The Center for Civil Society Research has an integrative research approach that systematically combines research on political protest and social movements with the empirical analysis of political conflict structuration and social capital. The research program in the center’s founding phase is divided into three main areas.  The first area is devoted to the analysis of long-term changes of political conflict structuring. The projects in this area shall provide insights into the development of mobilization potentials in civil society, the restructuring of political conflict in the protest and electoral area, and into the politicization of societal key issues.  The projects in the second area focus on changes in the organizational landscapes of civil society and the dynamic interaction of different political actors and arenas. The projects in the third area deal with research problems at the interface of social capital and political protest.  Apart from thematically specific projects the Center of Civil Society Research aims at institutionalizing a data infrastructure for the long term observation of political conflict and protest in Germany (and further European countries). In the longer term the Center should cover the entire field of civil society research and strengthen networking among science, civil society and politics.

The center is jointly supported by the WZB and the Freie Universität Berlin. During its founding phase the center will be funded by the Stiftung Mercator and the Volkswagen Foundation.