About the Chair
The Chair of Comparative Political Science (Central and Eastern Europe) is one of the few political science institutions in Germany dedicated to teaching and research on Central and Eastern Europe. This results in a special responsibility for the expertise relating to these regions, which are known to have a fateful significance for Germany.
The task of the professorship is primarily seen as cultivating this still endangered expertise. Although both university teaching and research are made more difficult by the permanent underfunding and the ongoing university reform, attempts are being made to ensure that the quality of teaching and research is maintained while at the same time adapting the courses on offer to the respective needs of the students.
In the case of a chair in Germany that is explicitly dedicated to "the East" of the Old Continent, there are two additional challenges. The first concerns the "east europe" expertise that the school passes on to the university. The second challenge, in turn, is the negative image of "the East" that has grown up in modern times and is still very much present in the Federal Republic of Germany.
With these unfavourable circumstances always in mind, the teaching approach is two-pronged. The first type of course includes those that impart basic knowledge about Germany's eastern neighbours (which is usually omitted in pupils), including knowledge of geography and history. However, these courses - i.e. basic courses and lectures - do not abandon the academic approach. The aim is always to link theory and empiricism in order to impart both factual knowledge and an understanding of the function of theory in the cognitive process. The courses in this track are offered to all students, regardless of their interest in Central and Eastern Europe. The lectures are actually open to all visitors. In contrast, the basic courses must be reserved for political science students (for "capacity reasons" and subject constraints).
Those who want (or need) to deepen and broaden their specialised (political science) knowledge of Central and Eastern Europe are on the second track. Unfortunately, the course types concerned - tutorials, main and advanced seminars, colloquia - can only be offered to specialised students.
We are always looking for attractive "formats" for both groups of courses. Visitors to these chair pages can see for themselves how many interesting and renowned experts have been invited in just a few years, how elaborately excursions to Eastern Europe have been prepared and organised and the range of content and form of the courses offered by the chair. For curious students who are interested in Europe as a whole and who also enjoy the cultural and political diversity of their continent, the offer is really not bad.
If you are also characterised by this curiosity and enjoyment, come and study political science with us! You will also find well-designed political science degree programmes (Bachelor's and Master's), a very good infrastructure for studying Central and Eastern Europe (university library and the library of the Institute of Eastern European Studies, well-developed Slavic studies, extramural research institutions offering various events on Eastern and South Eastern Europe), a university that has made "Eastern orientation" its main focus, many students from Eastern and Southern Europe (as well as from other parts of the world, of course). They will also study in a city that is unrivalled in Germany in terms of beauty (in vain).
The professorship's teaching reflects its networking - not only in the "East", but also across the Atlantic. However, selected information on research - conferences organised by the professorship, collaborations, research visits - only published here provides information on the quality and extent of this networking. In this context, it is particularly important that young researchers are provided with contacts to outstanding experts from the international scientific community and from the broadly understood political life of Central and East European countries. It should also be mentioned that the exceptional programme for learning Slavic languages offered by our university is a unique resource that students with an academic interest in Central and Eastern Europe should definitely take advantage of. After all, acquiring the relevant language skills is a necessary prerequisite for remedying the sometimes serious deficits of German political science in the field of Central and East European research.
It is still possible in German political science to publish a "specialised book" on Russia, for example, without the author(s) speaking Russian, while the same is simply unthinkable in relation to France, for example. In this context, it is a consolation for demanding students that different standards apply at this department. Students with an interest in Central and East Europe will find a very good range of courses here.
In addition to teaching and research, the chair is dedicated to other activities. These primarily include administrative and public relations activities. Their importance is subordinate to the central university tasks. For the sake of completeness, however, some of them will be discussed in this presentation of the chair.
Welcome to our pages!
