WZB - Berlin Social Science Center

East Germany

Taking in refugees does not strongly influence xenophobia

The reception of refugees in East German communities did not lead to changes in voting behaviour or attitudes to migration. This is the main finding of a study conducted by Max Schaub (WZB), Johanna Gereke (MZES), and Delia Baldassarri (New York University). In the over 200 East German communities they examined, negative attitudes to migration were widespread. However, the arrival of refugees in the immediate neighbourhood had hardly any influence on these attitudes.

 

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Lateinamerika Covid
Tarik Kizilkaya / E+ / Getty Images

Innovations against the Pandemic

During the pandemic in Latin America, civil society began to initiate many digital democratic innovations, as Thamy Pogrebinschi analyses in our Corona series.

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Menschenmenge
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WZB series

Coronavirus and its Societal Impact

A series of analyses, considerations and hypotheses by WZB researchers.

New Publication

Populism and the dissatisfied

The global success of populist parties has spurred a discourse on the „losers of globalization”. Consequently, discussions often focus on the role of economic, social or cultural grievances. So far however, public debate as well as most of scientific research has lacked a systematic approach. By using representative data for Germany, Heiko Giebler, Magdalena Hirsch, Benjamin Schürmann and Susanne Veit have subjected one such theory to rigorous testing.

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Foto: Bernhard Ludewig
Foto: Bernhard Ludewig
Call for Nominations

A.SK Social Science Award 2021

For the eighth time, the WZB invites nominations for the A.SK Social Science Award. Endowed with 200,000 U.S. dollars, it is awarded every two years and is one of the world’s largest in the social sciences. The award recognizes researchers who make outstanding contributions to social and political reform.

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Portrait Foto Prof. Dr. Rainer Forst (FAZ/Foto Röth)
FAZ/Foto Röth
British Academy

Rainer Forst appointed as „Corresponding Fellow“

The British Academy has appointed Rainer Forst, a WZB Research Professor of Political Theory, as a "Corresponding Fellow".

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Donations in Euro
iStock / Getty Images Plus / claudiodivizia

Online advertising increases donations

Online fundraising can help NGOs increase donations - both in frequency and in volume. These are the findings from an experiment conducted by WZB researchers Maja Adena und Anselm Hager.

Platform for Protest and Conflict in Europe

The "Observatory for Political Conflict and Democracy (PolDem)" is a new platform that produces and houses datasets on the long-term development of election campaigns, protests, and public debates. The data, based on quantitative analyses of media texts, enables researchers to trace the long-term development of conflict structures and dynamics throughout Europe. It is launched by the Center for Civil Society Research at WZB and the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence.

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Covid
iStock / Getty Images Plus / Ca-ssis
New working paper

The Politics of Covid-19 Mortality

In a new project, a team from the Institutions and Political Inequality Research Unit explores how country and government features relate to Covid-19 mortality. They find that over time, measures of government effectiveness and institutional trust become powerful predictors of the distribution of Covid-19 deaths.

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Brexit
robertiez/iStock / Getty Images Plus

Uncertainty leads to emigration

The Brexit vote has led to a massive increase of British citizens emigrating to European Union countries. Since the June 2016 referendum, the increase has amounted to an average migration of around 17,000 persons per year, or 30 percent more compared to the average migration between years 2008 to 2015. These are findings from a new study co-authored by WZB researcher Daniel Auer and Daniel Tetlow of the “Oxford in Berlin” research group. 

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Zwei Männer im Corona-Kreis auf grüner Wiese
Uwe Anspach / dpa picture alliance
WZB-Mitteilungen

Perspectives on the Pandemic

The new issue of WZB-Mitteilungen shows how far-reaching the effects of the coronavirus pandemic are. This issue is unusually comprehensive; it collects articles on democracy and the working world, on social conditions, on digitization as well as on science's part in all of this.

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field
New publication

Towards Safer Fieldwork

A new volume aims to make fieldwork safer by exploring ways to manage the risks arising across various political, social and economic contexts.

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john keane
David Ausserhofer
New publication

The New Despotism

John Keane looks with concern at political developments in many countries of the world, as the values and institutions of liberal democracies are increasingly coming under threat.

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Events

Tuesday, 29 September 2020
Thursday, 8 October 2020
Thursday, 8 October 2020

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Research

The WZB Berlin Social Science Center investigates fundamental societal issues. Our focus is on education and work, markets and choice, migration, democracy and autocracy, international politics and law. At the WZB researchers from various disciplines work together – mainly from sociology, political science, economics, law and psychology.

 

WZB in the media

die tageszeitung, 23 September
Nette Nachbarschaft
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 22 September
Wie populistisch sind wir Deutschen?
Das Deutsche Schulportal, 15 September
Jugendliche unterscheiden nicht zwischen online und offline

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