Tobias Liebetrau
Biographic Data
| ID | 366161 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Tobias Liebetrau |
| GIVEN NAMES | Tobias |
| FAMILY NAME | Liebetrau |
| SIGNATURE | LIEBETRAU T |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Copenhagen |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6996-9328 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 55 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 10 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Big Tech as World Makers
The rise of big tech companies marks a profound reconfiguration of the social, political, and economic foundation of global life. As these companies have grown, they have destabilized the very categories through which we understand International Relations, challenging its ontological, epistemological, and normative foundations. Big tech companies are active in the (re)making of global orders, across the public and private, national and global, st…
Infrastructuring public-private relations
This paper demonstrates how an infrastructural lens offers novel ways of interrogating public-private relations in International Relations (IR). Advancing the idea that infrastructures mediate public-private relations, the paper argues that an infrastructural approach is well positioned to capture both the productivity and ambiguity of public-private boundary drawing in international politics. It deploys the infrastructural approach to examine Bi…
Problematising EU Cybersecurity
This article furthers the debate between European Studies and Critical Security Studies by demonstrating how European Union (EU) single market integration functions as a security practice in the area of cybersecurity. It explores how the EU has rendered digitisation as a security concern and cybersecurity emerged as an object of EU governance by developing an analytical approach based on problematisation. Situating the problematisation approach i…
Cybersecurity and International Relations
Processes of digital transformation alter global politics. This is an issue not only for specialists in cybersecurity, but for all scholars of international relations. This introduction to a special section outlines an agenda for cybersecurity research in international relations research and practice. We argue that cybersecurity is not only a specialized subfield of International Relations (IR), but also an intellectual space in which crucial que…
Critical maritime infrastructure protection
The protection of critical maritime infrastructures has become a top political priority, since the September 2022 attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea. This contribution reveals why the protection of infrastructures at sea is a difficult task. Reviewing the spectrum of maritime infrastructures (transport, energy, data, fishing, ecosystems) and the potential threats to them (accidents, terrorism, blue crime, grey zone tactics) de…
Assembling Publics
In this article, we advance the literature on publics in international politics by exploring the nexus between publicness and big tech companies. This nexus finds a significant expression in the increasing impact of big tech companies to mediate disputes over societal problems, deliver social goods and rearticulate public-private relationships. We develop an analytical framework by combining recent scholarship on assemblage theory and publics, al…
Theorizing Infrastructures in Global Politics
A growing wave of studies in international relations is interested in “infrastructure.” Pipelines, ports, financial transaction arrangements, and other large technical systems increasingly occupy the minds of international theorists. This theory note provides direction to the debate by offering an important clarification of the concept of infrastructure and how it is theorized. Scholars have very different understandings of what infrastructures a…
Transversal Politics of Big Tech
Our everyday life is entangled with products and services of so-called Big Tech companies, such as Amazon, Google, and Facebook. International relations (IR) scholars increasingly seek to reflect on the relationships between Big Tech, capitalism, and institutionalized politics, and they engage with the practices of algorithmic governance and platformization that shape and are shaped by Big Tech. This collective discussion advances these emerging …
Protecting hidden infrastructure
Undersea communication cables are the core critical infrastructure of the digital age. 99% of all transoceanic digital communication—financial transactions, emails, or voice messaging—is transported through undersea fiber-optic cables. The global submarine cable network is a critical infrastructure that does not receive the analytical attention it deserves. We argue that cable security is a core dimension of current and future international secur…
The ontological politics of cyber security
In this article, we show how Annemarie Mol's notion of ontological politics helps to open up the research agenda for cyber security in Critical Security Studies. The article hence seeks to further the debate about STS and Critical Security Studies. The article's main claim is that the concept of ontological politics enables an engagement with the complex and transformative dynamics of ICT and the new security actors and practices that shape secur…
Theorizing Infrastructures in Global Politics
A growing wave of studies in international relations is interested in “infrastructure.” Pipelines, ports, financial transaction arrangements, and other large technical systems increasingly occupy the minds of international theorists. This theory note provides direction to the debate by offering an important clarification of the concept of infrastructure and how it is theorized. Scholars have very different understandings of what infrastructures a…
Protecting hidden infrastructure
Undersea communication cables are the core critical infrastructure of the digital age. 99% of all transoceanic digital communication—financial transactions, emails, or voice messaging—is transported through undersea fiber-optic cables. The global submarine cable network is a critical infrastructure that does not receive the analytical attention it deserves. We argue that cable security is a core dimension of current and future international secur…
Problematising EU Cybersecurity
This article furthers the debate between European Studies and Critical Security Studies by demonstrating how European Union (EU) single market integration functions as a security practice in the area of cybersecurity. It explores how the EU has rendered digitisation as a security concern and cybersecurity emerged as an object of EU governance by developing an analytical approach based on problematisation. Situating the problematisation approach i…
The ontological politics of cyber security
In this article, we show how Annemarie Mol's notion of ontological politics helps to open up the research agenda for cyber security in Critical Security Studies. The article hence seeks to further the debate about STS and Critical Security Studies. The article's main claim is that the concept of ontological politics enables an engagement with the complex and transformative dynamics of ICT and the new security actors and practices that shape secur…
Transversal Politics of Big Tech
Our everyday life is entangled with products and services of so-called Big Tech companies, such as Amazon, Google, and Facebook. International relations (IR) scholars increasingly seek to reflect on the relationships between Big Tech, capitalism, and institutionalized politics, and they engage with the practices of algorithmic governance and platformization that shape and are shaped by Big Tech. This collective discussion advances these emerging …
Cybersecurity and International Relations
Processes of digital transformation alter global politics. This is an issue not only for specialists in cybersecurity, but for all scholars of international relations. This introduction to a special section outlines an agenda for cybersecurity research in international relations research and practice. We argue that cybersecurity is not only a specialized subfield of International Relations (IR), but also an intellectual space in which crucial que…
Assembling Publics
In this article, we advance the literature on publics in international politics by exploring the nexus between publicness and big tech companies. This nexus finds a significant expression in the increasing impact of big tech companies to mediate disputes over societal problems, deliver social goods and rearticulate public-private relationships. We develop an analytical framework by combining recent scholarship on assemblage theory and publics, al…
The ontological politics of cyber security
In this article, we show how Annemarie Mol's notion of ontological politics helps to open up the research agenda for cyber security in Critical Security Studies. The article hence seeks to further the debate about STS and Critical Security Studies. The article's main claim is that the concept of ontological politics enables an engagement with the complex and transformative dynamics of ICT and the new security actors and practices that shape secur…
Protecting hidden infrastructure
Undersea communication cables are the core critical infrastructure of the digital age. 99% of all transoceanic digital communication—financial transactions, emails, or voice messaging—is transported through undersea fiber-optic cables. The global submarine cable network is a critical infrastructure that does not receive the analytical attention it deserves. We argue that cable security is a core dimension of current and future international secur…
Critical maritime infrastructure protection
The protection of critical maritime infrastructures has become a top political priority, since the September 2022 attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea. This contribution reveals why the protection of infrastructures at sea is a difficult task. Reviewing the spectrum of maritime infrastructures (transport, energy, data, fishing, ecosystems) and the potential threats to them (accidents, terrorism, blue crime, grey zone tactics) de…
Assembling Publics
In this article, we advance the literature on publics in international politics by exploring the nexus between publicness and big tech companies. This nexus finds a significant expression in the increasing impact of big tech companies to mediate disputes over societal problems, deliver social goods and rearticulate public-private relationships. We develop an analytical framework by combining recent scholarship on assemblage theory and publics, al…
Theorizing Infrastructures in Global Politics
A growing wave of studies in international relations is interested in “infrastructure.” Pipelines, ports, financial transaction arrangements, and other large technical systems increasingly occupy the minds of international theorists. This theory note provides direction to the debate by offering an important clarification of the concept of infrastructure and how it is theorized. Scholars have very different understandings of what infrastructures a…
Transversal Politics of Big Tech
Our everyday life is entangled with products and services of so-called Big Tech companies, such as Amazon, Google, and Facebook. International relations (IR) scholars increasingly seek to reflect on the relationships between Big Tech, capitalism, and institutionalized politics, and they engage with the practices of algorithmic governance and platformization that shape and are shaped by Big Tech. This collective discussion advances these emerging …
Problematising EU Cybersecurity
This article furthers the debate between European Studies and Critical Security Studies by demonstrating how European Union (EU) single market integration functions as a security practice in the area of cybersecurity. It explores how the EU has rendered digitisation as a security concern and cybersecurity emerged as an object of EU governance by developing an analytical approach based on problematisation. Situating the problematisation approach i…
Cybersecurity and International Relations
Processes of digital transformation alter global politics. This is an issue not only for specialists in cybersecurity, but for all scholars of international relations. This introduction to a special section outlines an agenda for cybersecurity research in international relations research and practice. We argue that cybersecurity is not only a specialized subfield of International Relations (IR), but also an intellectual space in which crucial que…
Infrastructuring public-private relations
This paper demonstrates how an infrastructural lens offers novel ways of interrogating public-private relations in International Relations (IR). Advancing the idea that infrastructures mediate public-private relations, the paper argues that an infrastructural approach is well positioned to capture both the productivity and ambiguity of public-private boundary drawing in international politics. It deploys the infrastructural approach to examine Bi…
Big Tech as World Makers
The rise of big tech companies marks a profound reconfiguration of the social, political, and economic foundation of global life. As these companies have grown, they have destabilized the very categories through which we understand International Relations, challenging its ontological, epistemological, and normative foundations. Big tech companies are active in the (re)making of global orders, across the public and private, national and global, st…
Politics (9 works) · Political science (8 works) · Cybersecurity and Cyber Warfare Studies (7 works) · Law (7 works) · Computer security (6 works) · Computer Science (5 works) · Business (4 works) · Law (4 works) · Big data (3 works) · Corporate governance (3 works)