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The Future of Democracy?

8-10 October 2025 at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center/ Public Event at Akademie der Künste/Pariser Platz

We are delighted to announce the program of the 1st Annual Interdisciplinary WZB Conference 2025.

I explore the role of migratory imaginaries as the socio-cultural ground of the formation of migration aspirations and their implications for the various stages of the migration process.

Das Expert:innenforum Startchancen Frühe Bildung bildet den Auftakt einer vierteiligen Veranstaltungsreihe, mit der der Dialog über die von der Bundesregierung angekündigte Förderung von Startchancen-Kitas eröffnet werden soll. Ziel ist es, Akteur:innen aus der Wissenschaft, der Kita-Praxis, sowie den Steuerungsebenen und der Politik zusammenzubringen, um Grundlagen für eine zielgerichtete und bedarfsgerechte Förderung von Kitas in herausfordernden Lagen zu erarbeiten.

We study whether homophily plays a role in grant evaluation processes. Relying on more than 37,000 grant applications from the European Research Council, we find causal evidence for small effects of homophily related to gender, but quantitatively more significant homophily related to citizenship and country of work, with the largest estimates if both citizenship and country align between applicant and reviewer.

In the 21st century, the far right has gained strength both inside and outside political institutions across a number of countries. Far-right parties have achieved considerable electoral success; far-right protests and movements have spread internationally; and nativist ideas have become increasingly normalized. The workshop, "The Far Right between Institutions and Civil Society," brings together early career researchers to present and discuss research on the challenges and consequences of the far right inside and outside political institutions.