My research is concerned with the politics of social space in the context of globalisation. It builds on the view that space is not simply a “container” for society, but rather it is shaped by social interaction. In particular, I investigate how social space can be conceptualised on a global scale, especially in the context of globalisation and the spatial transformations attributed to it.

I identify large international hub airports as crucial examples of these global social interactions. Understudied in International Politics despite their importance to global flows of people and commerce, airports make a crucial contribution to globalisation and they are a space where globalisation may become particularly apparent. They are also of great impact on all other spatial levels from the local to the national, and they may provide insights into the relation between those levels.

In my research, I am particularly interested in seeing how airports affect the people within them: I investigate how airports allow passengers to participate in globalisation. I ask how passengers interact with each other, and how they relate to the space of the airport. Lastly, I examine how passengers relate to the global level, to which they are admitted through the airport.