Research projects

Three research projects are currently running at the Chair of International Politics.

Research Project “De-Centering Human Rights: Liberalism, Human Rights, and the Global South” - 2022 to 2025 with the SCRIPTS Cluster of Excellence of Freie Universität Berlin

From 1 September 2022 to 31 August 2025, Prof. Dr. Anna Holzscheiter  together with Prof. Dr. Tobias Berger and Prof. Dr. Risse, is leading the project which is part of SCRIPTS, a cluster of excellence based at Freie Universität Berlin. Prof Dr Anna Holzscheiter is involved in the project as external Principal Investigator. More information on the project can be found here.

The research project is delving into the complex relationship between representatives of the Global South and liberal ideas in the realm of human rights. The project takes an expansive approach, viewing human rights not as a fixed doctrine but as a dynamic arena where various normative perspectives intersect and sometimes collide. The focus spans across different facets of global governance, where the boundaries of human rights norms have faced intense scrutiny. In areas such as trade and global health, actors from the Global South have raised questions about the compatibility of human rights with economic liberalism and international intellectual property protection regimes. By exploring the historical and contemporary engagement of Global South actors with human rights, the researcher aim to shed light on their agency in shaping the international order.

The project unfolds in two parts, each tackling distinct questions. On the one hand, the research takes a historical perspective, tracing the evolution of international human rights and examining how Global South actors have influenced current human rights institutions. It also investigates the extent to which human rights activism in the Global South has been influenced by liberal values. On the other hand, the project shifts its focus to contemporary global governance. Here, the research explores how state and non-state actors from the Global South employ human rights to challenge the practices of ostensibly liberal actors on the international stage.

This project aims to foster interdisciplinary discussions among leading scholars in the field, with a particular emphasis on innovative empirical methodologies. To facilitate these conversations, the project has planned two workshops, one in 2023 and another in 2024, both expected to culminate in joint publications.

The project challenges the prevailing narrative that associates human rights exclusively with Western and Northern liberal democracies. While the influence of these regions on international human rights is undeniable, actors from the Global South have also played vital roles as authors, owners, interpreters, and challengers of both liberal ideas and the human rights discourse.

Through its comprehensive approach and interdisciplinary engagement, this project promises to offer fresh insights into the multifaceted relationship between Global South actors and human rights. By exploring historical trajectories and contemporary dynamics, it aims to enrich our understanding of how human rights have evolved and continue to shape the current international order.

Academic Contacts

Prof. Anna Holzscheiter
Professor, Technische Universität Dresden
Chair for International Politics, Institute for Political Science
Mail:

Prof. Thomas Risse                                                                                                                             Senior Professor for International Politics, Freie Universität Berlin                                             Mail: 

Prof. Tobias Berger                                                                                                                      Assistant Professor for Political Science with reference to the Transnational Politics of the Global South, Freie Universität Berlin                                                                                     Mail: 

Research project "Frames in Production: Actors, Networks, Diffusion (FRAMENET)" - 2021 until 2024 with Canada and the UK

Who decides how political ideas are 'framed', and how are these frames shared with others? A new international three-year project led by Dr Ozlem Atikcan of Warwick's Department of Politics and International Studies, and Professor Anna Holzscheiter of Germany's TU Dresden, Professor Jean- Frédéric Morin of Canada's Université Laval aims to find out.

Political issues are rarely presented objectively. Instead, they are "framed", that is, certain aspects highlighted and others de-emphasised, in order to influence how voters think about the issue. Existing research has focused on what makes a frame persuasive. This new study will take a step back and explore where frames come from, who chooses them, and how do they circulate among political actors. Dr Atikcan, project lead in the UK, said: "Framing has long been a core concept in many academic fields, but frames have been seen as 'things' and not 'processes'". 

The ambitious project will look at the emergence of frames in five areas of political debate: international trade, immigration, the environment, global health and transparency. This will enable the study to make comparisons between countries and themes. Through the creation of a new database and interviews with key political actors in each debate, the project will explore why actors choose the political arguments they use, and what factors influence their choices. "By studying how the content of frames becomes defined, and the factors that influence that process, we hope to offer a new research agenda on framing", noted Prof. Morin, project lead in Canada.

The team includes Dr Atikcan from the University of Warwick, Professor Philip Leifeld from the University of Essex and Dr Kerem Öge from Aston University in the UK, Professor Anna Holzscheiter from the Technical University of Dresden, Professor Jean Frédéric Morin and Dr Yannick Dufresne from Laval University in Canada.and Dr Clara Brandi from the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut fur Entwicklungspolitik (DIE).

The academic team will work closely throughout the project with the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut fur Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), one of the leading think tanks for global development policy. DIE will support the project team in sharing their findings with stakeholders in the worldwide policy community.  Prof. Holzscheiter, project lead in Germany, emphasized: "Our results will help political actors, NGOs, campaigners and the public better understand the processes through which they are being influenced".

The project is funded jointly by the ESRC in the UK, DFG in Germany, and SSHRC in Canada. The total budget including all three countries is around £1,000,000.

More information about FRAMENET can also be found  on this website of the University of Warwick gefunden werden.

Academic Contacts

Germany:

Prof. Anna Holzscheiter
Professor, Technische Universität Dresden
Chair for International Politics, Institute for Political Science
Mail:

Sofie Roehrig
Doctoral Research Associate, Technische Universität Dresden
Chair for International Politics, Institute for Political Science
Mail:

Maria Weickardt Soares
Doctoral Research Associate, Technische Universität Dresden
Chair for International Politics, Institute for Political Science
Mail:

Dr. Clara Brandi
Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)
Mail:

UK:

Dr. Ece Özlem Atikcan
Associate Professor in Comparative Politics, University of Warwick
Mail:

Professor Philip Leifeld
Professor of Comparative Politics, University of Essex
Mail:  

Dr Kerem Oge
Teaching Associate at Aston University and Research Fellow at the Warwick Interdisciplinary Research Centre for International Development (WICID)
Mail:

Canada:

Professor Jean-Frédéric Morin
Titulaire de la Chaire de recherche du Canada en économie politique internationale
Canada Research Chair in International Political Economy
Université Laval, Québec, Kanada
Mail:

Professor Yannick Dufresne
Titulaire de la Chaire de leadership en enseignement des sciences sociales numériques
Professeur adjoint
Université Laval, Québec, Kanada
Mail:

Research project "Youth represenation in global politics" - 2020 until 2024 with Linköping University (Sweden)

Young people´s concerns in critical transboundary issues such as climate, health and migration have gained significant attention in recent years. In practice, however, the ways in which youth are given voice in global governance remains contested.

One-third of the world’s population is today under the age of 18. As their future will be impacted by on-going geopolitical changes, their voices in deliberations on critical transboundary issues, such as climate, health and migration, are increasingly called for. In the UN system children and youth have been identified as one of the “major groups” whose participation is critical to create effective, accountable and sustainable global institutions. In practice, however, the involvement of children and youth in matters of global governance remains contested.

In this project we compare how, and by whom, young people are represented in contemporary global governance institutions and what the effects of such representations are in three salient domains; climate, migration and health. The project combines text analysis of key international policy documents, negotiation texts, policy briefs and position papers with participant observations and qualitative interviews across the three domains. While transformations of global institutions and the increasing agency of non-state actors are established themes in International Relations (IR), by focusing on children and youth as political agents, this project adds to an emerging research program on youth, IR and governance.

The project builds upon a strong interdisciplinary research team with ample expertise from the global governance of climate, migration and health, as well as from IR and children and youth studies.

The project is funded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond 2020-2024.

More information about the research project "Youth represenation in global politics"  can also be found on this webseite of Linköping University.

Academic Contacts

Project Leader:

Jonathan Josefsson
Research Fellow, Linköping University
Mail:

Researchers:

Eva Lövbrand
Associate Professor, Linköping University
Department of Thematic Studies (TEMA)  - Environmental Change (TEMAM)
Mail:

Prof. Anna Holzscheiter
Professorin für Internationale Politik, Technische Universität Dresden
Institut für Politikwissenschaft
Mail: