Research

Gradient with text research
© Copyright: André Brodocz

Current research interests

  • In theoretical terms, André Brodocz's research interests lie in the further development of agonistic theories of democracy and systems theory as well as in the reconceptualisation of the concept of power. In empirical terms, he is currently focussing on political practices in pandemic times of exception, on claims to representation in ecological conflicts and on struggles for interpretative power and crisis narratives in democracies.

Ongoing research projects funded by third parties

  • "How are law and politics reconfigured by the constitutional transformations in Bolivia and Ecuador? A system-theoretical analysis" (2024-2027, DFG) The project is being carried out by Dr Franz Xavier Barrios Suvelza, Professor André Brodocz and Dr Hannah Vermaßen.
  • The Gerda Henkel Foundation is funding the research group "Ecological Conflicts: Representational Claims and Strategies in the Dispute over the Coming Society", headed by Dr Vincent August (HU Berlin) and Professor André Brodocz, with approximately EUR 240,000 from 2023 to 2026. Further information can be found here
  • The Federal Ministry of Education and Research is funding the competence network "Postcolonial Hierarchies in Peace and Conflict" from 2022 to 2026 with approx. 4 million euros, in which Professor Dr André Brodocz and Hanna Schnieders, M.A., from the professorship for Political Theory as well as researchers from the Centre for Conflict Research (Marburg), the DFG Cluster of Excellence "Africa Multiple" (Bayreuth) and the Center for Political Practices and Orders ("C2PO", Erfurt) as well as the Arnold Bergstraesser Institute in Freiburg are involved. Further information on the network can be found here

Completed externally funded research projects

  • The Volkswagen Foundation funded the project "A 'Democratic State of Exception': The corona virus controversy in Germany" in the period from May 2021 to June 2023. The project investigated the extent to which a 'democratic state of exception' was created in the democratic public debates on the corona crisis and what opportunities and risks were associated with it. Professor Dr André Brodocz and Dr Hagen Schölzel were responsible for the project. The book "Demokratische Auszeit" has been published by transcript Verlag
  • "Demokratievorstellungen und Parteienverdrossenheit unter Jugendlichen in Thüringen" (Thuringian Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport and the Stiftung Demokratische Jugend, 2017-2019) André Brodocz, Guido Mehlkop and Hannah Vermaßen conducted a representative survey of around 3,000 young people in Thuringia on behalf of the Landesjugendring Thüringen e.V. to investigate how different ideas of "democracy" influence young people's trust in political parties. The research report "Ideas of democracy and disenchantment with political parties among young people in Thuringia" can be found here. The appendix to the report can be found here.
  • "The local politicisation of global norms" (Thuringian Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, 2014-2017) The project group led by André Brodocz, Oliver Kessler, Martin Fuchs and Andreas Pettenkofer investigated the conditions under which norms with a global claim to validity (such as human rights, sustainability, rule of law, accountability) are actually accepted. Further information ...
  • "The institutionalisation of interpretative power by international administrations in post-conflict societies. An analysis of the Transitional Authority in Kosovo and Cambodia" (DFG, 2010-2014)
    In this project, Thorsten Bonacker, André Brodocz, Werner Distler and Katrin Travoullion investigated the extent to which UN-led administrations succeed in being recognised as legitimate governments in post-conflict societies. In particular, case studies on the UN administrations in Cambodia and Kosovo were used to analyse the transformation of political authority to national and local institutions.