WZB - Berlin Social Science Center

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Illustration Europa
Illustration Nadine Prange

Europe: Myth and Vision

The WZB is marking its 50th anniversary with a tribute to the game-changing power of European unity. On June 19, we’re hosting a celebration under the banner Europe: Myth and Vision in partnership with and at the Pierre Boulez Saal. By bringing together social science, art, culture, and music, the event seeks to spark new perspectives on Europe.

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Two girls pose in superhero costumes.
RichVintage/Getty Images

Peer Effects of Ambition

Anything you can do, I can do better: New research shows we aim higher when we observe our peers being ambitious. In the first ever laboratory experiment to investigate the peer effects of ambition, WZB researchers reveal how we adjust our own goals to match those of our peers, with important implications for educational outcomes and social mobility.

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The word secret is revealed by tearing a hole in blue paper.
Fotogestöber.de / iStock / Getty Images Plus

Who Guards the Guardians?

A new research project is investigating how democracies control intelligence services in their use of digital and transnational surveillance. GUARDINT is an international collaboration between the WZB, the Stiftung Neue Verantwortung (SNV), Sciences Po in Paris, King’s College London, and Lyon 3 University.

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New research

Popular Populists

Populism is booming, left, right, and at the center of national parliaments, in coalitions with mainstream parties or as wildly successful challenges to the political status quo. Populist parties’ success stems in part from their anti-elitist rhetoric. But what happens when populists are elected into the establishment they claim to oppose? New research by Werner Krause and Aiko Wagner reveals how the reasons voters elect populists shift depending on how established the populist parties are.

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A small wooden figure stands on a platform in front of a crowd of similiar puppets, apparently making a speech to them.
RapidEye / iStock / Getty Images Plus

Authoritarian Politics and Nuclear Proliferation

New research by Alexandros Tokhi investigates the role of power dynamics in authoritarian regimes and how these affect the likelihood of non-proliferation treaty violation.

Court Dismisses AfD Thuringia’s Claim against the WZB

On April 9, 2019, the Berlin Landgericht  dismissed a claim filed by the AfD fraction in the Thuringian state parliament against the WZB. The AfD fraction had attempted to force the WZB to abstain from making statements that the party viewed as contravening personality rights. The court reasoned that the study in question was a piece of academic research and thus could not infringe upon the fraction’s personality rights in any way.

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Hungersnot in Äthiopien, Dürre, Klimawandel
picture alliance / Ricardo Herrgott

Climate Change Refugees

A new study by Marc Helbling and Daniel Meierrieks shows that climate change refugees are accepted by the public in Germany at a far higher rate than economic refugees. 

New publication

Winds of Change

Where do we not observe transformations? Political, social, and economic change is a complex and omnipresent phenomenon. By bringing together contributions from a wide range of researchers, the newly published Handbook of Political, Social, and Economic Transformation, co-edited by WZB director Wolfgang Merkel, sheds a fresh, multidisciplinary light on transformation research.

New study

China versus the WHO

The outbreak of the highly contagious SARS virus in 2003 gave rise to a norm conflict between China and the WHO. With both parties fearing a backlash, the conflict was never openly acknowledged but exposed in their behavior. In his new study, Christian Kreuder-Sonnen uses this case to exemplify the importance of studying norm contestation that is visible in actions, not words. This more hidden form of “behavioral contestation” had decisive implications for later debates about norms in global health.

Forthcoming study

Avoiding the Ask

Sidestepping charity fundraisers in the street, pretending not to be home when they come calling, ignoring online pleas for donations…people like to think of themselves in generous terms, but in reality, we often go out of our way to avoid being asked for money. A study by WZB researchers Maja Adena and Steffen Huck gets to the bottom of how preserving our self-image influences our charitable giving, and what strategies charities can use to maximize their chances of gaining donations.

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Forschungsgruppe Politik der Digitalisierung

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Events

Monday, 17 June 2019
Tuesday, 18 June 2019
Wednesday, 19 June 2019

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Research

The WZB Berlin Social Science Center investigates fundamental societal issues. Our focus is on education and work, markets and choice, migration, democracy and autocracy, international politics and law. At the WZB researchers from various disciplines work together – mainly from sociology, political science, economics, law and psychology.

 

WZB in the media

Radio Bremen, 3 June
Europa-Tag des Rades: Die Zukunft des Fahrrades
Deutschlandfunk, 27 May
Wohin steuern Brüssel und Berlin?
Süddeutsche Zeitung, 27 May
Ein großes Beben

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