A_02 - Trust in Democracy, Populism, and Voting Behavior in Times of Transformation

06/2024-05/2029

The aim of this work package (WP) is to determine, through analytical and empirical methods, the effects of social cohesion on trust in the institutions of a pluralistic and liberal democracy under conditions of crisis. Of particular interest is the question of how the effects of…

A_04 - Policies of Social Cohesion in Africa: Entangled Governance in Post-Trauma Societies and the Role of International Organizations

06/2024 – 05/2029

As part of the focus area on cohesion policies and the conditions of political legitimacy, this work package (WP) empirically examines top-down and bottom-up governance strategies and practices for producing social cohesion in Ethiopia, Rwanda, and South Africa. In all three countries,…

A_05 - Social Cohesion in China – Traditions and New Challenges

The Communist Party of China (CPC) claims that one of its greatest achievements lies in securing social cohesion within the Chinese nation of 1.4 billion people. Not infrequently, the concept of democracy is invoked in the same breath, even though, from an external perspective and…

B_06 - Collective Responses to Socioeconomic Status Threat

This work package (WP) is situated within Research Focus 2 of Research Area B and aims to investigate responses to socioeconomic status threats at the level of social groups. It seeks to develop a deeper understanding of which social groups individuals turn to in response to perceived…

C_01 - Social Cohesion as a Local Question of Power

06/2024 – 05/2029

The aim of this work package (WP) is to examine social cohesion as an expression of local power relations. These power relations manifest themselves in the form and design of public goods and infrastructures and are shaped in particular by the capacity of individual local actors to assert…

C_07 - Social Cohesion in the Europe-Wide Energy Transition

By examining public participation procedures as institutionalized options of voice , this work package (WP) makes an important contribution to RISC’s overarching research question concerning social cohesion in democracies. The focus lies on social cohesion in cross-border regions in the…

D_01 - Culture Wars and Criticism of Moralism: Struggles over Values and Identities

06/2024 – 05/2029

This work package (WP) examines meaning structures and historical developments of conflicts over values, identities, and knowledge regimes in Germany and the transatlantic context, focusing on culture wars surrounding morality and the struggle against discrimination and oppression. It…

D_02 - Transnational Ideological Transfer of the Populist and Extreme Right

06/2024 – 05/2029

This work package (WP) seeks to contribute to an understanding of the worldviews, images of others, and identity-based self-interpretations of the populist and extreme right. It undertakes a transnational analysis of the circulation of values, ideologies, and policies that are grounded in…

D_04 - Youth as a Generation of Crisis? Socialization in Conflict and Transformation

06/2024-05/2029

This work package (WP) develops both a foundational and a knowledge-transfer-oriented profile for the relationship between youth and social cohesion. Within Priority Area 2, it identifies key socialization dynamics in the youth-cultural production and reproduction of social cohesion. It…