Sara Kalm

Political science 

Main research areas 

• International migration
• Citizenship
• Social movements
• International institutions

Introduction

I am an associate professor in political science, and I teach and supervise at all levels. At the moment I teach first-level introduction to political science. I also coordinate and teach the faculty's introductory course for new doctoral students. I am doctoral supervisor for Jana Canavan and assistant supervisor to Paulina Vaughn. Previously, I have been supervisor to Björn Östbring, assistant supervisor to Daniel Gustafsson, and third supervisor to Andreas Lundstedt (University of Gothenburg). Since 2024, I am Director of Doctoral (“Third cycle”) Studies, and since February 2025, I am also the Assistant Head of Department (Doctoral Studies).

Research interests

I have been interested in migration and citizenship issues for more than two decades. I have approached these questions in several different ways. In my dissertation Governing Global Migration (2008), I analyzed discourses around labor migration in international organizations from a Michel Foucault-inspired perspective. Since then, I have devoted myself extensively to the historical development of immigration controls in various countries, particularly in relation to the welfare state and social policy. I have looked at this both from a Swedish national perspective and, together with colleagues, from an international comparative perspective. In another research context, I have concentrated on citizenship - how it is transformed in a time marked by migration, and especially how it mirrors and reinforces global inequality. Since 2023, I lead a VR-funded project on the role of corporations in the “citizenship industry”. Me and Magdalena Bexell are there investigating the tendency towards states “selling” citizenship and residency to the global elite in exchange for investment, in particular focusing on the role of firms.

I am also very interested in the role of transnational social movements and civil society organizations in international relations. This has, among other things, resulted in the monograph Civil Society and the Governance of Development: Opposing Global Institutions (together with Anders Uhlin, 2015) and the edited volume EU Civil Society: Patterns of Cooperation, Competition and Conflict (co-editor Håkan Johansson, 2015). I have also participated in the RJ-funded research program Civil Society Elites? where I and Anna Meeuwisse study the transnational mobilization of ultra-conservative “anti-gender movements”.

Miscellaneous

In recent years, I have become interested in the university as an organization and a workplace. Among other things, I have written and lectured on “academic housekeeping”, and I have formerly been the convener of the department's JLM group (gender equality, equal treatment, diversity). I am also one of the members of Lund University's Council for Ethics and Academic Freedom as well as the faculty's Ethics Council.