Nadine Klopf

"I explore how social worlds destabilize and transform."

As a Ph.D. Researcher in the Research Group on International Political Sociology at Kiel University, Germany, I develop theoretical perspectives on social instability, crisis and ontological insecurity. My work draws on social theory, poststructuralism, discourse theory and processual sociology to rethink the dynamics of contemporary disruption and change.

Latest Publication

Published April 2024 · Global Studies Quarterly 

Dislocation: Toward a Framework for the Study of Crises

Nadine Klopf and Dirk Nabers

This article develops a framework for analyzing crises as multidimensional phenomena based on an advanved understanding of dislocation, a concept coined by political theorist Ernesto Laclau. This is illustrated with a corpus-based discourse analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States in 2020–2023.

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Upcoming Event

Workshop · 2–4 July 2025 · Krakow, Poland

Thinking Crisis Beyond Decison-Making

Nadine Klopf and Dirk Nabers

As part of the EISA European Workshops in International Studies (EWIS), this workshop rethinks crisis as an inherently dynamic process. It explores how scholarship often reinforces binary distinctions – between crisis and stability, rupture and continuity – while rethinking the ethical and conceptual complexities embedded in crises.

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Global Crisis

Theory, Method and the Covid-19 Pandemic

This book develops a novel theory for the analysis of global crises. It conceptually advances the concept of "dislocation" to differentiate crises on multiple levels, enabling us to link different dimensions of contemporary crises. A methodical toolkit is tailored to the framework, while an analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States serves as a hands-on illustration of how this framework can be utilized for practical analyses.

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Cover Global Crisis

January 2025 · Kiel, Germany

Workshop: Creating Ontological Security in International Relations

Cornelia Baciu and Brent J. Steele

How can ontological security be created? This question was explored by Cornelia Baciu and Brent J. Steele in their workshop at Kiel University. Together with Dirk Nabers, I contributed a paper on "Crisis in Ontological Security Studies".

Latest TALKS

December 2024 · Kiel, Germany

AFK Workshop

German Association for Peace and Conflict Studies (AFK)

Theoretical contributions to peace and conflict studies were the focus of a workshop organized by Frank A. Stengel and Lotta Mayer at Kiel University for the AFK Theory Working Group. I contributed a paper on "Instability as Process: Social Theory of Instability".

September 2024 · Göttingen, Germany

DVPW Congress

German Political Science Association (DVPW)

At the 2024 DVPW Congress, I presented my paper on "Multidimensional Crisis: Towards a Deleuzian Perspective".

Panel: The Construction(s) of the Polycrisis: Discourse Theoretical Conceptions
Chairs: Elena Dück, Christopher Fritzsche
Discussant: Dirk Nabers