relations and Development, Security Dialogue and Zeitschrift fur Internationale Beziehungen.

/ Research Interests

Büger, Christian, and Frank Gadinger. 2008. Praktisch Gedacht! Praxistheoretischer Konstruktivismus in den Internationalen Beziehungen. [Think Practical! practice-theoretical constructivisms in international relations]. Zeitschrift fuer Internationale Beziehungen 15 (2):273-302. The article discusses recent proposals for introducing practice theory to international relations theory. It is argued that practice theories present at least four crucial challenges to IR theory.  First, the repetitive character of practice, and the degree of stability reached in social orders, second, materiality and the quest of material agency, third, a moderate reflexive understanding of scientific practice highlighting the social consequences of scientific reasoning, and, fourth, a reconsideration of the spectrum of methods in IR. The contribution provides an analytical summary of the turn to practice in IR, and an identification of the key challenges associated with it.[pdf]

Büger, Christian, and Frank Gadinger. 2007. Reassembling and Dissecting: IR Practice from a Science Studies Perspective. International Studies Perspectives 8 (1):90-110. Paper discusses IR's disciplinary sociology debate and shows the different ways the relation between science and policy is conceptualized. It develops an alternative comparative research design based on contemporary Science Studies. [abstract] [pdf]

Büger, Christian, and Frank Gadinger. 2006. Große Gräben, Brücken, Elfenbeintürme und Klöster? Die ‚Wissensgemeinschaft Internationale Beziehungen' und die Politik - Eine kulturtheoretische Neubeschreibung. [Gaps, Bridges, Ivory Towers and Cloisters? The knowledge community IR and politics - Towards a new cultural vocabulary] In Forschung und Beratung in der Wissensgesellschaft:, edited by G. Hellmann. Baden-Baden: Nomos. Chapter questions if the contemporary metaphors used to describe IR's relation with its environment are adequate in the light of an upcoming knowledge society. An alternative vocabulary is developed based on actor network theory. [pdf]

Büger, Christian. 2006. Das Auswärtige Amt auf dem Weg zu einer neuen Beratungskultur? Der Dialog zwischen externem Fachwissen und Politik im Feld der Außenpolitik. [Is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the way to a new advisory culture? On the Dialogue between Expertise and Politics in the field of foreign policy]. In Handbuch Politikberatung, edited by S. Falk, D. Rehfeld, A. Römmele and M. Thunert. Opladen/Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. - a discussion of recent changes in the foreign policy advisory system in Germany and its consequences for the dialogue between science and policy. [pdf]

Büger, Christian, and Holger Stritzel. 2005. New European Security Theory: Zur Emergenz eines neuen europäischen Forschungsprogramms. [On the emergence of a new research program] Zeitschrift für Internationale Beziehungen 12 (2):117-126. Paper provides an overview over recent developments in European security studies (Securitization Theory, Field Theory, Critical Security Studies, Identity, Security Expertise) and questions the German contribution to this debate. [pdf]

Büger, Christian. 2005. The used key is always bright? Zu den Folgen der Verwendung sozialwissenschaftlichen Wissens in der Außenpolitik: Der Fall des "Demokratischen Friedens". [On the consequences of using social science knowledge in foreign policy: The case of democratic peace]. In Diskurse der Gewalt - Gewalt der Diskurse, edited by M. Schultze, J. Meyer, D. Fricke and B. Krause. Frankfurt et al.: Peter Lang. - a reflection on the usage of the Democratic Peace theory in US Foreign policy and the effects the thesis has. [pdf]

Since spring 2009 I participate in the European Report on Development Project. The Report is a new initiative by the European Union and some member states to conduct academic reflection on the state of EU development policy and its contemporary challenges, as well as to develop guidelines for these policies. The Project is based at the EUI's Robert Schuman Center. The 2009 Report focuses on situations of fragility in Sub Sahara Africa. For further information, and paper I have contributed to, see the official webpage of the ERD.

In May 2007 we hosted a workshop on theories of practice in political science at the EUI. Please visit the documentation page for information on papers, participants and background literature.

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