„Zeitenwenden. Normative Ordnungen im Umbruch?“
A new Research Program of the Research Centre Normative Orders recieves funding from the Commerzbank Foundation Fund.
The Research Centre Normative Orders at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main has received generous funding for its new research program “Zeitenwenden. Normative Ordnungen im Umbruch?” receives generous funding from the Commerzbank Foundation Fund within the of the Stifterverband for German Science. A total of 750,000 euros in funding is available over a period of five years.
Since Russia’s attack on Ukraine in 2022 and Chancellor Scholz’s use of the term “turning point” to justify the reaction to it, the term has been on everyone’s lips. There is much talk of a new era that has dawned; it is marked by a questioning of the rule-based world order, a deep crisis of democracy and the rise of right-wing populist parties as well as the stabilization of authoritarian regimes in many places around the world.
The Research Centre Normative Orders at Goethe University is taking up this topic in a new research program – with the pluralized title „Zeitenwenden. Normative Ordnungen im Umbruch?“. The interdisciplinary program is funded by the Commerzbank Foundation Fund of the Stifterverband for German Science, which is providing 750,000 euros in funding over a period of five years.
The following key topics will structure the research project over the years:
- Crisis and Future of Democracy
- Changing World Order
- Tolerance and Freedom
- Perspectives of Sustainability
The program is carried out under the scientific direction of the directors of the research center, Prof. Dr. Nicole Deitelhoff and Prof. Dr. Rainer Forst. It brings together the expertise of numerous internationally renowned academics from various disciplines in the humanities and social sciences at Goethe University.
“With the Zeitenwenden project, we are addressing current social and political upheavals without providing hasty answers,” emphasizes Prof. Dr. Rainer Forst. “We are currently experiencing a profound change in normative orders, both nationally and globally, and the impression is growing that these orders are disintegrating or regressing. The science of society must provide analyses of this and should offer opportunities for orientation. The Centre Normative Orders aims to create spaces for reflection and public exchange.”
Prof. Dr. Deitelhoff adds: “Massive violent conflicts such as Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine or the conflicts in the Middle East have long been merely symptoms of a deeper crisis of the international order, which is closely linked to crisis phenomena of national orders. With our research programme, we want to trace these crises, analyze their causes, dynamics and effects and make them visible. At the same time, it is important to us to promote exchange with society – because dealing with the causes and consequences of such upheavals affects us all and determines how we live together in the future.”
Michael Kotzbauer, Deputy CEO of Commerzbank and member of its Foundation Fund’s Board of Trustees, highlights the bank’s motivation: “With this funding, we aim to support objective discourse and fulfill our corporate responsibility to society, particularly here at our Frankfurt headquarters.” The funding enables the Research Center Normative Orders to establish internationally staffed guest professorships, thematic fellowships, lecture series, international conferences, and public dialogue formats such as the “Frankfurter Stadtgespräche” (Frankfurt City Dialogues). These initiatives are designed to both contribute to academic research and to actively promote the exchange of knowledge with society.
The first guest professorship in the 2025/2026 winter semester will feature renowned political philosopher Prof. Michael Rosen from Harvard University, who is scheduled to lead a seminar on the current crisis of democracy and deliver a public lecture on the topic.
