Publications 2023

"Political science presents itself as an integrative discipline. Its subfields and ancillary disciplines, however, are integrated only organizationally, not theoretically; there is no commonly accepted theory of political science to date. This state of affairs is considered normal, and even seems to enable a particular degree of interdisciplinary flexibility. However, without a theoretical framework, political science discourse, processes of discovery and learning are difficult to achieve. As a result, politics is far less well understood scientifically than the subject matter of the technical and natural sciences—a fatal deficit in an era of existential political challenges (...). In view of this, political science should reflect on its own contribution to global political failure and on its potential for innovation: What intellectual—and thus social-scientific—factors underlie global political failure? What role does the existing theory deficit play, and what can we learn from it?"

Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine leaves many stunned: How could Putin do this? What motivated him to commit this grave violation of international law and crime against humanity? And why do dictators and populists neither distance themselves from it nor condemn it, or even support it? These questions, which may initially seem complex, can be clearly analyzed through the lens of civility theory, based on dominant relationship logics and interaction types.

Since September 2023, the fully developed Theory of Civility has been available. Felix Zachau, research associate at Civility gUG, discusses it with the author, Volker von Prittwitz.

The Germans’ sporting and political debacle at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar in December 2022 ultimately stemmed from the DFB wanting both to take part in the tournament and to publicly voice its criticism of the host country and the decision to award it the World Cup. In doing so, the association overreached and came across as a killjoy at a World Cup everyone had agreed to take part in. At the same time, it seemed too timid and indecisive to stand up for sport’s fundamental principles: strict equality and freedom for all athletes. To learn from this, sport, sports policy and politics more broadly must be distinguished according to their respective human rights dimensions—as the basis for a responsible, decisive sports policy.