Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

KFOR 2235 The International Rule of Law - Rise or Decline? Zur Rolle des Völkerrechts im globalen Wandel

The Centre for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences 2235 examines the role of international law in a changing global order. Can we, under the current significantly changing conditions, still observe an increasing juridification of international relations based on a universal understanding of values, or are we, to the contrary, rather facing a tendency towards an informalization or a reformalization of international law, or even an erosion of international legal norms? Would it be appropriate to revisit classical elements of international law in order to react to structural changes, which may give rise to a more polycentric or non-polar world order? Or are we simply observing a slump in the development towards an international rule of law based on a universal understanding of values?

Host university:
Freie Universität Berlin

Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Heike Krieger

Participating Faculty/Participating Department of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin:
Faculty of Law

Duration: 2015-

KFOR 2932: Polycentricity and Plurality of Premodern Christianities

The purpose of the POLY research group Polycentricity and Plurality of Premodern Christianities (circa 700–1800 CE), housed at Goethe University Frankfurt and funded by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft), is twofold. First, we aim to facilitate and support comparative interdisciplinary research into preindustrial or premodern Christianities around the globe. Second, we will investigate the ways in which dynamic plurality works as a driving force of change across and within communities of belief. Our primary goal is to decentralise religious history before 1800. We will also historicize and question the unitary and universalist self-images nurtured by institutional churches, as well as the corresponding models of religious culture or transformation found in modern scholarship. This ambitious intellectual agenda is supported by an international and interdisciplinary team of scholars. Together, we hope to more deeply understand the formation of religious communities by local and global forces, as well as the myriad connections among them.

Host university:
Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main

Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Birgit Emich

Participating Faculty/Participating Department of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin:
Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Department of History

Duration: 2020-