(Post-)Graduate Support at its Best!

Research Focus

The research network “Normative Orders” and its associated research projects investigate changes in social orders and concepts of orders in an interdisciplinary fashion and in close conjunction between normative and empirical analyses. The respective research ranges from new digital orders to questions of political trust (in the context of the Hessian cluster initiative “ConTrust”), future concepts of democracy, social cohesion, international cooperation, and global or climate justice. The Frankfurt branch of the “Research Institute for Social Cohesion”, particularly researches social struggles for recognition and participation and the productive force that may emerge from such social and political conflicts. The research center “Normative Orders” is at the center of the profile area “Orders and Transformations”, which studies social orders and structures as well as their transformations. Such transformations occur when existing structures are no longer able to respond to changed circumstances. This is evident in a variety of contexts such as man-made climate change, financial crises, the Corona pandemic, growing social inequality and the global rise of right-wing populism, which is changing democratic orders, migration, and the challenges it poses, and persistent gender inequalities. The war in Ukraine will permanently change the international order as well. The research network examines the normative ideas that play a role in such processes and conflicts. The fundamental principles of politics and law are analyzed from the perspective of social sciences, law, economics, and the humanities.

Objective

The GRADE Center Normative Orders is organized around the research network “Normative Orders” of Goethe University. The support of its (Post)Graduates is of utmost importance for the research network. With our inter- and transdisciplinary training we want to enable young scientists in the early career phase (Early Career Researchers) to take an important step towards scientific independence. For this purpose, the GRADE Center Normative Orders offers an annually updated training program. The comprehensive qualification program is aimed at social scientists, lawyers, economists, and humanities scholars in the doctoral as well as the postdoc phase.