Dr. Axel Heck

Employment

Academic Training

Publications

* peer review

Monographs

• 2016: Macht als soziale Praxis. Die Herausbildung des transatlantischen Machtverhältnisses im Krisenjahr 1989, Wiesbaden: VS-Verlag.
• 2016 (i.V): Der Luftangriff von Kunduz. Erinnerungspolitische (De-)Legitimationserzählungen im deutschen Mediendiskurs, Wiesbaden: VS-Verlag.

 

Articles/chapters

• *2016 (in preparation): Visuality and Security, in Oxford Encyclopedia of Communication and Critical Studies, Oxford University Press.

• *2016 (in preparation): Killing in the Name: Audiovisual Narratives of Justification in the Political Communication of the Islamic State, in Global Discourse.

• 2016 (in print): Apocalypse Now: Colonel Klein and the Legitimacy of the Kunduz Airstrike in German Docudrama Films, in Air and Space Power Journal.
• 2016 (in print): Die visuelle Kommunikation des Islamischen Staats - über die Wirkmächtigkeit von Bildern und Videos, in Wissenschaft und Frieden 3/2016.
• *2016 (conditional acceptance): Analyzing Docudramas in IR - Narratives in the Film "A Murderous Decision", in International Studies Perspectives.
• 2016  The Struggle for Legitimacy of the Islamic State – Facts, Myths, and Narratives, in Global Dialogues, in Gadinger, Frank/Kopf, Martina/Mert, Aysem/Smith, Christopher (eds.): Political Storytelling. From Fact to Fiction, Duisburg, pp 82-90.
• *2015: "And...Cut" Theoretische und methodische Überlegungen zur Analyse von Filmen in Lehre und Forschung, Zeitschrift für Internationale Beziehungen 22:2, 125-148 (mit Gabi Schlag).
• 2014 Visuelle Narrative in der Politik. Repräsentationen der Herrschaft Barack Obamas in der politischen Kunst, in Gadinger, Frank, Jarzebski, Sebastian, Yildiz, Taylan (Hrsg.): Politische Narrative. Konzepte - Analysen – Forschungspraxis, Wiesbaden: VS-Verlag, Seite 311-338.
• *2013: Securitizing Images: The Female Body and the War in Afghanistan, in European Journal of International Relations, Bd. 19, Nr. 4, S. 889 - 911 (mit Gabi Schlag).
• *2008: US-amerikanische Außenpolitik im Zeichen des War on Terror, in Politische Vierteljahresschrift 4 (2008), S. 726-755 (mit Frank Gadinger und Herbert Dittgen).
• 2004: John F. Kerry – der europäische Kandidat? Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (Hrsg.): Analysen und Argumente 13/2004.

Projects and external funding

• 2016-2018 "Understanding Visuality in Global Politics. A Multidisciplinary Conversation on Theories, Methodologies, and Research Practices", coordinator and co-speaker, funded by the German Research Council

Summary: The political power of still and moving images has probably never been stronger than in today’s age of global media and social networks. Pictures and videos of war and conflict, images of displaced people, refugees and social inequality, cartographies of climate change and environmental disasters, videos depicting public riots, oppression and violence diffuse easily across national and cultural boundaries. They often become ubiquitous representations of political dynamics and global politics. Such visual representations circulating through mass media and social networks raise public attention, trigger emotions and shape our common knowledge about the world we are living in. But how can we assess the political significance of still and moving images? How can we analyze the content, scope and socio-political effects of (audio-) visual representations? How can we understand visuality in global politics in general? The network aims at connecting researchers in Germany and the Netherlands in order to enhance and deepen our theoretical, methodological and research practical knowledge about visuality in global politics.

• 2014: "Kritik  und  Rechtfertigung  des  Afghanistaneinsatzes  –  Legitimitätsdiskurse  in  Politik  und
  Gesellschaft beteiligter Staaten", funded by the University of Freiburg (completed).

Zusammenfassung: Im Jahr 2014 ging der Militäreinsatz in Afghanistan zu Ende, an dem sich über 40 Staaten beteiligt haben. In Deutschland wurde dieser Einsatz stets von einer Mehrheit der Bevölkerung abgelehnt. Dennoch ist das Mandat seit 2001 regelmäßig mit einer breiten Mehrheit der Stimmen im Bundestag verlängert worden. Im Mittelpunkt des geplanten Forschungsprojekts steht das Konzept der Legitimitätspolitik, um einer Erklärung für diese zunächst paradox erscheinende Situation auf die Spur zu kommen. Der Antrag auf Förderung durch den „Innovationsfonds Forschung“ dient der Identifikation weiterer Fallstudien, die im Rahmen des geplanten Drittmittelprojektes in vergleichender Perspektive bearbeitet werden sollen.

• (i.p): "Narratives of War: Constructions of Identitiy, Gender and Legitimacy in Docuemtaries and Movies about the Afghanistan War"

Summary: Since the withdrawal of the combat forces the Afghanistan mission has become part of the “history” of Western wars and interventions. It has been one of the longest and most expansive military enterprises for many of the involved countries but it remains unclear whether sustainable results have been accomplished after all these years (Gunaratna and Woodall 2015; Hynek and Marton 2011). But what do we actually know about this war which already seems so distant? How will this war be remembered in western societies? Where does knowledge about the Afghanistan mission come from and how does it shape the societal understandings of what “our” soldiers have done there, how, why and against whom? While many projects in IR on military interventions and wars were focused on the practices of justification in different national public and parliamentary discourses (Auerswald and Saideman 2016; Geis, Brock, and Müller 2006; Geis, Müller, and Schörnig 2010; Geis, Müller, and Schörnig 2013; Jedinger and Mader 2015) this project particularly highlights the importance of documentary and fictional war films in regard to their knowledge producing capacities. As most people in Western countries have no personal experience with the Afghanistan mission or direct access to information, knowledge about this war (beyond the usual 90 second media reports which occasionally appear in daily news) is brought to society primarily through films on television or in cinema. Drawing on approaches from sociology of knowledge, cultural studies (Cetina 2007; Swidler and Arditi 1994) and collective memory (Assmann and Czaplicka 1995; Halbwachs and Coser 1992; Olick and Robbins 1998) this project will analyze (1) the “narratives of war” documentary and fictional films about the Afghanistan mission are performing and (2) the public reception of these films to assess their knowledge producing potentials and as carriers of collective memory. Analyzing films is methodologically challenging. As the debate on film analytical methodologies in IR is only at the beginning this project will productively contribute to the state of the art by drawing on a narrative approach developed by film theorist David Bordwell (Bordwell 2012; Bordwell and Carroll 2012).

• (i.p.): "(De-)Justifying the Use of Military Force – A Multimodal Analysis of Societal Discourses in the US and Germany"

Summary: In the last decade, NATO and EU-states have been involved in numerous military operations in other countries for example in Iraq, Afghanistan, Mali and Libya (Geis et al. 2006; Geis et al. 2010; Chesterman 2011; Pattison 2011; Geis et al. 2013; Charbonneau und Sears 2014). Nevertheless, many violent conflicts have escalated without any military attempt either by NATO or the EU to stop the aggression especially in Darfur, Syria or Nigeria. It is obvious that liberal democracies intervene in some conflict situations by military force while others seem to be “off limits”. But how do political decisions to use military force become discursively possible in one case while this option is “off the table” in another? Are there specific narrative patterns in societal discourses enabling or constraining the political decision to use military force in reaction to a violent conflict? 

• (i.p.): "Still Images - Moving People? How visual images trigger the willingness to participate in political protest", mit Diana Panke (Universität Freiburg) und Stephanie Geise (Universität Erfurt)

Summary: Digital media and mobile devices allow instant access to information about local, national and global events – and most of them are visualized in one or another way. Consumers of digital media are therefore exposed to countless visual representations of human suffering, environmental deterioration, social inequality and terrorism to name just a few of the most striking political issues of our time. Many people are using digital media networks for information purposes day by day (Lenhart, et al. 2010), but the mechanism under which especially media images have an impact on political involvement and participation remains unclear and needs further research (Rucht 2010, Anduiza, et al. 2012, Rucht 2014) Many media images are intellectually and emotionally provoking visual statements, and therefore highly politicized. But can visual media images “move” people literally speaking? Do they even encourage political activism and impact the willingness of citizens to participate in political protest?  This project sheds light on the nexus between spontaneous, affective behavior and conscious, intentional action in response to visual images in digital media. Therefore, the project will investigate the following research question: how and under what conditions do visual images depicting humanitarian, environmental, economical, and security issues trigger individual affective behavior that ultimately impact the willingness to participate in political protest? The project ventures into methodological territory largely unknown in social sciences that uses citizens to gather data on images and their impact on the willingness to participate in political protest combining pre- and post-surveys with eye-tracking methodology.

Presentations and conference papers

• 2015: Apocalypse Now: Colonel Klein and Representations of the Kunduz Airstrike in German Docudrama Films, International Studies Association, New Orleans, USA.

• 2015: No Easy Way Out. The Contested Legitimacy of the ISAF-Mission in Western Discourses, International Studies Association, New Orleans, USA.

• 2015: Die Herrschaftslegitimation des Islamischen Staats – audiovisuelle Inhaltsanalyse der „Vice News“-
  Reportage „The Islamic State“ aus dem Jahre 2014, Gastvortrag im Rahmen des Seminars "Einführung in die Friedens-und Konfliktforschung: „Leidiger Trost und konstruktives Denken“ unter der Leitung von Prof. Dr. Lothar Brock und Hendrik Simon M.A., Goethe-Universität Frankfurt.

• 2014: Apocalypse Now: Colonel Klein and Representations of the Kunduz Airstrike in German Docudrama Films, Universität Magdeburg.

• 2014: Apocalypse Now: Colonel Klein and Representations of the Kunduz Airstrike in German Docudrama Films, Vortrag auf der 3rd World International Studies Conference (WISC), Frankfurt am Main

• 2014: Von der "Hilfsmission" zum "Kriegseinsatz": Die Legitimitätserosion der International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF) in Bundestagsdebatten der Jahre 2008-2010, 4. Offene Sektionstagung „Internationale Politik“, Magdeburg

• 2014: Zwischen "Selbstverteidigung" und "Kriegsverbrechen": Deutungsmuster des Luftangriffs von Kunduz in Bildern, Filmen und Texten, 4. Offene Sektionstagung „Internationale Politik“, Magdeburg.

• 2012: Erinnerungskultur, Terrorismus und die Rechtfertigung außergewöhnlicher Maßnahmen. Vortrag auf dem 10. Workshop des Netzwerks Terrorismusforschung 16./17. März 2012, Mainz.

• 2011: The Politics of Visual Security. The TIME Cover ‘Aisha’ and the Justification of the War in Afghanistan. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, Montreal/Canada (co-author Gabi Schlag).

• 2011: Visualizing the International Actorness of the European Union. Visual Representations of ESDP Missions in the DR Congo. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, Montreal/Canada (co-author Gabi Schlag).

• 2010: Text und Bild, Bild und Text. Über Rechtfertigungsnarrative und Versicherheitlichungspraktiken. DVPW-Tagung Internationale Politische Theorie, Frankfurt am Main (Ko-Autorin Gabi Schlag).

• 2010: The Politics of Visual Security. Reconstructing Justification Narratives of EU’s Security Missions. Workshop-paper, International Collaboration on Critical Methods in Security Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK (co-author Gabi Schlag).
• 2010: The Politics of Visual Security. Paper presented at the 7th Pan-European IR Conference of the Standing Group of International Relations (SGIR), Stockholm, Sweden (co-author Gabi Schlag).
• 2010: Imagining Europe’s Security Engagement in Africa – Justification Narratives and Visual Culture. Paper presented at Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association (ISA) in New Orleans, USA.
• 2010: Change isn’t Just a Word. Vortrag auf der USA-Konferenz Yes We Can, Can We Really? Zwischenwahlen in den USA und Halbzeitbilanz der Obama Präsi-dentschaft, Universität Mainz.
• 2009: Humanitarian by “Pictorial Force” - Visual Representations and the Public Diplomacy Strategy of the European Union in Africa. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association (ISA), New York City, USA (co-author Gabi Schlag).
• 2008: Responding to the European Challenge. Representations of the EU in the US-Foreign Policy Discourse. Paper presented at the 2nd World International Studies Conference (WISC) in Ljubljana, Slowenien.
• 2008: Visual Representations of the ESDP in the Western Discourse. Paper presented at the 2nd World International Studies Conference (WISC) in Ljubljana, Slowenien (co-author Gabi Schlag).
• 2008: Responding to the European Challenge. Representations of the European Secu-rity and Defence Policy in the U.S.-Foreign Policy Discourse. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association (ISA) in San Francisco, USA.
• 2007: The United States and Europe “After Iraq”. Three Fictional Scenarios About the Future of US-Hegemony and the Atlantic Alliance. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association (ISA) in Chicago, USA.

Scholarships

•  03/2015: Travel grant DAAD (USA)
• 04/2011: Travel grant DAAD (Kanada)
• 03/2010: Travel grant des DAAD (USA)
• 06/2006 - 06/2009: Scholarship Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung

Reviewer

Brill Publishers, European Journal of International Relations, Globalization, International Political Sociology, Security Dialogue, Zeitschrift für Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik, Zeitschrift für Internationale Beziehungen.