GRADE Center Normative Orders

The Research Centre Normative Orders and its associated research projects pursue the changes in orders and ideas of order in an interdisciplinary manner and in close connection with normative and empirical analyses. The respective research ranges from new orders of digitality to questions of political trust (as part of the Hessian cluster initiative “ConTrust”), the democracy of the future, social cohesion, international cooperation and global or climate justice. In the context of the Frankfurt location of the “Research Institute for Social Cohesion”, the social struggles for recognition and participation and the productive power that can arise from such social and political conflicts are being researched in particular.


The research centre “Normative Orders” is at the heart of the profile area “Global Orders and Societal Transformations” ( Orders and Transformations for short), which deals with societal orders and structures and their upheavals. Upheavals occur when existing structures can no longer cope with changed circumstances. This can be seen in such diverse areas as man-made climate change, financial crises, the coronavirus pandemic, growing social inequality and the global rise of right-wing populism, which is changing democratic orders, migration and the associated challenges, as well as the persistent inequalities between the sexes. The war in Ukraine will also permanently change the international order. The research network examines the normative ideas that play a role in such processes and conflicts. The foundations of politics and law are analyzed from the perspectives of social sciences, law, economics and the humanities.

Objective

The GRADE Center Normative Orders is organized around the Research Centre Normative Orders at Goethe University. (Post)graduate support is a central concern of the research network. With our inter- and transdisciplinary training concept, we want to enable young academics in the early career phase (Early Career Researchers) to take the step towards academic independence. To this end, the GRADE Center Normative Orders offers an annually updated training program. The comprehensive qualification program is aimed at social scientists, legal scholars, economists and humanities scholars in the doctoral and postdoctoral phase.

News from the research center

Publication
23.10.2025 | Monograph

Exemplarity in Global Politics

Noyes, Dorothy; Wille, Tobias (2025): Exemplarity in Global Politics. Bristol University Press. (Link)

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Event
15.11.2025 | Frankfurt am Main

Bedingt einsatzbereit – Wehrdienst und die Pflicht zum Dienst am Staat

Panel Discussion, Lecture

Ein Gespenst geht wieder um in Deutschland – 2026 kommt der Wehrdienst zurück „Zunächst freiwillig“, wie es heißt. Angesichts der veränderten Sicherheitslage in Europa seit dem russischen Angriff auf die Ukraine ist die Frage nach der "Kriegstüchtigkeit" wieder aktuell – und mit ihr die Frage, was Einzelne für den Staat leisten sollen.

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Event
06./07.11.2025 | Frankfurt am Main

Kolja Möller - Volk und Elite

Workshop

Workshop zum "Buch Volk und Elite - Eine Gesellschaftstheorie des Populismus" von Kolja Möller

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Event
31.10.2025/01.11.2025 | Frankfurt am Main

Strafrecht und Kriminalpolitik in den Polykrisen der digitalen Welt

Symposium

Unter der Überschrift „Strafrecht und Kriminalpolitik in den Polykrisen der digitalen Welt“ sollen auf dem XII. Deutsch-Griechischen Strafrechtssymposion die heterogenen Herausforderungen diskutiert werden, mit denen sich das Strafrechtssystem in Zeiten sich häufender und interdependenter Krisen (Klima, Migration) konfrontiert sieht.

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Publication
01.10.2025 | Encyclopedia

Moralisieren

Schmelzle, Cord (2025): „Moralisieren“. In: Pollmann, Anna; Möllmann, Christopher: Schlüsselbegriffe gesellschaftlichen Zusammenhalts. Ein kritisches Vokabular, Wallstein, S. 544–561.

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Publication
01.10.2025 | Anthology

Dis.Ordering Distribution. Infrastructures, Formats and Practices in the Circulation of Culture.

Storz, Cornelia; Hediger, Vinzenz; Krings, Matthias (eds.) (2025): Dis.Ordering Distribution. Infrastructures, Formats and Practices in the Circulation of Culture. Emerald Publishing.

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Event
03.11.2025 | Offenbach

Ich kann, also bin ich? Eine Kritik ableistischer Diskriminierung in unserer Gesellschaft

Lecture

Der Vortrag von Dr. Regina Schidel im Rahmen der Goethe Lectures Offenbach analysiert Ableismus aus philosophischer und sozialtheoretischer Perspektive, und zwar exemplarisch am Fall von Menschen mit kognitiven Einschränkungen/geistiger »Behinderung«. Es werden Ursprünge ableistischen Denkens in der philosophischen Tradition entwickelt, in ihrer gesellschaftlichen Funktionalität untersucht und Möglichkeiten befragt, diese zu überwinden – diese stammen etwa aus kritischer und feministischer Theoriebildung.

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News
30.09.2025

„Zeitenwenden. Normative Ordnungen im Umbruch?“

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.

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Publication
30.09.2025

Climate Finance, the Right to Promote Sustainable Development and Responsibility

Moellendorf, Darrel (2025): „Climate Finance, the Right to Promote Sustainable Development and Responsibility“. In: Berger, Axel; Brandi, Clara; Kollar, Eszter (eds.): Justice in Global Economic Governance. Normative and Empirical Perspectives on Promoting Fairer Globalisation, Edinburgh University Press, p. 125–133.

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