Dr Katja Mielke
Key expertise
Political sociology at the intersection of conflict, migration and development research: state-society interfaces; social mobilisation; local politics; power, legitimacy, and representation in rural and urban contexts; knowledge orders (‘area studies’ debate); mobility and migration.
(Academic) education / CV:
Magistra Artium: Political Science, East European Studies, Central Asian Studies 2004
Dr.phil: Development Research, University of Bonn 2013
Katja studied at Freie Universität and Humboldt Universität zu Berlin and completed her PhD at the Center for Development Research (ZEF) of the University of Bonn. She has an interdisciplinary study background in social sciences; her research, analyses and policy advice are empirically grounded. In her PhD dissertation, Katja analysed local politics and the effects of intervention in rural Afghanistan. For a post-Doc project, she looked at the nexus of spatial and social mobility and respective mobilization dynamics in low-income neighbourhoods of peri-urban Lahore, Karachi and Kabul. Her recent scholarly interests include forced (im)mobility, Kurdish actor networks, subtexts of peace processes and negotiations (economy of peace), transnational religious economies, radicalization dynamics and (countering) violent extremism.
Katja has given advice to German ministries as well as to GOs and NGOs such as GIZ (IS), Concern Worldwide, and Welthungerhilfe.
Recent Publications:
- Şahin-Mencütek, Z., Mielke, K., Schmitz-Pranghe, C., & Vollmer, R. (2023). When Returning Home Feels Like Hell: IPS Journal .
- Mielke, K., Şahin-Mencütek, Z., Schmitz-Pranghe, C., & Vollmer, R. (2023). Zurück zu Hause oder zurück "in der Hölle"?: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.
- Mielke, K., & Schetter, C. (2023). Afghanistan . In J. Oltmer, M. Berlinghoff, F. Düvell, U. Krause, & A. Pott (Eds.), Report Globale Flucht 2023 (pp. 174-182). Frankfurt am Main: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag.
- Mielke, K. (2023). On Peace Activists and Skilled Survivors. Afghan Exiles and Transnational History-Making from Below. Iran and the Caucasus, 1(27), 105-123.
- Mielke, K. (2023). Finding One's Place in Chaos. Returnees' Reintegration Experiences in Northern Iraq (BICC Working Paper series No. 2/2023). Bonn: BICC.
- Cermeño, H., & Mielke, K. (2023). Endangered Urban Commons: Lahore’s Violent Heritage Management and Prospects for Reconciliation. Urban Planning, 8(1), .
- Mielke, K., & Etzold, B. (2022). Afghans’ narrowing mobility options in Pakistan and the right to transnational living: a figurational perspective. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 4347-4364 .
- Schetter, C., & Mielke, K. (2022). Die Taliban. Geschichte, Politik, Ideologie . München: C.H.Beck.
- Mielke, K. (2022). Calculated Informality in Governing (Non)return: An Evolutionary Governance Perspective. Geopolitics, 1-24.
- Schetter, C., & Mielke, K. (2022). Helfen trotz der Taliban: E+Z Entwicklung und Zusammenarbeit.
- Schetter, C., & Mielke, K. (2022). In spite of the Taliban, engage!: D+C Development and Cooperation.
- Mielke, K. (2022). Konfliktporträt Afghanistan. Bonn: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung.
- Mielke, K. (2022). Looking beyond stereotypes: A critical reflection of popular narratives about the Taliban. Orient (I-2022), 24-31.
- Katsiaficas, C., Wagner, M., Mielke, K., Tobin, S. A., Momani, F. A., Al Yakoub, T., & Javed, M. M. (2021). Outward and upward mobility. How Afghan and Syrian refugees can use mobility to improve their prospects (TRAFIG Policy Brief No. 5) Bonn: BICC.
- Isikozlu, E., Mielke, K., & Javed, M. M. (2021). Now more than ever: Afghans in Pakistan need more mobility and durable solutions to stay (TRAFIG Practice Note No. 7) Bonn: BICC.
- Mielke, K., Shahid, N., Khatana, A. R., Ahmad, Z., Irshad, A., Kiran, S., Etzold, B., Asghari, S., & Javed, M. M. (2021). Figurations of Displacement in and beyond Pakistan. Empirical findings and reflections on protracted displacement and translocal connections of Afghans (TRAFIG Working Paper No. 7) Bonn: BICC.
- Mielke, K., & Cermeño, H. (2021). Mitigating pro-poor housing failures: Access theory and the politics of urban governance. Politics and Governance, 9(2), 439–450.
- Meininghaus, E., & Mielke, K. (2021, April). Meaningful political participation. Lessons learnt from UN mediation in Afghanistan and Syria (BICC Policy Brief series No. 3/2021). Bonn: BICC.
- Mielke, K., & Meininghaus, E. (2021, March). Engaging refugees and migrants as peace advocates. How Germany can contribute to peace in Syria and Afghanistan (BICC Policy Brief series No. 2/2021). Bonn: BICC.
- Schmitz-Pranghe, C., Oruč, N., Mielke, K., & Ibričević, A. (2020, December). Making sure that the emigration of health-care personnel from Albania and BiH works for all: What Germany can do (BICC Policy Brief series No. 8/2020). Bonn: BICC.
- Grawert, E., Mielke, K., Pleisnitzer, S., Markiewicz, S., Rifat, A., & Abdou, A. M. (2020). Reintegration in northern Iraq: The time is now for Europe to act (BICC Policy Brief series No. 7/2020). Bonn: BICC.
- Mielke, K. (2020). Review of the book: The Taliban reader. War, Islam and politics, by A. Strick van Linschoten & F. Kuehn. Die Welt des Islams, 60(4), 493–496.
- Isikozlu, E., Mielke, K., & Javed, M. M. (2020). Now more than ever: Afghans in Pakistan need more mobility and durable solutions to stay (TRAFIG practice note 7). Bonn: BICC.
- Christ, S., Meininghaus, E., Mielke, K., & Röing, T. (Eds.). (2020, May). Refugees and migrants between everyday conflict and peace processes. Conference documentation (BICC Knowledge Notes series No. 1/2020). Bonn: BICC.
- Mielke, K., Mutschler, M., & Meininghaus, E. (2020). For a dynamic approach to stabilization. International Peacekeeping, 27(5), 810-835.
- Meininghaus, E., & Mielke, K. (2019, December). Beyond Doha and Geneva: Peacemaking engagement of Afghans and Syrians in North Rhine-Westphalia and Germany (BICC Working Paper series No. 11/2019). Bonn: BICC.
- Mielke, K. (2019). Thirty years after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History, 20(4), 895-903.
- Bethke, F., Meininghaus, E., Mielke, K., Mutschler, M., Schetter, C., & Wirkus, L. (2019). Bewaffnete Konflikte: Stabilisierung darf keine Interessenpolitik sein. In BICC, HSFK, IFSH, & INEF (Eds.), Friedensgutachten 2019 (pp. 45-69). Berlin: LIT.
- Kleist, J., Engler, M., Etzold, B., Mielke, K., Oltmer, J., Pott, A., Schetter, C., & Wirkus, L. (2019). Abschlussbericht – Flucht- und Flüchtlingsforschung in Deutschland: Eine Bestandsaufnahme. Osnabrück: IMIS/BICC.
- Meininghaus, E., Mielke, K., & Mutschler, M. (Eds.). (2019, February). Stabilisation—For whom and to what ends? (BICC Knowledge Notes series No. 1/2019). Bonn: BICC.
- Grawert, E., & Mielke, K. (2018, November). Coping with protracted displacement - How Afghans secure their livelihood in Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan (BICC Working Paper series No. 2/2018). Bonn: BICC.
- Meininghaus, E., & Mielke, K. (2018, October). Situated sustainability: A research programme for conflict-affected settings and beyond (BICC Policy Brief series No. 10/2018). Bonn: BICC.
- von Boemcken, M., Meininghaus, E., Mielke, K., Schetter, C., Schlüsing, C., Trancart, C., & Wirkus, L. (2018). Bewaffnete Konflikte: Deutsche Stabilisierungspolitik auf dem Prüfstand. In BICC, HSFK, IFSH, & INEF (Eds.), Friedensgutachten 2018 (pp. 43-63). Berlin: LIT.
- Grawert, E., & Mielke, K. (2018, May). Exodus aus Afghanistan: Wie Deutschland Selbsthilfe und Eigeninitiativen unterstützen kann (BICC Policy Brief series No. 5/2018). Bonn: BICC.
- Schlüsing, C., & Mielke, K. (2018, May). Deutsches Engagement im Irak: Wie weniger mehr sein kann (BICC Policy Brief series No. 4/2018). Bonn: BICC.
- Schlüsing, C., & Mielke, K. (2017, October). Drohende Gewalteskalation nach dem Referendum: Wie kann deutsche Einflussnahme in Kurdistan-Irak deeskalierend wirken? (BICC Policy Brief series No. 8/2017). Bonn: BICC.
- Mielke, K., & Miszak, N. (2017, September). Jihadi-Salafism in Afghanistan—Beyond Taliban, Al-Qaeda and Daesh: Options for German foreign and development policy (BICC Policy Brief series No. 6/2017). Bonn: BICC.
- Mielke, K. (2017). Afghanistan seit 1978. In L. Paul (Ed.), Handbuch der Iranistik, Nachtragsband (pp. 182-191). Wiesbaden: Reichert.
- Mielke, K., & Miszak, N. (2017, July). Making sense of Daesh in Afghanistan: A social movement perspective (BICC Working Paper series No. 6/2017). Bonn: BICC.
- Mielke, K. (2017). Fluchtursachen und internationale Verantwortung: Das Beispiel Afghanistan. Wissenschaft und Frieden, 35(2), 11-13.
- Mielke, K., & Wilde, A. (2017). The role of area studies in theory production. A differentiation of mid-range concepts and the example of social order. In K. Mielke, & A. Hornidge (Eds.), Area studies at the crossroads. Knowledge production after the mobility turn (pp. 159-176). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Hornidge, A.-K., & Mielke, K. (2017). The art of science policy for 21st century area studies: Concluding reflections. In K. Mielke, & A. Hornidge (Eds.), Area studies at the crossroads. Knowledge production after the mobility turn (pp. 327-344). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Mielke, K., & Hornidge, A.-K. (2017). Introduction: Knowledge production, area studies and the mobility turn. In K. Mielke, & A. Hornidge (Eds.), Area studies at the crossroads. Knowledge production after the mobility turn (pp. 3-26). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Mielke, K., & Hornidge, A.-K. (Eds.). (2017). Area studies at the crossroads. Knowledge production after the mobility turn. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Mielke, K. (2017). Afghanistan: Ist der IS auf dem Vormarsch? Welt-Sichten, No. 4/2017, 6-7.
- Mielke, K. (2017). Islamischer Staat auch in Afghanistan? Aus der Perspektive der Forschung. Südasien, 37(1), 38-41.
- Cermeño, H., & Mielke, K. (2016). Cityscapes of Lahore: Reimagining the urban. In P. Vandal (Ed.), Peoples history of Pakistan (pp. 110-139). Lahore: THAAP Journal.
- Schetter, C., & Mielke, K. (2016). Was von Kundus bleibt. Intervention, Gewalt und Soziale Ordnung in Afghanistan. Politische Vierteljahresschrift, 57(4), 614-642.
- Mielke, K. (2016). Tracing change: On the positionality of traditionally mobile groups in Kabul’s camps. Internationales Asienforum/ International Quarterly for Asian Studies, 47(3-4), 245-271.
- Mielke, K., & Grawert, E. (2016, February). Why Afghanistan is no safe country of origin (BICC Policy Brief series No. 1/2016). Bonn: BICC.
- Bohnet, H., Mielke, K., Rudolf, M., Schetter, C., & Vollmer, R. (2015, December). Protected rather than protracted: Strengthening displaced persons in peace processes (BICC Working Paper series No. 3/2015). Bonn: BICC.
- Mielke, K., & Schetter, C. (2015). Commentary \ The case of Kunduz. Bonn: BICC.
- Mielke, K., & Schetter, C. (2015). Der Fall Kundus. Plädoyer für eine kritische Bestandsaufnahme. Wissenschaft und Frieden, 33(4), 36-37.
- Mielke, K. (2015). Not in the master plan. Dimensions of exclusion in Kabul. In M. Sökefeld (Ed.), Spaces of conflict in everyday life: Perspectives across Asia (pp. 135-162). Bielefeld: Transcript.
- Hornidge, A.-K., & Mielke, K. (2015). Crossroads studies: From spatial containers to studying the mobile. Middle East–Topics & Arguments, 4, 13-19.
- Mielke, K. (2015). (Re-)constructing Afghanistan? Rewriting rural Afghans’ Lebenswelten into recent development and state-making processes. An analysis of local governance and social order (PhD-Dissertation in Development Research). Bonn: Universität Bonn.
- Mielke, K. (2014). Protests in search of a movement. Tanqueed (7), 52-58.
- Mielke, K. (2014). Das neue Kabul: Besitzkämpfe und Interessen im Urbanisierungsprozess. Inamo, 20(78), 21-23.
- Mielke, K. (2014). What inhibits and enables Afghans' social mobility? On the limits of community organization and mobilization in Afghanistan. Orient, 55(3), 12-17.
- Mielke, K. (2014). Social order as a boundary concept: Unveiling dichotomies, conceptualizing politics. Asien(132), 35-52.
- Mielke, K., & Hornidge, A.-K. (2014). Crossroads studies: From spatial containers to interactions in differentiated spatialities (Crossroads Asia Working Paper series No. 15). Bonn: ZEF.
- Wilde, A., & Mielke, K. (2013). Order, stability, and change in Afghanistan: From top-down to bottom-up state-making. Central Asian Survey, 32(3), 353-370.
- Mielke, K., & Schetter, C. (2013). Pakistan. Land der Extreme. München: C.H. Beck.
- Schetter, C., & Mielke, K. (2012). Erzwungene Staatlichkeit – Die internationale Intervention in Afghanistan. In G. Meyer, W. Muno, & A. Brand (Eds.), Staatlichkeit in der Dritten Welt – Fragile und gescheiterte Staaten als Entwicklungsproblem (Veröffentlichungen des interdisziplinären Arbeitskreises Dritte Welt Bd. 22) (pp. 127-142). Mainz: Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz.
- Abdullaev, I., Mielke, K., Mollinga, P., Monsees, J., Schetter, C., & Shah, U. (2010). Water, war and reconstruction. Irrigation management in the Kunduz Region. In M. Spoor, & M. Arsel (Eds.), Water, Environmental Security and Sustainable Rural Development. Conflict and Cooperation in Central Eurasia (pp. 21-48). London: Routledge.
- Mielke, K., & Schetter, C. (2010). Pakistan als Drehscheibe globaler Migrationsströme. In B. Chiari, & C. Schetter (Eds.), Pakistan. Wegweiser zur Geschichte (pp. 133-143). Paderborn: Schöningh.
- Mielke, K., & Schetter, C. (2010). Die Praxis des Wiederaufbaus am Beispiel Afghanistans. In B. Chiari, & M. Pahl (Eds.), Wegweiser zur Geschichte. Auslandseinsätze der Bundeswehr (pp. 217-227). Paderborn: Schöningh.
- Mielke, K., & Schetter, C. (2009). Praktische Herausforderungen beim zivilen Wiederaufbau Afghanistans. In B. Chiari (Ed.), Wegweiser zur Geschichte: Afghanistan (pp. 157-167). Paderborn: Schöningh.
Projects:
- Kurdish Actor Networks in the Middle East
- On the phenomenon of so-called Islamic State (IS) in Afghanistan
- People in in-between space: How forced immobility is dealt with in Kabul (Crossroads Asia)
- Attitudes and Practices in Minority Returns after Conflict-induced Displacement (RE-MIG)
- De:link//Re:link: China's New Silk Road Initiative in North Rhine-Westphalia and Pakistan
- Trajectories of reintegration. The impacts of displacement, migration and return on social change
- Transnational Figurations of Displacement: Connectivity and Mobility as Solutions to Protracted Refugee Situations (TRAFIG)
- Forced Displacement—Research and Transfer: Approaches from peace & conflict studies
- Between civil war and integration—Refugees and the challenges and opportunities of societal change in North Rhine-Westphalia
- Protected rather than protracted—Strengthening refugees and peace
- Forced migration
