News
20.01.2026

Christine Hentschel on reorientation in catastrophic times

As part of the lecture series “At the crossroads? On the crisis of democracy”, the sociologist spoke about living in and dealing with catastrophic times. Against the backdrop of the destruction of living conditions, wars, permanent crises and threats to democracy, Hentschel addressed the infiltration of the catastrophic into everyday social life and a changing activist and literary approach to the future.

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Publication
08.01.2026 | Journal article

Gender Differences in Financial Advice

Bucher-Koenen, Tabea; Hackethal, Andreas; Koenen, Johannes; Laudenbach, Christine (2025): „Gender Differences in Financial Advice“. In: American Economic Review, 115 (12), pp. 4218–4252.

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Event
29.01.2026 | Frankfurt

Civil Geopolitics and the Dilemmas of the Democratic State

Lecture Series, Lecture

Vortrag von David Owen (Universtiy of Southampton) im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung “Am Scheidepunkt? Zur Krise der Demokratie” im Wintersemester 2025/2026

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Publication
19.12.2025 | Anthology

Faszination und Freiheit 

Günther, Klaus; Zabel, Benno (Hrsg.) (2025): Faszination und Freiheit – Gegenwartsdiagnosen im Anschluss an Christoph Menkes Theorie der Befreiung, Weilerswist (Velbrück Wissenschaft).

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Publication
12.12.2025 | Anthology

Zwischen Transformation und Abolitionismus. Das Strafrecht und die Vielfalt der Alternativen

Tobias Singelnstein, Christoph Burchard (2025)

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Publication
12.12.2025 | Chapter

Was bleibt von der Verantwortung jenseits der Strafe übrig?

Günther, Klaus (2025): „Was bleibt von der Verantwortung jenseits der Strafe übrig?“. In: Zabel Benno; Singelnstein; Tobias und Burchard, Christoph (Hrsg.): Zwischen Transformation und Abolitionismus. Das Strafrecht und die Vielfalt der Alternativen. Velbrück Wissenschaft, S. 207-241.

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News
11.12.2025

Jonathan White on future thinking in democracies

On the second date of the lecture series “At the crossroads? On the crisis of democracy”. Political scientist White discusses views on the future of democracies. A follow-up report

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News
04.12.2025

The crisis of democratic theory from a sociological perspective

Sociologist Jenny Brichzin’s lecture “Crisis of Democratic Theory? A sociological intervention” opened our lecture series “At the crossroads? On the future of democratic theory”. The sociologist criticized the fact that social coexistence has so far been insufficiently addressed in democratic theory. A follow-up report

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Publication
03.12.2025 | Journal article

The Archipelago Capitalism of Citizenship-By-Investment

Džankić, Jelena; Seyfettinoglu, Mira; Shachar, Ayelet; Vink, Maarten; Baaren, Luuk van der (2025): „The Archipelago Capitalism of Citizenship-By-Investment“. In: Comparative Political Studies, OnlineFirst.

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https://normativeorders.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Goethe-Plakette_Rainer_Forst_copyright_Stadt_Frankfurt_Chris_Christesweb.jpg

Rainer Forst awarded Goethe Plaque of the City of Frankfurt

On 4 September 2025, Prof. Rainer Forst, political philosopher and director of the Research Centre Normative Orders, was awarded the Goethe Plaque of the City of Frankfurt. With this award, the city honours individuals, whose academic work and/or public activities have shaped Frankfurt and beyond.

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New Research Program “Zeitenwenden. Normative Ordnungen im Umbruch?”

The Research Centre Normative Orders receives a generous funding by the Commerzbank Foundation Fund within the framework of the Stifterverband for German Science. A total of €750,000 will be made available over a period of five years. The project is set to launch this fall.

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Press

25. January 2026 | Interview

Kann Europa auch ohne den Partner USA?

Trump stellt die internationalen Beziehungen auf den Kopf. Kann Europa im Schatten von Großmächten überleben? Konfliktforscherin Nicole Deitelhoff ordnet ein. (ZDF heute)

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18. January 2026 | Artikel

Politologe Biebricher zu AfD: „Problematisch, wenn 20 bis 30 Prozent der Wähler davon ausgehen müssen, dass ihre Partei nicht an die Macht kommt“

Das Jahr 2026 gilt in Deutschland als „Superwahljahr“: fünf Landtagswahlen und vier Kommunalwahlen stehen auf dem Programm. Der Politikwissenschaftler Thomas Biebricher sieht angesichts der guten Umfragewerte der AfD große Herausforderungen auf die übrigen Parteien zukommen. (Deutschlandfunk)

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21. January 2026 | Report

Die Polizei schießt immer öfter auf psychisch kranke Menschen

Einsätze gegen Menschen im psychischen Ausnahmezustand häufen sich. Angehörige fordern geschulte Fachkräfte statt Polizei. Mit Tobias Singelstein (Frankfurter Rundschau)

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10. January 2026 | Interview

„Es gibt Schnittmengen zwischen Union und AfD“

Die AfD darf nicht in die Nähe der Macht gelangen, sagen die Politikwissenschaftler Thomas Biebricher und Christian Stecker. Doch wie verhindert man das? (taz)

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Research

The Research Centre Normative Orders is home to various research projects. Up-to-date information on all current and past projects can be found under Research.

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Publications

The Research Centre maintains a publication database with current publications by participating researchers. In addition, the Centre publishes a series of its own publications with Campus-Verlag. The volumes document the interdisciplinary collaboration at the Centre and are each dedicated to the examination of important topics from the Normative Orders research program.

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Events

The Research Centre Normative Orders organizes events, workshops, conferences and practical forums at Goethe University, in the city of Frankfurt and beyond. In the event calendar you will find all current and past events in the context of the work of the Research Center as well as information on how to participate.

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Media library

The Research Centre publishes video recordings of many lectures, discussions and other events, such as the well-known Römerberg Talks. You can find and watch these and other videos in our media library.

Media library

About Normative Orders

How do political, legal, religious or economic orders establish and change, how do power structures crystallize, how are power and life chances distributed – also on a transnational level? The researchers involved in the Research Centre Normative Orders  reflect on these questions. The focus is on current social conflicts, in particular the just ordering of society in times of globalization, and their long history. The normative ideas that play a role in such processes and conflicts are examined. The questions are complex. This is why the Research Centre Normative Orders at Goethe University Frankfurt works on an interdisciplinary basis: from philosophy, history, political science and law to ethnology, economics, sociology and theology.