Promotionen

Janna Schumann: Die soziale Herstellung des Sagbaren. Alltägliche Aushandlungen von Meinungsfreiheit, Anerkennung und Zugehörigkeit unter Jugendlichen und jungen Erwachsenen

Abstract:

Aushandlungen über die Grenzen des Sagbaren stehen im Zentrum gegenwärtiger gesellschaftlicher und politischer Konflikte. Das Dissertationsprojekt untersucht, wie Jugendliche und junge Erwachsene Sagbarkeitsgrenzen im Kontext von Humor in alltäglichen Interaktionen herstellen und verhandeln. Dadurch wird sichtbar, wie politisch relevante Vorstellungen von Meinungsfreiheit, Anerkennung und Zugehörigkeit im Alltag reproduziert, bestätigt oder verändert werden. 

Beginn: 10/2019

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Rawina Trautmann: From the Mountains to Ministry - An Extensive Sudy of the Female Peshmerga

Beginn: 10/2020

Moritz Wiesenthal | Titel: Bending the legislative backbone: Party Group Competition and Committees in the European Parliament

Abstract:

Two organisational features decisively shape the work of virtually all parliaments around the world: committees and parties. Committees, broadly defined as an internal subunit of legislatures equipped with specific competences (Martin 2014a, S. 352), allow for an efficient division of parliamentarian labour, the acquisition of expertise and deliberation processes away from the limelight of the plenary. Parties, on the other hand, are considered to constitute a central element of democratic systems that provide ideologic benchmarks, transport societal demands into the political system and help to solve collective action problems within legislatures. If committees can be considered to form the “body and brain”, parties consequently constitute the “heart” of modern legislatures. Both significantly shape legislative behaviour and, ultimately, the choice of public policy.

But which factors determine the interaction between both? Does a strong committee system limit the power of parties to control their members? Or do parties instrumentalise committees to promote partisan and party leadership interests? And if one of these hypotheses holds, what consequences for democracy and policy choice follow? The purpose of this book is to shed light on these questions from various empirical angles in the context of the “world’s most far-reaching experiment in transnational democracy” (Corbett et al. 2016, S. 3): The European Parliament.

Start date: 10/2018

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Linda Walter | Titel: Networked Empathy - The Social Web as Enabler for Universal Human Rights

Abstract:

Over the last decades human rights often served as all-purpose weapon for justification and condemnation of political decision-making and individual behavior. However, despite their prominent role, human rights are violated as much as ever. The research project focuses on this contradiction and aims to understand and resolve it by focusing on the individual level of human rights and the role, the social web can play in changing moral judgment.
In a first step it is argued that the reasons for the high number of human rights violations despite a political unanimous condemnation can be found in the fact that the unanimity is only a theoretical political one based on deliberative rational argumentation – it is not taking into account the individual human being with its emotional and social nature. Based on Jonathan Haidt’s “Social Intuitionist Model” it is stated that moral judgments (the basis for a supportive attitude towards human rights) are based on emotional intuition and social context and not on rational argumentation.
Consequently, to change moral judgments in favor of human rights, it is necessary to focus on emotional storytelling and social interaction on an individual basis. The functionality of the social web is based exactly on these patterns. Structurally, individuals use the social web to strengthen and prolong connections to acquaintances. With regard to contents, individuals share personal experiences and emotional stories. Consequently, the social web is the port of call for a social intuitionist human rights education.

Beginn: 05/2013

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Anna Görg | Titel: Geöffnete Grenzen für niedrigqualifizierte Arbeitsimmigration. Eine QCA-Studie zu Determinanten migrationspolitischer Entscheidungsprozesse

Abstract:

Low-skilled labor migration into the low-wage sector is the most controversial and often most restricted form of immigration in Western democracies. Despite recurring, heated public debates about "economic migrants" and "immigration into social welfare systems," governments repeatedly opt for entry and employment opportunities specifically targeting this group of migrants, such as guest worker or seasonal worker programs. These decisions are often made within quite diverse institutional, economic, and cultural contexts, leading politicians to choose this supposedly undesirable form of immigration.

How the same outcome can be achieved despite varying conditions remains a theoretical challenge in migration policy research. Current research on migration policy decisions clearly demonstrates that institutional, interest-based, and political-cultural aspects all play a role. However, it is unclear where the main priorities lie within this policy area, which spheres are influential and which are not.

This dissertation aims to close this gap using a Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA). To this end, relevant legislation of OECD countries between 2008 and 2017 is examined based on institutional, interest-based, and political-cultural conditions.

Completed:  12/2024