Sybille Reinke de Buitrago, M.A.
Ph.D. Candidate

Areas of research
Conflict Prevention and Resolution, Intercultural Communication, Identity and Perception, Security Policy, Transatlantic Security, German-American Relations

Curriculum vitae
Sybille Reinke de Buitrago studied International Affairs, Peace Research, Conflict Resolution and International Communication at American University in Washington, DC. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1998 and a Master of Arts in 2000, with excellence. During her studies she focused on the nexus of international politics, conflicts and their solution, and intercultural communication. In her master thesis she examined the differences in identity and culture between East and West Germans. From 1991 to 1992 she received a scholarship from the German Bundestag to study one year in Virginia, U.S. Later Sybille Reinke de Buitrago worked as project assistant for international projects on conflict resolution and democratization, among others at Search for Common Ground and the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington, DC. In addition, she designed and conducted trainings in intercultural communication, perception and conflict resolution.

Since October 2006 she is doctoral student at the IFSH and holds a dissertation scholarship from the Cusanuswerk. In her project she has examined threat perceptions in German and American security policy from a constructivist perspective. In June 2009 she has submitted her dissertation and defended it in January 2010.


Languages
German, English, Spanish, French

Current project
Between threat perception and enemy images: Construction of security policy as related to terrorism in Germany and the United States