About us

The professorship of Political Science, especially History and Theory of Political Thought at the Universität Hamburg is dedicated to researching and communicating the social and discursive foundations, the history of ideas as well as the forms of appearance and development of political institutions and forms of thought that have emerged in Europe since the modern era. The scientific interest is based on the relevance of these developments for understanding and shaping current transformation processes of state, politics and democracy at a national, European and global level.

The profile of the professorship, which has emerged from the Heisenburg Professorship "Europe and Modernity", is thus characterized by an integral program that encompasses both conceptual and real history as well as historical, systematic and contemporary questions, problems and approaches. This results from the conviction that the parallel consideration of these different dimensions is indispensable in order to understand and deal with the historicity and contingency of the conditions and problems of the present and future. Research and teaching carried out by the staff of the professorship are therefore committed to an interdisciplinary approach that integrates theoretical, historical and current approaches to the extent required for an adequate understanding of their subjects.