Current projects at ICES

Access to social rights in Germany and France: inequalities and discrimination, gender and migration in the jeux d'échelles of Europe

The project investigates Europeanization processes that influence the conditions of access to social rights  in Germany and France and thereby change the combination of political repertoires of action in terms of compensating for social inequalities and fighting discrimination. Our analytical framework is based on the concept of social citizenship, by which we mean (i) a narrative about social cohesion, (ii) the relationship between individual participation, social security and status norms, and (iii) a territorially constituted political order.

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Border Complexities is a German-French-Luxembourgish workshop series. It consists of five thematically linked workshops, in which early-stage researchers and established researchers from Germany, France and Luxembourg participate. Each of the workshops focuses on a specific aspect of analysis of border complexities. The ateliers will take place in 2019-2021 at the locations of the partner universities, four of which are located on a geographical border. The French-German, French-Luxembourg, German-Polish and German-Danish border locations will be used to illustrate and deepen the themes of the studios. 

Further Information.

CODES: Communication, cultural diversity and solidarity

The project CODES: Communication, Cultural Diversity and Solidarity is about intercultural discourses in different European countries: Intercultural discourses as they are constructed by different organizations. The question of cultural diversity is driven by a core question: How can students be trained for cultural diversity in accordance with current discourses and practices in the field, in order to enable a better understanding of the different cultures of the European Union and then to achieve a greater integration of cultural diversity in professional fields?  Further information


  • PI: Prof. Dr. Hedwig Wagner
  • Funded by: Auswärtiges Amt
  • Partner: Staatliche Universität Pensa (Dr. Tatiana Razuvaeva), l’Université de Cergy-Pontoise (Dr. Luciana Radut-Gaghi)
  • Duration: 15.09.2020 - 31.12.2021

The project DIREPA DICOME discourses of commemoration in media is dedicated to the commemoration of Europe's conflict-laden past in (social) online media. Through the participation of lecturers, students, journalists and representatives of civil society in the project activities, media competencies are acquired, national / European memory cultures and historical policies are reflected upon, and critical analytical thinking with regard to discourses on the past is promoted.

Further information: https://www.uni-flensburg.de/en/ices/research/projects/direpa-dicome/

  • PI: Dr. Ivo Theele
  • Funded by: Jean-Monnet (Erasmus+)
  • Partner: Jennifer Pavlik (Ass. Professorin für ethische und ästhetische Bildung an der Universität Luxemburg)
  • Project duration: 01.09.2020 - 31.08.2022

EuKiD expands the didactic approach in the school subject German from a previously national to a European approach and thus intends to provide innovative impulses for the further development of curricular guidelines. In dialogue with project partners from teaching practice, didactic research and educational policy-making, European-related competencies are to be formulated, teaching materials developed and pilot projects carried out in primary and secondary levels of mainstream schools. Further information can be found here: www.eukid.de

The European Wasatia Graduate School for Peace and Conflict Resolution seeks to initiate a process of reconciliation (short Wasatia Graduate School, "wasatia" is an Arabic term for "moderation, balance and temperance").

This PhD-Programme creates an interdisciplinary framework for dialogical understanding of the structural nature of conflict and the development of sustainable conflict resolution strategies. The combination of practical elements with high standards for university education is what makes the wasatia Graduate School unique.

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Humboldt Research Award for Christopher Thornhill
In several research stays at the EUF, Christopher Thornhill will focus on the development of a new constitutional model and new forms of democratic institution-building in light of rapidly changing social conditions. The question will be how and under which conditions constitutions develop in societies with authoritarian tendencies (both within and outside Europe) as well as in societies that are clearly marked by the colonial legacy. Professor Christopher Thornhill was nominated for the Humboldt Research Award by Professor Monika Eigmüller and Professor Hauke Brunkhorst (both at the Department of Sociology). Further information

LEMEL is a Europe-wide research network with 8 countries, which aims to capture the representation of Europe and the discursive framing of European disputes in their negotiation in online media from the perspective of several countries. In doing so, we want to identify the different narratives about Europe that circulate in online news, as well as the European concepts of identity and the socio-political principles that circulate them. Further information

Focusing on the emergent social and political conflicts surrounding COVID-19 and the role of social media in creating, disseminating and shaping conflict, this project analyses the dynamics of value contestation and political mobilization in European social media during the COVID-19 pandemic. It aims to understand the appeal of anti-lockdown protests and to propose (counter-)action scenarios that can strengthen the resilience of democratic public space. Using an innovative visual analysis approach, we carry out an in-depth study of a single social media platform (Instagram) for six countries across time, expecting the study to obtain new insights and methodological tools for tracking the patterns and resonance of digital mobilization patterns. (Further Information here)

The formation of preferences for and against European integration

  •     Project management: Prof. Dr. Christof Roos
  •     Funded by: DFG (project funding)
  •     Partner: Dr. Martin Seeliger (University of Bremen)
  •     Project duration: 01.10.2021 - 30.09.2024

Research on the effects of EU freedom of movement of persons in EU countries of origin is scarce. Effects of emigration such as decreasing unemployment on local labour markets or an increase in remittances are more and more debated in relation to the socio-political outcomes of citizens leaving Eastern and Southern Europe. Since the 2010s, member states and the EU level address the brain-drain from EU countries of origin and the unequal conditions for the competition for labour in the EU’s single market. The research project aims to find out whether and how the free movement of persons and its effects in Southern and Eastern European societies promotes support for EU integration, EU skepticism, or an agenda for reform. Collective actors and their perception of effects are key to answering this question empirically. Thereby, the project tests a key assumption formulated in EU integration theory – the positive relation between free movement of persons and European integration. The expected findings of the research may nuance this assumption and identify possible paradoxes in how the EU principle of freedom of movement impacts EU integration.
 

 The overall objective of the project "Media of East/West European Border Traffic during the Cold War" is to strengthen research excellence in the European Research Area and to promote interdisciplinary research cooperation between Western Europe and Eastern, Central Eastern and South Eastern Europe. In particular, it investigated the relationship of the countries and satellite states of the former Soviet Union in the Cold War to European integration and the values of the European Union. In general, it will be analysed which relations can be established between social and institutional structures and discursive formations on both sides of the Iron Curtain in the Cold War and the history of European integration. The consortium will consist of thirteen excellent researchers from three Western and four Eastern European countries from cultural and social sciences, so that in addition to internationality, both the internal and external perspectives are guaranteed to be comparative, then integrative. This forms the basis for a comprehensive analysis of integrative, innovative and reflective societies in transition. Weitere Informationen finden Sie hier.

ValCon: Value conflicts in a differentiated Europe: The impact of digital media on value Polarisation

The project will examine the role of digital social & news media in creating political value polarization among citizens & in promoting the rise of populism in Europe. It includes a comparative survey in 6 countries & qualitative analysis of debates conducted through social media. The overall aim of our research is to explain the growing tendency in and across Europe to contest the core values that anchor the European project, and clarify how this new trend relates to digital media usage. At a broader level, ValCon addresses the challenges posed by a deep crisis of liberal democracy in Europe and the world. This crisis, we assume, is a manifestation of increasing conflicts over liberal values, which—we further argue—social media both drives and amplifies.ValCon asks the following core question: To what extent can value conflicts, as expressed in polarized opinions and extremist political views among the public, be attributed to patterns of social media communication? To answer this question, we analyse the dynamics of online value conflicts and how they affect the legitimacy of political order. Is the EU as a community of value drifting apart? Further information

Past projects

Book Fairs as Spaces of Cultural and Economic Negotiation: Cultural Policies of International Book Fairs and Their Guests of Honour

Further information

Research into the representation of Europe in the European online media landscape is one of the key issues of European integration. In a time in which communication is primarily digital, scholars are becoming increasingly aware of their own role in the structure of the various European actors. This exchange takes place in the media in the form of discursive negotiations. Today, politicians are more aware than ever that their media presence has an important influence on the democratic process.

The project DIREPA-Europe Negotiations aims to explore the role of online media in communicating and/or non-communicating Europe's conflict-laden past. The research project aims at exploring the place of online media (including social media) in the dissemination of discourses on memory and the past, with particular emphasis on civil society discourse and political discourses. There are two general objectives of the research project: on the one hand, to explore the ways in which the above-mentioned media represent the different forms of Europe's past; on the other hand, to identify the counter-discourse, the contradictions and controversies related to the issue of the past in the formation of the European public space.

Weitere Informationen finden Sie hier.

Internationales Projekt Paolo Prodi "Religion und öffentlicher Raum in Europa"

Das Projekt widment sich Fragen wie z.B.:
How do religion and European public reason interact in a time of deep changes and transformations? Which kind of cultural, constitutional, political, and juridical, adjustments do we need for a constructive presence of religion and religious beliefs in the European public square? Weitere Informationen finden Sie hier.