Research Colloquium

Research Colloquium winter term 2025/26

Here you will find the programme as PDF!pdf, 65 kb · de

Research support MASOZ 60a/ 60b/ IPS 900

In the 2025/2026 winter semester, we are once again offering the Master’s and Postgraduate Colloquium:

PD Dr Stefanie Graefe Thursdays 10:00 am – 2:00 pm, fortnightly (starting in the second week)

In the postgraduate colloquium, participants can discuss initial ideas for topic selection and abstracts, as well as individual chapters of their Master’s thesis, to assess the progress of their work.

Research Colloquium summer term 2025

on the subject "Politische Eiszeit"

For decades, liberal democracy has been plagued by predictions of its demise, yet the current upheavals and attacks from the right have reached a new level, both globally and right on our doorstep. The rise of racist and anti-immigration views, the discrediting and rollback of gender equality achievements, the increasing attacks on minorities and those with differing views, the threat to academic freedom and the arbitrary distortion of facts have the potential to undermine the foundations of democracy with a new radicalism. A look at the US shows how democratic institutions are being dismantled in a very short space of time, without the authoritarian shift having led to mass protests so far. Looking on our own doorstep raises the question of how the AfD can be stopped before it gains comparable power. What are the starting points for the defence and democratisation of democracy? Why are we witnessing a strong politicisation within the social left that is only leading to limited success in terms of organisation? What might counter-strategies look like that not only defend the status quo but also probe the causes of the authoritarian shift? We aim to discuss these questions with our guests at the Political Sociology Colloquium.