About the Chair
The Chair of Political Theory and History of Political Thought focuses on the research and teaching of the history of political thought, systematic and normative dimensions of political science analysis. This includes critical reflection on the historical and cultural relativity of a centralised political sense of social order, the systematic analysis of abstract concepts and interpretations as well as normative debate about the legitimacy of political order. The chair conducts fundamental theoretical and empirical research into the creation and development of democratic constitutional order as well as the ideas of constitutionalism and democracy.
© Steven Nichols
PROFILE
The professorship of Prof. Dr. Hans Vorländer places a particular focus on the historical and cultural contents of political order and the complex prerequisites for their creation, legitimacy and stabilisation. The requires a certain interdisciplinary perspective that is able to bring together and form a dialogue of political, legal, social and historical science approaches. This opens up a whole spectrum of research spanning the comparative analysis of political ideas, narratives, standards, practices and institutions, the change of democratic constitutional order subject to the conditions of global society, as well as the future conditions of national and transnational spaces.
The staff of the Chair of Political Theory and History of Political Thought also conduct research on current topics in theoretical democratic classification of rebellious and protest movements as well as on topics such as migration, refugees, immigration and integration. Particular emphasis is placed on the issue of how democracies are tackling these challenges and how these are changing the familiar democratic order. The research uses specific historical and current hot topics in order to discuss these from an analytical perspective as well as find solutions. Theoretical discussions are thus always linked with observations and analyses of institutional practices.