Forskningsinteresser

As Associate Professor in American History, my main focus lies in the field of U.S. foreign policy, transatlantic relations, and conspiracy theories. I look at how ideas about power, democracy, culture, technology and health have shaped America's relationship with the outside world, and how the flow of ideas, people and capital has impacted both sides of the Atlantic. I mainly do work related to the 20th and 21st century.

Current research projects

1. President Kennedy's foreign policy advisors during the Berlin Crisis 1961-1962

My current book project focuses on John F. Kennedy's national security advisor McGeorge Bundy and the National Security Council staff during the Berlin Crisis of 1961-62. Here I look at their role in shaping the policy change that eventually led to the beginning of détente in Europe, as well as their motivations for doing so. By looking at not only ideas and interests, but also emotions, cultural millieu and context, we get a fuller picture of an interesting and important group of people that has so far mainly been looked at in the context of the Vietnam War.

2. The history of the New World Order, 1924-2024

The New World Order conspiracy theory claims that the world is run by secret elite groups working to centralize power and enslave the unsuspecting "ordinary people". This project examines how that idea developed from British writer Nesta Webster's Secret Societies and Subversive Movements (1924) to Alex Jones and other right-wing media personalities' thoughts about the Great Reset today.

3. Danish children and adolescents' attitudes towards conspiracy theories  

This project examines Danish children and adolescents' knowledge, attitudes and opinions towards conspiracy theories. The hypothesis is that they are exposed to and affected by conspiracy theories early on and that their belief in conspiracy theories is as great or greater than Danish adults. The project looks at beneficial and non-beneficial elements of this attitude towards conspiracy theories.

4. Conspiracy theories in the Nordic Countries

Along with a group of colleagues from Iceland, Sweden, Norway and Estonia, I published Conspiracy Theories and the Nordic Countries (Routledge) in 2021. This was the first look at conspiracy theories from a regional perspective in the Nordic countries. We are currently working on expanding that project to look at the current conspiracy climate post-Covid.