Katharina Troll (M.A.), PhD-researcher at the Hamburg Institute for Social Research
Katharina Troll is a PhD researcher at the Hamburg Institute for Social Research and historian of modern history. She holds a bachelor’s degree in History (Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich) and a Master’s degree in Interdisciplinary European Studies (University Augsburg).
Her research interests are business and European integration, German and British Modern History as well as British-Jewish History.
Research project
My dissertation project aims to comparatively examine the critique of European integration voiced by West German and British employer’s associations and the respective national textile industry between 1949 and 1979. Of particular interest are the two national peak associations “Federation of German Industry” (FGI) and the “Federation of British Industries” (FBI)/”Confederation of British Industry” (CBI). The project sheds light on the economic dimension of Euroscepticism, which is characterised by a general opportunistic attitude towards the integration process. I am interested in strategies of interest representation on the national and the European level, in transnational economic networks and in visions and fears of the future of “economic Europe”. I also hope to give some insights in the possibilities of economic actors to shape the further development of the integration process via influencing decision-making processes.
Current status and next steps
Since the beginning of the project I had the chance to visit various archives in Germany, including the archive of the Federation of German Industry (Berlin) and the Economic Archive (Munich). The material offers rich insights in the (trans)national work of the FGI concerning European integration and the negative attitude of the West German textile industry towards the integration process. Further visits will take place this year, especially to the archives in the United Kingdom. Currently, I am evaluating the archival material and planning to write a first chapter on the West German textile industry.
