Collaborative Research Center 700 "Governance in Areas of Limited Statehood: New Forms of Governance?"

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Collaborative Research Center 700: “Governance in Areas of Limited Statehood: New Forms of Governance?” (SFB 700) was a twelve-year research institution funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and in which five sponsoring institutions were involved: the Free University Berlin , the University of Potsdam , the Science and Politics Foundation (SWP) , the Berlin Science Center for Social Research (WZB) and the German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA) . The SFB 700 also included a transfer project that examined the implications of the research results for German foreign policy in a mutual exchange of knowledge with the Foreign Office (AA) .

history

The SFB 700 started its work in 2006. The opening conference, at which Robert O. Keohane gave the main speech and State Secretary Georg Boomgaarden gave the opening speech , took place on February 23 and 24, 2007 in Berlin. Even this opening event received supraregional media coverage, for example in the Süddeutsche Zeitung and the Handelsblatt , which presented the SFB 700 on February 28, 2007 in an article under the heading When the state is no longer governed alone . The research association SFB 700 is set up for twelve years and is divided into three funding phases (2006–2009, 2010–2013, 2014–2017). Initially, the German Research Foundation approved four years and made available a total of around 6.5 million euros. Successful renewal applications were made in 2009 and 2013. The funding expired at the end of 2017.

organization

Speakers for the Collaborative Research Center 700 were Thomas Risse and Stefan Rinke . In the last funding period 2014–17, the SFB 700 consisted of 17 sub-projects, which are assigned to the five project areas Theoretical Foundations , Governance Institutions , Security , Welfare and Environment and Transfer . The individual sub-projects were located at the five supporting institutions of the SFB 700: the Free University of Berlin (as the host university ), the University of Potsdam , the Science and Politics Foundation (SWP) , the Berlin Science Center for Social Research (WZB) and the German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA) .

All sub-project leaders together with their scientific staff formed the general meeting of the SFB 700. These elected the speaker team as well as the other members of the board, which consisted of the status groups represented at the Collaborative Research Center. The management was appointed by the board of directors; she and the support team worked on all sub-projects. The seat of the Collaborative Research Center was the Alfried Krupp House in Berlin. The Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation made it available to the Free University of Berlin for the term of the SFB 700.

Scientific task

The scientific work of the SFB 700 followed the question of the conditions of governance in politico-geographical areas, the statehood of which is limited, for example, due to transformation processes , the disintegration of states or due to crises and (also militarily) conflicts : “How and under what conditions are governance services provided in the areas of domination, security and welfare in areas of limited statehood, and what problems arise from this? ”The attempt was therefore made to scientifically capture the special conditions and challenges before which the establishment of domination and the guarantee of security and welfare in areas that are characterized by the lack of a functioning statehood. The SFB 700 was based on a “constructivist concept of space”, according to which “space” only arises through an attribution of meaning and is therefore flexible - new spaces can always be formed and old ones become insignificant. According to the definition of the SFB 700, the term governance aimed at an “output”, namely “binding rules or collective goods”.

The SFB 700 stated the following procedure for its research:

In the first funding period (2006–2009), the ability to travel social science concepts such as “governance” and “statehood” in areas of limited statehood was examined and critically questioned.

Building on these results, the second funding period (2010–2013) was primarily concerned with examining the local specifics of governance (or its absence) within the framework of various research objectives. For example, it was asked when and under what conditions actors take on public tasks if the state does not.

In the last funding period (2014–2017), the SFB 700 devoted itself to the development of an empirically saturated theory of governance in areas of limited statehood. In addition, the consequences of the research results and their policy implications should be examined.

It has been suggested that four groups of success conditions can explain effective governance in areas of limited statehood:

  1. Institutional arrangements
  2. (Residual) statehood and functional equivalents
  3. (Empirical) legitimacy
  4. Social integration and trust

controversy

The SFB 700 was viewed critically , especially at the beginning in some circles of the Otto Suhr Institute's student body , but also in parts of the reporting on the work of the Collaborative Research Center. The main points of criticism were that the SFB 700 supported “military interventions” and “neocolonial developments and strategies” as well as an alleged proximity of the SFB 700 to politics and political interests in general, and therefore non-independent research. An article was published on November 15, 2009 in the journal Forum Wissenschaft, published by the Federation of Democratic Scientists (BdWi) and on the BdWi website, which critically deals with the SFB 700 and states that scientists from the SFB 700 are also in the Research has been carried out on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Defense (BMVg) in Afghanistan. This commissioned work is partly included in the publication activities of the scientists employed at the SFB 700 at the time. The article comes to the conclusion that an uncritical “self-image is representative at least for large parts of the SFB 700” and the case proves “that one can always live better from uncritical, i.e. bad science than from fundamentally socially critical.” In the media Criticism of the SFB 700 was made several times in the Junge Welt . The Tagesspiegel reported on June 6, 2013 that a group of students from the Otto Suhr Institute criticized the fact that the Afghan war was retrospectively legitimized in a study by the SFB 700. Also Heise Online reported several times over the SFB 700 and reached the critique on: On April 6, 2008 at Heise Online the alleged proximity of the scientists of the SFB 700. critical for policy and political interests and the SFB 700 as an example of embedded scientists called. Also on Heise online there was an article on July 17th, 2009 under the heading “Corruption in Science?” In an article about the SFB 700 and the criticism of this Collaborative Research Center. The financing of the Collaborative Research Center 700 and a possible military use of its research results was discussed in the Small Inquiry The Role of Universities in State-Funded Armaments and Military-Relevant Security Research of September 14, 2010 by members of the Bundestag from the left-wing parliamentary group . In the answer, the federal government stated that there were no financial ties between the SFB 700 and the federal government and that its research would not be used for military purposes. The Collaborative Research Center 700 was also brought into connection with irregularities in appointment procedures at the Otto Suhr Institute, which was reported in the Berliner Tagesspiegel on October 30, 2008.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ About the SFB. In: sfb-governance.de. May 3, 2010, accessed May 4, 2016 .
  2. ↑ In the media: Comments on the opening conference of the SFB 700. (PDF)  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 15, 2009.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.sfb-governance.de  
  3. ↑ Crisis regions: When the state no longer governs alone - Handelsblatt , on February 28, 2007 (accessed on June 5, 2016)
  4. ↑ sub-projects. In: sfb-governance.de. May 3, 2010, accessed May 4, 2016 .
  5. ^ "Governance in Areas of Limited Statehood" . - Der Tagesspiegel , February 11, 2007 (accessed June 5, 2016)
  6. ↑ sub-projects. In: sfb-governance.de. May 3, 2010, accessed May 4, 2016 .
  7. ↑ Organization. In: sfb-governance.de. February 7, 2013, accessed May 4, 2016 .
  8. ↑ Anke Draude, Cord Schmelzle, Thomas Risse: Basic Concepts of Governance Research . (PDF; 1.4 MB)  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Second Revised Edition, SFB 700, 2012, p. 9.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.sfb-governance.de  
  9. ↑ Anke Draude, Cord Schmelzle, Thomas Risse: Basic Concepts of Governance Research . (PDF; 1.4 MB)  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Second Revised Edition, SFB 700, 2012, p. 6.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.sfb-governance.de  
  10. ↑ Research goals . In: sfb-governance.de. June 11, 2014, accessed May 9, 2016 .
  11. ^ Problem definition. In: sfb-governance.de. May 3, 2010, accessed May 9, 2016 .
  12. ^ Problem definition. In: sfb-governance.de. May 3, 2010, accessed May 9, 2016 .
  13. ↑ Detlef Hartmann: The gun in one hand, the pencil in the other. In: Failing Sciences Embedded Stakeholders. Against the SFB 700. (PDF; 685 kB), 2009. Retrieved on February 16, 2009.
  14. ^ Gerd Höhne: German imperialism on war course. War research project SFB 700 receives 6.5 million euros - war research funds for the profits. ( Memento of the original from November 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 16, 2009. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kommunisten-online.de
  15. ↑ Peer Heinelt: Dominion knowledge »SFB 700«: An institute at the Free University of Berlin provides information and strategic concepts for German great power politics. (PDF)  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 16, 2009.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.bundeswehr-wegstufen.org  
  16. ↑ Detlef Hartmann: SFB 700 - a neocolonial project? Outline of a historical location. Retrieved February 16, 2009.
  17. ↑ Ralf Hutter: In the Afghanistan mission for science and the military . In: Forum Wissenschaft. 2009 (issue 4).
  18. ^ Peer Heinelt: Armed Development Aid . In: Junge Welt on July 11, 2013.
  19. ↑ Luisa Hommerich: Civil clause at the Free University of Berlin? Political scientists argue about "military research" . In: Der Tagesspiegel , June 6, 2013 (accessed June 5, 2016)
  20. ↑ Harald Neuber: State in retreat . Telepolis , April 6, 2008.
  21. ↑ Thomas Barth: Corruption in Science? Telepolis , July 17, 2009.
  22. ↑ German Bundestag Printed Matter 17/2931. (PDF; 73 kB) Accessed February 6, 2011.
  23. ↑ Printed matter 17/3337. (PDF) German Bundestag, accessed on June 16, 2016 .
  24. ^ Günter Bartsch: Controversy over political theory at the Otto Suhr Institute . In: Der Tagesspiegel , October 30, 2008; Retrieved February 19, 2009.
  25. ^ Educational privatization version OSI. In: Failing Sciences Embedded Stakeholders. Against the SFB 700. (PDF; 685 kB), 2009; Retrieved February 16, 2009.