| Foreign Politics and Diplomacy| International Organisations and Global Governance | Peace and Conflict Studies | Political Theory and Philosophy of International Relations| Politics and Governance under conditions of Globalization|

The Chair´s research activities are based on the five key aspects of International Relations and the focus on ideas, institutions and individuals. We are equally concerned with exploring basic concepts, explaining phenomena, and discussing options for action in International Relations.

In Political Theory and Philosophy of International Relations we deal, for example, with the concept of an international community, various models of world order, or the ethics of political action and social norms at the international level. In the field of foreign policy and diplomacy, we examine historical as well as contemporary crisis and decision-making situations in bilateral and multilateral politics. In peace and conflict studies, we deal with questions of international crisis and conflict management along the triad of peace-keeping, peace-making, and peace consolidation, which always presupposes a corresponding preoccupation with the causes of peace, violence and war. Conceptual approaches (such as the human security perspective) are combined with problem-oriented analyses (such as the ambivalent role of resources in conflicts or the codification or implementation of human rights) and actor-centered studies (on individual actors or organizations). Such an endeavor is at the same time embedded in the field of international organizations and global governance, within which we focus on the role of the United Nations. Here, beyond mere institutional studies, we are concerned with the possibilities and limits of the world organization in a broader sense. The basic motivation of the research activities is the effort to gain a better understanding of politics and governance under the conditions of transformation processes such as globalization, digitalization, social acceleration and the emergence of new world political challenges. Current transformation processes raise new questions about the understanding of the political, the relationship between language and politics, or politics and personality, which we address.