Department II: Knowledge – Economy – Politics

Head of Department: Priv.-Doz. Dr. Rüdiger Graf

The research unit analyzes the constitution of economic and political processes in the 20th and 21st centuries as well as the relation between them. Within contemporary history as a whole, most research projects focus on the period since the 1970s from an inter- and transnational perspective. This includes large-scale histories of economic transformations, analyses of national and international political processes, as well as the history of energy and the environment. In particular, we examine changes in the conceptual and epistemic orders which structure the fields of politics, the economy, and their mutual interaction.

Forschung

Container Terminal Altenwerder in the Port of Hamburg, 2013. Photo: Dirtsc, Phb dt 8110 CTA, CC BY-SA 3.0

Since the Second World War – and with an accelerating speed since the 1970s and again the 1990 – transnational economic interdependencies increased.  How did entrepreneurial and business decisions as well national and international economic policies influence this process, which is often...

Forschung

Political Promotion of "Future Industries" - LDPD – Erfurt - Corporate History and National Socialism - The History of the Leibniz Association - Structural Policies in West Germany, The Süßmuth Glassworks, Alternative economies, Oil and Sovereignty - left-journals Das Argument and PROKLA -...

Forschung

Pipeline near to Sines, in Portugal, Foto: Traroth, Quelle: wikimedia commons, Lizenz: CC BY-SA 3.0

Since the emergence of the environmental movement and mounting concerns about global resource limits in the 1970s, the relation between economy and ecology has become a central social and political concern. How did national governments and international organizations try to ensure sufficient...

Forschung

Foto: Pixabay

The projects in this research area analyze how knowledge systems structure different spheres of human activity, in which they are simultaneously (re)produced. In particular, they analyze the change as well as the impact of different forms of knowledge in politics and the economy.

Forschung