Lauren Pavli

Dissertation Title: Pacific Islands regionalism and submarine fibreoptic cables

Doctoral Supervisor: Professor John Ferejohn

Biography: Lauren's doctoral project examines the relationship between regions and digital infrastructures, focusing on contemporary submarine fiberoptic cable schemes in the Pacific Islands. She uses both theoretical and empirical methods. Lauren completed an LLM at NYU in Legal Theory in 2022.

Research: Lauren’s research investigates contemporary Pacific Islands regionalism through an “infrastructural” analysis of several submarine fiberoptic cable projects. It asks: how are the aims, organization, and cohesion of the contemporary Pacific Islands restricted and supported? The project suggests that investigation of the technological, organizational, and social dimensions of regional fibreoptic cable projects provides important insights into this question. These infrastructures involve many of the diverse conditions currently shaping the Pacific Islands, including those typically explored in transnational law, such as cooperative conduct, imperial legacies, and claims to space, as well as unstudied effects, such as transforming technologies, corporate strategy, and local aspirations for interconnection. Description and analysis of these interactional conditions assists in understanding Oceanic regionalism in a manner more responsive to regional sovereignty.

Contact Information: lep7594@nyu.edu