Centrum für Globalisierung und Governance (CGG)
The CGG is an interdisciplinary research center of the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Hamburg. Research at the CGG is carried out with third party funding from renowned institutions with a particular focus on funding from the German Research Council (DFG) and the EU. Since its establishment in 2004, the CGG has been instrumental in increasing the international visibility of research performed by the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Hamburg. The center has a clear commitment to criteria of academic excellence, a strong international orientation as regards its research profile, and a broad range of publication activity that includes the English-speaking world. Furthermore, the staff at the CGG guide and participate in international research programs, organize international conferences and workshops, and invite distinguished foreign researchers as speakers for lecture series at the university.
The center aims to increase the understanding of the processes and effects of globalization and to contribute to the development of ongoing empirical research as well as the theoretical and methodological frameworks used to analyze the interaction between globalization and development in individual societies. In a research program running from 2009 to 2014 entitled “Globalization and Change in Institutional Constellations,” the CGG developed a thematically innovative research profile that is significantly different to the profile of comparable research centers. Specifically, it deals with an international comparative analysis of the (sometimes highly contradictory) change in institutional constellations caused by processes such as globalization, EU integration, and endogenous processes of change in national societies when this is accompanied by changes in governance structures. The program also explores the development of institutions and governance structures in multi-level systems (at the local, national, international, and transnational levels). Furthermore, the question is asked how actors and social networks influence change and what role is played by new forms of social networks at the different levels of the international multi-level system.
The CGG investigates the following research questions:
- How do key institutional departments and governance structures change in contemporary societies in the context of globalization and endogenously induced social change? How can international differences be explained?
- What is the importance for change of cultural values, actor constellations, and social networks?
- What characterizes the shift from interstate to global forms of governance?
- What are the consequences of these processes in terms of work, the economy, social inequality, and social cohesion?
At present, more than 30 professors are carrying out research at the CGG in addition to more than 70 junior academics from various disciplines such as sociology, political science, business, economics, law, journalism, publishing, communication studies, and meteorology.
Work at the CGG is currently divided into six research areas, each of which examines change in institutional constellations and governance structures as well as change in multilevel systems in various areas of society, including business, state welfare, environmental protection, international relations, paid employment, the family, and social networks.
Research Areas (RA) of the CGG
- Research Area 1: Institutional Constellations that Govern Markets and the Economy (Head: PD Dr. Konstanze Senge (acting head))
- Research Area 2: Change in Institutional Constellations of the Welfare State (Head: Prof. Dr. Birgit Pfau-Effinger and PD Dr. Patricia Frericks) (Head: Prof. Dr. Anita Engels)
- Research Area 4: Global Governance, Constitutionalism and World Society (Head: Prof. Antje Wiener, PhD AcSS)
- Research Area 5: Change in Institutional Constellations and Cultural Models that Frame the Work-Family Relationship (Head: Prof. Dr. Birgit Pfau-Effinger)
In this context, around 25 research projects are carried out, financed by prominent third-party sponsors such as the DFG and the EU as well as numerous federal ministries and well-known foundations.
The CGG has also been involved in the successful acquisition of a cluster of excellence (CliSAP) against competition from German universities, in attracting external funding for the development of an application for a special research area (transregion) for the DFG, and in acquiring an EU network of excellence (RECWOWE). In addition, the members have secured a number of research projects from renowned research funding bodies in Germany and abroad.
Furthermore, by extending targeted support to doctoral students, the research center also makes a significant contribution to the training of young academics at the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences.
CGG Board of Scientific Directors
- Prof. Dr. Anita Engels (Executive Scientific Director)
- Prof. Dr. Anke Gerber
- Prof. Dr. Birgit Pfau-Effinger