A professional update: I started an independent postdoctoral project at the University of Gothenburg.
The project examines the European Union as an addressee of postcolonial justice, including colonial reparation claims.
If you are working on or interested in this area of research, let's connect!
What a great speech on "the end of the pleasant fiction": if a Canadian Prime Minister π¨π¦ can admit it, why can't Europeans πͺπΊ?
"We knew the story of the international rules-based order was partially false that the strongest would exempt themselves when convenient."
www.weforum.org/stories/2026...
I gave an interview on the intricacies of the Istanbul Convention for the European Centre for Populism Studies: www.populismstudies.org/dr-de-silva-...
The interview took place in the context of the recent attempt to withdraw Latvia from the Convention.
After procrastinating on this for a long time...I have a website!
You can now find me, about me, and what I am up to in one place:
www.monikadesilva.eu
Ever wondered how to do interdisciplinary research, but wasn't quite sure how? Am I well-rounded enough? Do I need to collaborate across departments? Is it risky?
Chapter by @felixlehmann.bsky.social and I can be used as your guidance together with other interesting contributions in this volume!
I am spending this semester as a visiting researcher at @ucdpolitics.bsky.social hosted by @bentonra.bsky.social .
There is more in the making on gender and international relations. Also, stay tuned for new projects.
And say 'hi' if you are in Ireland.
with: @karolinefaerber.bsky.social @emiledenborg.bsky.social Lena Kempermann Tonka Kostadinova Bibi Imre-Millei Rahime SΓΌleymanoΔlu-KΓΌrΓΌm Hongli Liu Shireen M. Stephen Brown Bartosz Neumann Estel Nepomuk Otte Emma Limane
We challenged our conceptual frameworks and discussed strategies for understanding the world we live in without obscuring complexity. Academia at its best.
For two days, we traced ambiguity in our analyses of female agency, state institutions, diplomacy, national imaginaries, feminist foreign policies, gender equality contestation, and geopolitics.
What an absolute pleasure it was to organise the workshop on Ambiguity in International Politics of Gender and Sexuality as part of the European Workshops in International Studies (EWIS) in KrakΓ³w. @europeanisa.bsky.social
My article on how diplomats square support for LGBT+ rights and reproductive rights with non-interference. Timely in the context of international support for the banned Pride Parade in Hungary.
βLetβs not argue: diplomatic legal talk and the issues of abortion and same-sex partnershipsβ by @monikadesilva.bsky.social is out now in EJIR and available online!
You can read the full article here: t1p.de/3x7kh
As we are all too time and attention deprived to read full dissertations, here is a popular science summary of mine.
www.gu.se/en/news/dipl...
I am particularly happy with this article because it allowed me to wear my lawyer hat and diplomacy scholar hat at the same time π It is also now the fourth and the last publication from my PhD dissertation (it was a great graduation gift to have this article accepted the day before my defense!)
Diplomatic legal talk is not 'mere talk' and matters for whether and how legal interpretations become international norms and what normative difference does to international relations. This is why we should pay more attention to diplomacy and its logics in socio-legal research.
In bilateral diplomacy it can take a form of navigation of legal principles through ambiguity which enables co-existence when argumentation is unlikely to be successful. This practice takes very interesting discursive forms which I analyse in the article.
International contestation around gender and sexuality norms is highly polarized and legalized, but the language of law is not always deployed "strategically". Appropriate use of legal talk differs between actors and sites.
In this piece I look at how legal language of human rights and national sovereignty is used in everyday diplomatic practice.
π¨ publication alert π¨
Before everyone leaves for holidays...here is my fresh of the press article in @ejir.bsky.social
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
I successfully defended my PhD! If your state happens to get sick, please call Dr. de Silva.
I am overwhelmed with gratitude for many many people that were part of this journey.
I plan to first rest, and then continue working on my research.
Link to my dissertation: lnkd.in/dbakZSxk
Only a few days left to apply for the workshop on ambiguity in international politics of gender and sexuality.
Deadline: 11 February (Tuesday)
Submissions: eisa-net.org/abstract-sub...
Submissions are open for my workshop on everything ambiguous, liminal, and in-between about gender and sexuality in IR.
Apply before 11 February: eisa-net.org/abstract-sub...
More information: eisa-net.org/wp-content/u...
It calls for more research on the constitution of European and international meanings and reflection on the multi-discursiveness of βEuropeβ.
Enjoy!
The article has a lot of cool empirics about history of gender equality discourse in Europe and diplomatic practice of the Council (based on interviews). It also looks at "gender equality" discourse as a status marker for states.
It finds that βgender equalityβ is a concept negotiated through bargaining between member states. Because of that, it can function as an ambiguous concept that accommodates different nationally situated lifeworlds. This relates to, but also goes beyond the 2020 βgender crisisβ;
It brings meaning-making to negotiation theory and looks at international meaning as something that can emerge either from problem-solving or bargaining;
While most scholarship studies Europeanization of discourse (from βEuropeβ to states), this article looks at the constitution of meaning on the European level (from states to βEuropeβ);
π’ NEW PUBLICATION ALERT π’
You can now find my article βLanguage-bargaining in the Council of the European Union: meaning negotiations and the concept of gender equalityβ in Journal of European Public Policy π₯³
doi.org/10.1080/1350...
A few key messages:
