Contested Orders in European History

Joint project 
mit Partnern in Prag, Warschau, Jena und Budapest und zwei Teilprojekten am ZZF in Potsdam 
Gefördert von der Volkswagenstiftung 
Das Projekt verfolgt die Normalisierung „illiberaler Demokratie“ als Alltagspolitik in Europa, weshalb es auch die Gestaltung der europäischen konstitutionellen Demokratie anspricht.

PhD project
The project elucidates this tactical use of human rights rhetoric by the KMR and the East German state through the examination of multiple, overlapping historical trajectories during this period including decolonization, increasing global engagement by the GDR, and growing debate and output on human rights from the UN in the form of declarations and covenants. 

Research project
In diesem Projekt wird untersucht, wie Akteurinnen der Frauenbewegungen im 20. Jahrhundert Gerichte zu politischen Infrastrukturen machten: zu Orten der Aushandlung von Recht, staatlicher Macht und gesellschaftlichen Geschlechterverhältnissen sowie zu Ressourcen für den von ihnen angestrebten gesellschaftlichen Wandel.

Research project
This project explores the development of communal identity and ties in (West) Germany’s transgender population in the period between the end of the Second World War and the fall of the Berlin Wall and the eve of German Reunification. 

Joint project
Duration: January 2025 to December 2029
Project funding: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Staff Exchanges 
Project partners: Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (lead partner) 
In an extremely tense international context where European democracies are being weakened and even called into question, it is crucial to emphasise the importance of preserving and promoting the European cultural heritage represented by archives of political and social engagement. The project aspires to define the role and importance of collecting, archiving and promoting documents, objects and data in order to contribute to a renewed European history of social and political dissent from the beginning of the 19th century to the present day.

This project explores the role of Germany in the rise of global arms and narcotics trafficking and the efforts to contain these illicit trades from the Kaiserreich to the Nazi Era.

Research project
This research project explores how West Germans leveraged their own recent postwar experiences to build relationships with the decolonizing world from the 1950s to the 1970s.

Although commonly understood as opponents of the rule of law, constitutionalism and constitutional rights, in recent years, the German populist and far-right has sought to claim the mantle of the popular struggle for democracy the Basic Law, both historically and in the present.

Research project
In cooperation with Prof. Dr. Christopher Ewing, Purdue University; USA
The project links sex tourism among gay men with sex tourism among heterosexual men in order. First, to examine the development of this form of tourism as well as the associated social and political discussions, cultural representations, and infrastructures from a distinctly historical perspective. And second, to overcome a latent division in the history of sexuality between queer and heteronormative sexuality by bringing these two groups together within a shared analytical framework.

The handbook brings together approaches in the disciplines of international law history, the history of international relations, and the fields of East and Southeast European history. It demonstrates points of commonality found in certain current research approaches such as the New International History (a cultural history of all things political) and in Critical Legal Studies.