Erfahrungsberichte
Sommersemester 2025
Elias Grohmann - Bachelorarbeit „Brandmauer oder Brandbeschleuniger? “
Mit dem Aufstieg der neuen Rechten und dem daraus resultierenden Rechtsruck sowohl auf politischer, als auch auf gesellschaftlicher Ebene steht die Demokratie in Deutschland zunehmend unter größer werdendem Druck. In meiner Bachelorarbeit „Brandmauer oder Brandbeschleuniger? Warum die Positionsangleichung der CSU an die Bayern-AfD diese in Bayern nicht zurückdrängen konnte – eine hegemonietheoretische Analyse“ habe ich untersucht, warum die Strategie der inhaltlichen Annäherung der CSU an die AfD Bayern nicht zu einer Schwächung der AfD als parlamentarischer Arm der sogenannten „Neuen Rechten“ geführt hat. Im weiteren Verlauf der Arbeit konnten dabei ebenfalls Argumente dafür gefunden werden, warum diese Strategie die AfD eher stärkt und sie in ihren radikalen Forderungen legitimiert.
Basierend auf zentralen Ansätzen aus der Hegemonietheorie und in einem poststrukturalistischen Diskursverständnis wurden 68 Reden sowie Wahlprogramme der AfD Bayern und der CSU im Zeitraum von 2012 bis 2025 in einer Triangulation aus lexikometrischen Methoden und Analyse narrativer Muster analysiert. Die Korpuserhebung zeigte sich dabei als besonders herausfordernd. Um an die benötigten Reden wie Reden auf dem politischen Aschermittwoch oder dem Volksfest Gilamoos, sowie Parteitagsreden oder Wahlkampf- und Demonstrationsreden in transkribierter Form zu kommen, wurden zunächst die zu untersuchenden Parteien und deren Archive angefragt. Da aber die Hans-Seidel-Stiftung kein entsprechendes Archivmaterial der CSU im betreffenden Zeitraum zur Verfügung hatte und die AfD-Bayern sich auf die Anfrage nicht zurückgemeldet hatte, musste der Korpus anders erhoben werden. Schlussendlich wurde der Korpus von den parteieigenen YouTube-Kanälen sowie Kanälen großer Nachrichtensender, auf denen ein großer Teil der zu untersuchenden Reden vollständig hochgeladen worden ist, entnommen. Hierbei stellte sich aber die Herausforderung der Transkription, wobei eine händische Transkription von über 40 Stunden Videomaterial im gegebenen Zeitraum quasi unmöglich gewesen wäre. Es musste also auf eine Transkriptionssoftware zurückgegriffen werden, wobei sich im Endeffekt auf die KI-basierte Software von MAXQDA festgelegt wurde. Nach einem einstündigen Probekontingent ist diese Software allerdings kostenpflichtig, wobei ein Kontingent von 20 Stunden transkribiertem Videomaterial 178,50 € kostet. Damit wären die anfallenden Kosten für die notwendige Transkription des Korpus dieser Bachelorarbeit kaum finanzierbar gewesen. Nur durch die Förderung von POLIS, Förderverein für Politikwissenschaft an der Universität Tübingen e. V., in Höhe von 178,50 € für die benötigte Transkriptionssoftware konnte der Korpus schlussendlich doch vollständig erhoben und anschließend auf Basis des Forschungskonzeptes analysiert werden.
Die Forschungsarbeit konnte auf Basis des erhobenen Korpus zeigen, dass sich die CSU in mehreren Politikfeldern inhaltlich an die AfD angenähert hat, ohne sich gleichzeitig klar abzugrenzen. Aus Theorie und Empirie konnten dabei Argumente dargestellt werden, dass diese Strategie die Position der AfD hegemonial stabilisiert, weil sie deren radikale Forderungen legitimiert und verstärkt. Die CSU scheitert in ihrer hegemonial defensiven Strategie gegen die AfD und die Neue Rechte und ist damit nicht die Brandmauer, sondern eher Brandbeschleuniger. Die Förderung durch POLIS war dabei ein elementarer Bestandteil des Forschungsprozesses, ohne den die Finanzierung und Machbarkeit dieser Forschungsarbeit nicht möglich gewesen wären.
Micha Bröckling -
International Conference on Conflict and Violence Research, Bielefeld 2025
From 17.-19. September 2025, I attended the International Conference on Conflict and Violence Research. The conference was hosted by the renowned Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence (IKG) at Bielefeld University.
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After a long and delayed train journey from Tübingen, I was pleased to arrive in Bielefeld 'only' two hours late. From the first panel, it was clear that the atmosphere was very welcoming to newcomers, and that networking with other researchers would be straightforward. I was fortunate to meet scholars from around the world and learn about their interest in the conflict-climate change nexus. Although the IKG is an interdisciplinary institution, I was surprised by the number of different research fields interested in the topic, and by how little I knew beyond my own academic background. I was particularly struck by the large number of psychologists, both clinical and social, and their particular focus on quantitative research.
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I will remember the discussion between Michał Bilewicz, Tereza Capelos, Karen Devries, Daniela Fuhr and Andreas Zick. They all emphasised the tremendous need for research in this field and the underlying pessimism involved in conducting scientific research on a subject that is currently undergoing a turn towards the worse.
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Finally, I presented my own research in the panel 'Social unrest in times of climate change'. Fortunately, there was only one other researcher on the panel with me, which gave us both extensive time to answer questions and engage with the audience. I received very supportive feedback on my talk, as well as interesting suggestions for developing my research further. I was surprised to find that my very interpretive research design was absolutely convincing to a room of mostly quantitatively oriented scholars. I left the panel feeling highly motivated for the next few months of my PhD.
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Overall, I found the conference really inspiring. I had never attended a conference alone before and was anxious about presenting my research to such experienced scholars. However, after three days, I was extremely glad I had taken the step. It gave me confidence in my research and encouraged me to continue along this path. I am now convinced that my research project is both feasible and of interest to a wider academic audience. I left with lots of new ideas and inspiration, as well as a network of interesting scholars that I hope to meet again soon.
Carolina Riera San Emeterio - Master thesis in Public Policy and Social Change
The thesis consisted of an exploratory and case study research on the topic of Child and Early Marriages and Unions (CEMU) in Wichí indigenous communities in Salta province, Argentina. In a context where research on CEMU is scarce in the South American context and almost nonexistent in Argentina, this research sought to shed light on the phenomenon in indigenous populations, taking as a case study the Wichí people, one of the biggest ethnic groups in the country. Specifically, it sought to answer, adopting an intersectional approach, in what ways structural and material factors, and social and gender norms influence the occurrence and persistence of CEMU in these communities. Moreover, it sustained a special focus on decision-making processes related to children and youth agency, seeking to understand both macro and micro levels of the phenomenon.
To gather the data, 21 semi-structured interviews were conducted both online and on-site during a 7-day fieldwork stage in the province of Salta, Argentina. Both experts working in the non-profit sector and public institutions with the communities were interviewed, as well as members of the communities from different age groups, in order to capture both perspectives on the matter. Particularly, I had the opportunity to visit and conduct interviews in three peri-urban communities in the surroundings of Tartagal and General Mosconi cities, and in a nutritional rehabilitation centre run by a local foundation located close to Wichí rural settlements, approximately 40 kilometres away from Tartagal city.
For data analysis, thematic analysis of the interviews was used, with a deductive coding approach based on the literature review, although it remained flexible to themes that could emerge.
The results show that CEMU exists among both men and women in Wichí communities and that it adopts an informal nature—meaning it involves no civil institutions as intermediaries. Multiple causal mechanisms were identified, linked to structural and material factors (e.g., access to education and labour market opportunities, sexual and reproductive education and health), the role of social and gender norms (e.g., about the sexual division of labour and transitions to adulthood), and the complex interaction between the two. Moreover, an emerging category appeared during the analysis, related to the impact of recent historical and social transformations in child–parent relationships. A loss of parental influence was observed concerning the selection of partners and the timing of unions and marriages.
In this sense, one of the most important findings was that CEMU is largely a new phenomenon of recent decades. Specifically, a downward trend in the age of unions has been observed, beginning sometimes as early as 10 or 11 years of age, often between peers or those of a similar age, and being commonly voluntary. However, it was also noted that such decision-making and agency was mostly constrained. Wich children acted many times as opportunistic strategic actors who sought to give meaning to their lives through CEMU despite the limited life options and structural and normative constraints placed upon them.
POLIS funding was essential for conducting my in-person fieldwork and for partially covering travel expenses. Without this support, achieving the research objectives set at the beginning of this thesis would have been considerably difficult.