CGG

 The Centre for Globalisation and Governance was inaugurated on February 12th, 2004 with a public event at the University of Hamburg. The goal of the centre is to improve the understanding of processes and effects of globalisation and to contribute to the further development of the state of empirical research and the methodological and theoretical framework for an analysis of globalisation and governance. A particular focus of analysis is on the role of new governance structures and mechanisms which evolve as a result of the increasing density of economic, social, technological and cultural relations worldwide. 

The terms ‘globalisation’ and ‘governance’ are controversial both in the social sciences and in political debates. The CGG does not understand its role to consist in taking sides within these debates. Rather, the idea is to contribute to the conceptual and theoretical clarifications by creating a forum for a wide range of activities concerned with globalisation and governance, such as research projects, conferences, seminars, publication series, training courses and the establishment of a graduate school. The Centre also fosters greater integration among various disciplines at the University of Hamburg, drawing in particular on specific competencies and complementary strengths of political science and sociology.

Of central importance is the question of how central institutional constellations in individual societies are changing in the area of tension between the influences of globalisation and European integration on the one hand and endogenously determined societal change processes on the other. Moreover, the relationship of this development with change in governance is addressed.
The research and theory construction on institutional change focuses generally speaking on individual institutions. Insofar as institutional constellations are researched, the interest is mostly directed at specific types of institutional constellations such as the market-framing institutions in the varieties of capitalism approach or the welfare-state institutions in international comparative social policy analysis. So far, there is little research and few theoretical approaches in terms of the general foundations of persistence and change in institutional constellations. The research programme of the CGG aims to contribute in this area to developing the theoretical and methodological approach as well as the knowledge regarding empirical processes from an international comparative perspective. The goal is to capture the relevance of current globalisation-induced change processes in the central institutional constellations in post-industrial societies in a broader fashion than has previously been the case and to look at the interactions and contradictions that exist therein and with regard to the change in governance. A main emphasis in this regard is also on developing quantitative and qualitative methods of empirical social research which are suitable for analysing the change in institutional constellations.

Institutional constellations on the societal macro level will be examined, which comprise the following Research Areas (RA):

• Research Area 1: Change in institutional constellations that govern Market and Economy
  (Coordination: Prof. Dr. Jürgen Beyer)
  
  
• Research Area 2: Change in institutional constellations that govern the Welfare State
  (Coordination: Prof. Dr. Birgit Pfau-Effinger und Dr. Patricia Frericks)
  
  
• Research Area 3: Change in institutional constellations that govern Climate Protection
  (Coordination: Prof. Dr. Anita Engels)
  
  
• Research Area 4: Global Governance, Constitutionalism and World Society
  (Coordination: Prof. Antje Wiener, PhD AcSS)
  
  
• Research Area 5: Change in institutional constellations that govern Family and Social Work
  (Coordination: Prof. Dr. Birgit Pfau-Effinger)

In detail, a main focus will be placed on questions relating to the conditions for the change or stability of institutional constellations, to the course of change and the role of the change in governance for the process as well as its consequences for social structures, social cohesion and the living conditions of people. These questions will be addressed from an international comparative perspective.
The participating academics cover disciplines that are of essential relevance for the analysis of change in institutional constellations, namely sociology, political sciences, economics, and meteorology (with regard to Research Area 3).