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Marie Müller-Koné

Marie Müller-Koné

Senior Researcher

contact by phone

+49 228 911 96-64

contact by e-mail

marie.mueller(at)bicc.de

Expertise

Research Profile

At BICC, Marie has conducted research on political contestation and violent conflicts surrounding natural resource extraction, mega-infrastructure projects and conservation in Africa (Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, DR Congo, Nigeria). Of late, she led a study on food security and the dynamics of violent conflict (FooCo 1075) and coordinates a project on the linkages between development, humanitarian and peacebuilding work (HDP Nexus project). In parallel, she pursues her doctoral research on nativist discourses and their links to displacements from land in Kenya and Côte d’Ivoire in the framework of the DFG-funded Collaborative Research Center “Future Rural Africa”, in project B03 - “Violent futures? Contestations along the frontier”.

Her work in the field of policy-relevant advice and research has centred on resource governance and certification initiatives, food security, and the inter-linkages between development, humanitarian and peacebuilding work.

Research Topics / Key Expertise

Resource conflicts, global resource governance, ethnicization of land conflicts, human-nature-relations, development-induced displacement and dispossession

Countries Of Expertise

  • Congo, Democratic Republic of the,
  • Cote D'Ivoire,
  • Côte d’Ivoire,
  • Kenya

Professional Career

In her position as researcher with bicc, Marie’s research interests have shifted from grievances in the context of large-scale and small-scale mining and oil extraction projects and the governance of resource extraction in Africa to the politics of land and political contestation and human-nature-relations and socioecological transformation more broadly.  

She was centrally involved in the acquiring of funds for the project B03 - “Violent futures? Contestations along the frontier” that is currently running in its second 4-year-phase as part of the DFG-funded Collaborative Research Center “Future Rural Africa”. Her doctoral research at the University of Bonn (Prof. Conrad Schetter) and University of Cologne (Prof. Michael Bollig) is placed in that context. As a result of her co-authored publications in the same context, Marie gained the position of Senior Researcher in September 2022.  

In November 2022, she was responsible for the conceptual design of the annual bicc Conference on “Infrastructural power at global frontiers: prospects for conflict and peace” (bicc Press/Events/Documentation of BICC Conference 2022 \ Infrastructural power at global...)

Marie started her career as a research assistant, and later, researcher in the field of natural resources and conflict at bicc and led a research project on “Artisanal miners in developing countries—DR Congo and Peru" which investigated the limits and possibilities of certification initiatives aimed at “conflict-free” or “fair” minerals. As International Coordinator of the Fatal Transactions network of European research institutes and NGOs, she was an observer to the Kimberley Process for the certification of rough diamonds.

Before her work at bicc, she had gained experience in the field of international development cooperation and African studies (BMZ, GIGA, GIZ Germany and GIZ Côte d’Ivoire, Inwent).

Important Publications

Schetter, C., & Mkutu, K., & Müller-Koné, M.

Frontier NGOs: Conservancies, control, and violence in northern Kenya

(2022)

Open

Mkutu, K., & Müller-Koné, M., & Owino, E.

Future visions, present conflicts: the ethnicized politics of anticipation surrounding an infrastructure corridor in northern Kenya

(2021)

Open

Schetter, C., & Müller-Koné, M.

Frontiers’ violence: The interplay of state of exception, frontier habitus, and organized violence

(2021)

Open

Müller-Koné, M.

Débrouillardise: certifying ‘conflict-free’ minerals in a context of regulatory pluralism in South Kivu, DR Congo

(2015)

Open

Publications

Meininghaus, E., & Bolaños Suárez, R., & Haidara, B., & Kemmerling, B., & Müller-Koné, M., & Al-Khalil, A., & Al-Khadhra, R., & Behrens, M., & Eichmann, F., & Grosz-Ngaté, M., & Halfpap, F., & Hansen, R., & Hoerz, T., & Karagnara, D., & James, S., & Rivas, A., & Sow, A., & Toyka, R.

How to Decolonise the Humanitarian–Development–Peace Nexus?

bicc , Bonn (2024)

Open

Etzold, B., & Müller-Koné, M.

Viehhirten brachten den Frieden

BICC , Bonn (2024)

Open

Müller-Koné, M., & Meininghaus, E., & Kemmerling, B., & Haidara, B.

How can the HDP Nexus WorK from the Bottom Up?

BICC , Bonn (2024)

Open

Müller-Koné, M., & Etzold, B.

Peace came from the herders. Supporting peace amidst drought, food insecurity and conflict. Lessons from Marsabit County, Kenya

BICC , Bonn (2023)

Open

Etzold, B., & Müller-Koné, M.

Boundary-Making in a Contested Space. Food Security and Conflict Dynamics in Marsabit, Kenya

bicc , Bonn (2023)

Open

Schetter, C., & Mkutu, K., & Müller-Koné, M.

Frontier NGOs: Conservancies, control, and violence in northern Kenya

(2022)

Open

Mkutu, K., & Müller-Koné, M., & Owino, E.

Future visions, present conflicts: the ethnicized politics of anticipation surrounding an infrastructure corridor in northern Kenya

(2021)

Open

Kalvelage, L., & Bollig, M., & Grawert, E., & Hulke, C., & Meyer, R., & Mkutu, K., & Müller-Koné, M., & Diez, J.

Territorialising Conservation: Community-based Approaches in Kenya and Namibia

(2021)

Open

Schetter, C., & Müller-Koné, M.

Frontiers’ violence: The interplay of state of exception, frontier habitus, and organized violence

(2021)

Open

Schetter, C., & Müller-Koné, M.

Frontier - ein Gegenbegriff zur Grenze?

Nomos , Baden-Baden (2021)

Open

Müller-Koné, M., & Grawert, E., & Schetter, C.

Zwischen Naturschutz und Gewaltkonflikten: Conservancies in Nordkenia

(2020)

Open

Müller-Koné, M., & Schmitz-Pranghe, C., & Schetter, C.

Flucht und Binnenvertreibung in Asien: Ansatzpunkte für und Grenzen der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit

BICC , Bonn (2017)

Open

Müller-Koné, M.

Débrouillardise: certifying ‘conflict-free’ minerals in a context of regulatory pluralism in South Kivu, DR Congo

(2015)

Open

Bernarding, N., & Guesnet, L., & Müller-Koné, M.

No rebel without a cause. Shifting the debate about conflict minerals in eastern DRC

BICC , Bonn (2015)

Open

Müller-Koné, M., & Guesnet, L.

How to enforce due diligence? Making EU-legislation on ‘Conflict Minerals’ effective

BICC , Bonn (2015)

Open

Müller-Koné, M., & Croll, P.

Forging war or peace? The role of the state in extractive economies of Sub-Saharan Africa

Springer , Cham, Switzerland (2015)

Open

Doevenspeck, M., & Guesnet, L., & Müller-Koné, M.

Ostkongo: der ewige Krieg?

LIT , Berlin (2013)

Open

Ebertz, U., & Müller-Koné, M.

Legacy of a resource-fueled war: The role of generals in Angola’s mining sector

BICC , Bonn (2013)

Open

Müller-Koné, M.

Turning the curse into a blessing. A convenient illusion. Lessons from the Nigerian EITI process

Taylor and Francis Group , London (2011)

Open

Müller-Koné, M., & Croll, P.

“Forging war or peace? The role of the state in extractive economies of Sub-Saharan Africa”

(2011)

Open

Müller-Koné, M.

Revenue transparency to mitigate the resource curse in the Niger Delta? Potential and reality of NEITI

BICC , Bonn (2010)

Open

Guesnet, L., & Müller-Koné, M., & Schure, J.

Natural resources in Côte d’Ivoire: Fostering crisis or peace? The cocoa, diamond, gold and oil sectors

BICC , Bonn (2009)

Open