Norms and Changes in Global Politics

About us:

Section head:

The GGS section Norms and Changes in Global Politics works on critical, reflective norms research from different theoretical perspectives and with distinct empirical foci, questions and problems. The section is open to new cooperation partners and to members at PhD and PostDoc level from the social sciences, law, economics or history departments at JLU Giessen and other universities in Germany and overseas. If you are interested, please send an e-mail to PD Dr. Janne Mende with a brief description of your academic profile, your institutional affiliation and your interest in membership and the work of the section.
  ­PD Dr. Janne Mende

• Prof. Dr. Helmut Breitmeier (JLU)
• PD Dr. Janne Mende (MPI Heidelberg)
• Dr. phil. Alex Reichwein (JLU)
• Dr. Julia Drubel (TU Darmstadt) 
• Katrin Strobehn (ZEU)
• Prof. Dr. Sandra Schwindenhammer (JLU)

SAVE THE DATE - next event:

Online lecture by Dr. Cordula Dittmer:
"Disruptions and tensions in disaster relief's response to the 2021 flooding and heavy rainfall in germany"

• When? Monday, 23 June 2025 | 16:15 - 17:45 (4:15 – 5:45 pm)
• Teaser: In 2021, Western Germany experienced severe floods and heavy rainfall, putting the region's disaster relief management under intense public, legal, and internal-organizational scrutiny. Few other events in recent years have led to such disruptions and learning processes in disaster relief. This is also against the backdrop that the management was implemented much more effectively by local civil society (crisis management) structures in many places. The upcoming lecture will focus on the interaction between disaster relief and local management. It will explore how fragmentation and frictions between these two levels can either hinder or facilitate cooperation.
• Lecture language: German
• Access to the online meeting (BigBlueButton): https://webconf.hrz.uni-giessen.de/b/kat-0xz-zel-kjm

Mission statement:

Upcoming events:

In the age of globalisation, world politics has become subject to a fundamental change which has revealed contradictions and tensions, not infrequently leading to conflicts and the use of violence. On the one hand, new problem situations have arise with globalisation (e.g. climate change, financial and currency crises, epidemics, terrorism) which interstate governance can no longer deal with effectively. At the same time, the dominance of state system is held in check by new actors such as transnational enterprises, NGOs or global civil society. Traditional norms of the international state system like sovereignty or the ban on intervention are waning. However, there has been a clear increase in intergovernmental and transnational norms which affect practically every level of political life. One example is the norm of responsibility to protect (R2P). In the light of these developments, the hypothesis of the end of the nation state and of governance beyond it has gained ground in the doctrine of International Relations.

On the other hand, efforts to codify global politics have been constantly hampered and foiled by two factors: (1) Cultural and socio-economic differences between societies in the "Global South" and the "Global North", and (2) political power interests on the part of individual states which, while fighting for their autonomy to act, revert to the logic of the politics of state interests - and, for example, exploit the protection of human rights as a pretext for interventionist power politics. Moreover, there is in part a severe lack of effectivity, democratic legitimacy and justice in the global governance of international institutions, which are dominated by western states - and provoke the resistance of the BRICS and other states in the South. Insufficient compliance with international and transnational norms - owing to different interpretations and understandings of norms, norm collisions or the appeal against, questioning of or exploiting of global norms by individual states or social actors for their own ends - is becoming more and more of a problem for world politics and must be addressed. The section Norms and Changes in Global Politics takes these processes of change as the starting point for research, interdisciplinary exchange and training of academics.

We seek to cooperate with:

• GGS section "International Organisation and International Law"
• Center for International Development and Environmental Research (ZEU)

Get a sneak peek into upcoming events, inspiring discussions and potential collaborations you can expect this year.

Lecture Series

27 May 2025 | 16:15 - 17:45
Online lecture by PD Dr. Antje Nötzold: "Governance and security in space - strategic competition and astropolitics"

23 June 2025 | 16:15 - 17:45
Online lecture by Dr. Cordula Dittmer: "Disruptions and tensions in disaster relief's response to the 2021 flooding and heavy rainfall in germany"

3 July 2025  | 16:15 - 17:45
Online lecture by Dr. Christoph Humrich

Panel discussion

date tba
Panel discussion on "Three Years of War in Ukraine: Recent Developments and External Influences"

Past events 2023 - 2025:

More information about the section:

Members of the section

Publications

Archive of past events