(Research Field of Michael Zürn)

The setup of international institutions and structures is embedded in global processes. The world of states has grown, and it differentiates itself internally. My research deals with the question of whether and to what extent international institutions have become politicized and, consequently, whether and to what extent they may have been stripped of technocratic logic. I also try to determine whether, in the context of mobilization or contestation processes, new lines of social conflict develop (compare the project on “The Political Sociology of Cosmopolitanism and Communitarianism”), which can be observed on different levels. This process of the socialization of international institutions goes hand in hand with the processes of differentiation. What we can expect, then, is that the segmentary differentiation which has predominated in the international system for so long will be supplemented with functional and stratificatory differentiation processes.