INTERNATIONAL STUDIES AT QUEEN'S
Rethinking Power, Security, and Resistance in a Changing World
In a time of global uncertainty, climate breakdown, geopolitical fragmentation, and rising authoritarianism, the need for interdisciplinary research has never been more urgent.
Queen’s brings together researchers whose work challenges dominant narratives, deconstructs structures of power, and reimagines more just futures. From anticolonial solidarities and feminist critiques of militarism to ecological alternatives to growth and the politics of surveillance, these contributions push the boundaries of traditional international relations and security studies.
Rooted in diverse methodologies and global perspectives, work at Queen’s reflects our commitment to conduct interdisciplinary research that speaks to and intervenes in the pressing issues of our time, coming from a University based in a post-conflict city with living legacies.
SECURITY, RESISTANCE, AND SOLIDARITY
Queen’s conducts cutting-edge research on anticolonial struggles, global resistance movements, and the evolving politics of solidarity. From Ireland to Palestine, our academics examine how historical and present-day movements intersect, challenge dominant narratives, and forge new forms of political belonging.
Featured research:
- Palestinian youth’s interpretations of and resistance to settler colonialism
- Colonialism, Redress and Transitional Justice: Ireland and Beyond
- The Role of International Law in the Maritime Migration Security Assemblage: EU Activity in the Lampedusa Triangle
- Podcast - How university research can drive more analytical discussions around terrorism and counterterrorism
- Mobile Borders and Turbulent Mobilities: Mapping the Geopolitics of the Channel Tunnel
THE BORDERS OF BELONGING: MIGRATION, GENDER, AND ONTOLOGICAL INSECURITY
It is important to understand how borders of all kinds (physical, political, and emotional) shape identities, belonging, and security. Our researchers interrogate the psychological and material impacts of borders, militarism, and migration, and place attention on gendered and racialised experiences.
Featured research:
THE BORDERS OF BELONGING: MIGRATION, GENDER, AND ONTOLOGICAL INSECURITY
Featured research:
- On the necessity of critical race feminism for women, peace and security
- Border trajectories: foregrounding durability and friction
- Gender, masculinities and transition in conflicted societies
- Lost in the Aftermath
- Brexit and Northern Ireland
- Racialized hearts and minds: Emotional labor and affective leadership in the teaching/learning of IR
- Territorial cohesion and fragmentation after Brexit: Northern Ireland and the Unions
MILITARISM, TECHNOLOGY AND SURVEILLANCE
Researchers at Queen’s investigate the interplay between military institutions, emerging technologies, and cultural narratives, from esports recruitment, neuro-surveillance, and nuclear ecologies. It challenges the boundaries of war, play, and power in contemporary global politics.
Featured research:
- The Emergence of Neuro-surveillance
- Strategic narratives, soft power, and foreign policy
- Multiple Methods in Action: Association Football, the Military and Invisible Nationalism
- Why the landscapes of post-war infrastructure matter
- Critical international infrastructure: a case for secure, sustainable non-terrestrial networking
POST-GROWTH, CLIMATE, AND GLOBAL JUSTICE
What does an ecologically viable and socially just future look like? Queen’s academics address post-growth critiques, global aid regimes, and ecological unity as alternative frameworks to neoliberal norms. We must reimagine value, responsibility, and solidarity on a global scale.
Featured research:
- Developing a minifesta for effective academic-activist collaboration in the context of the climate emergency
- Beyond growth and partition: post-growth and ecological perspectives on the political economy of Irish reunification
- How does earmarked foreign aid affect recipient-country ownership?
- The Second Cold War and demise of the Western foreign aid regime
- Podcast: The Role of Higher Education in the Move Towards a Post-Growth Future
DISCOURSE, IDENTITY AND THE POLITICS OF KNOWLEDGE
Exploring the politics of narrative, myth, and discourse in international relations, Queen’s examines how institutions, identities, and imaginaries are constructed and contested. From Brexit’s emotional fallout to the weaponisation of knowledge in elite networks, we must decode how power is performed and legitimised.
Featured research:
DISCOURSE, IDENTITY AND THE POLITICS OF KNOWLEDGE
Featured research:
- Keep calm and carry on? Fissure, perception, and narrative contestation following the demise of the Crown
- Concepts and Histories of War
- Propaganda vs. truth: Israeli propaganda and Palestinian demonisation
- Geo-political bias in fake news detection AI: the case of affect
- Layers of affect: the liminal sites of method
