Dr Dr Vestena graduated in law in Brazil and received her PhD in sociology of law from the State University of Rio de Janeiro in 2016. In 2021, she also completed her doctorate in political science at the University of Kassel with the thesis “Das Recht in Bewegung: kollektive Mobilisierung des Rechts in Zeiten der Austeritätspolitik”. Her thesis was written in the framework of the PhD programme “Social Human Rights”, a cooperation project of the University of Kassel and Fulda University of Applied Sciences. Before the acting professorship, she also worked as a lecturer in the Department of Political Theory at the University of Kassel. Between 2020 and 2023, she was a research associate at the Institute for Development and Peace (INEF) at the University of Duisburg-Essen and a member of the research project “Digital Tools and Interest Organisation in the Global South”. Her research focuses on the theory of law and the state, social movements research and theory of collective mobilisation, and workers’ organisations in the transnational economy. Her main regional focus is on South America, especially Brazil.

She is an editorial board member of the Journal for critical legal studies: Direito e Práxis and the magazine of the International Sociological Association (ISA), Global Dialogue.

Vita

Since October 2023

Acting professorship for Political Theory at the University of Kassel

 

April-September 2023

Research Group Leader, Centre for Global Cooperation Research at the University of Duisburg-Essen

April 2020-March 2023
Senior Researcher at the Institute for Development and Peace (INEF) at the University of Duisburg‐Essen. Project: “Digital Tools and Interest Organisation in the Global South”

2017-September 2023
Lecturer at the Department of Political Theory (FB 05) at the University of Kassel

2016-2021
PhD in Political Science. Project: „Das Recht in Bewegung – Kämpfe um soziale Rechte in Zeiten der Austeritätspolitik“.

2016-2019
PhD Fellow at the graduate programme “Social Human Rights”, University of Kassel und Technological University of Fulda

2012-2016
PhD in Legal Studies at the State University of Rio de Janeiro. Project: “Inequality, Law and Political Strategies: an analysis of the Institutionalisation process of the Bolsa Família Programme in Brazil”

2009-2012
Lecturer at the Faculty of Law at the State University of Rio de Janeiro

2009-2010
M.A. Sociology of Law at the Fundação Getulio Vargas, Rio de Janeiro

2004-2009
Study of Legal Studies at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil

Books:

Vestena, Carolina A. (2022): Das Recht in Bewegung. Kollektive Mobilisierung des Rechts in Zeiten der Austeritätspolitik. Weilerwist: Velbrück, 336S.

Vestena, Carolina A. (2017): Desigualdade, Direito e Estratégias Políticas: uma análise do processo de institucionalização do Programa Bolsa Família. Rio de Janeiro: Lumen Juris. 296S.

 

Articles in peer-review and book collections (selection):

 

Buckel, Sonja/Pichl, Maximilian/Vestena, Carolina A. (2023): Legal Struggles: a societal perspective on strategic litigation and legal mobilisation. Socio & Legal Studies, 24p., online first, OnlineFirst, doi.org/10.1177/09646639231153783

Sorg, Christoph/Vestena, Carolina A./Scheper, Christian/Zajak, Sabrina. (2023). Digital worker feedback infrastructures: The digitalisation of worker rights monitoring in global value chains. The Economic and Labour Relations Review, 1-18. doi:10.1017/elr.2023.36

Sorg, Christoph/ Vestena, Carolina A./Scheper, Christian/Zajak, Sabrina (2022): Worker Voice Tools ohne worker voice? Zur digitalen Governance von Arbeitsrechten in globalen Wertschöpfungsketten, WSI-Mitteilungen, 6 (2022): 448-456.

Vestena, Carolina A. (2022): Gewalt und Menschenrechtsverletzungen in Zeiten der Covid-19-Pandemie in Brasilien. In Dietz, Kristina/Peters, Stephan, eds., “Covid-19 in Lateinamerika”, Nomos: 175-187.

Tittor, Anne/Vestena, Carolina A. (2022): Chancen, Ambivalenzen und Grenzen der Conditional Cash Transfers in Lateinamerika. In Marquardsen, Kai, ed., “Armutsforschung. Handbuch für Wissenschaft und Praxis”, Nomos: 491-504.

Buckel, Sonja/Pichl, Maximiliam/Vestena, Carolina A. (2021): Rechtskämpfe. Eine Gesellschaftsperspektive auf strategische Prozessführung und Rechtsmobilisierung. In Zeitschrift für Kultur und Kollektivwissenschaft, 7(1): 45-82.

Vestena, Carolina A.: Ruling through chaos in Brazil: Bolsonaro’s Authoritarian Agenda for Public Health. In Falkenbach, Michele/Greer, Scott L., eds., “The Populist Radical Right and Health. National Policies and Global Trends”, Springer: 169-180.

Scheper, Christian/Vestena, Carolina A. (2020): Die Pandemie offenbart die Defizite des transnationalen Menschenrechtsschutzes: Ein Plädoyer für eine Konfliktperspektive auf globale Lieferketten, in: Zeitschrift für Friedens- und Konfliktforschung: 1-13.

Vestena, Carolina A (2020): Brasilien: aus dem demokratisch progressiven Experiment in den Abgrund. In Tiedemann, Norma/Tielje, Olaf/Huke, Nikolai, eds., “Autoritärer Populismus”, Westfälisches Dampfboot: 72-84.

Vestena, Carolina A. (2020): Rechtsform und soziale Bewegungen: rechtliche und soziale Auseinandersetzungen um die Austeritätspolitik in Portugal. In Goldbach, Nikolaus/Druschel, Julia/Paulmann, Franziska/ Vestena, Carolina A., eds., “Interdisziplinäre Perspektive auf soziale Menschenrechte”, Nomos: 341-360.

Vestena, Carolina. A. (2019): Rechtliche Institutionen als Vermittlungsort der „Politik der Straßen“: Eine Auseinandersetzung mit der Rechtsprechung der Krise in Portugal. Forschungsjournal Soziale Bewegungen, FJSB, 32(2): 248-261.

Vestena, Carolina. A. (2019): Policy and regulation: towards a historical-materialist analysis of the Bolsa Família Program in Brazil. Revista Culturas Jurídicas, 6(15): 211-247.

Vestena, Carolina A (2017): Mobilization of rights in times of crisis: a review of social movements theory. Revista Direito e Práxis, (8)2: 651-669.

 

- Theory of law and the state

- Social Movements’ research with focus on legal mobilisation

- Legal political economy

- Business and human rights

- Social inequalities and conflicts

- Regional focus: Portugal, Brazil and Latin America