How can current social and political issues be interpreted in a historical context?

What forms have politics and political conflict taken over time? How did political power relations change? In which ways have political arenas changed throughout history? How did individuals and collectives become major players in a political arena? How was and is power symbolised? And how did the written and unwritten rules of politics change? These are just some of the central questions that we explore in our research. We do so on a range of levels: from the street to the state, from colonial empires to social movements and individual politicians. 

Areas of expertise: political parties | political violence | political ideas | reforms | revolution | war and peace processes | Holocaust | genocide | democracy | citizenship | welfare state | nation-building