The WZB Berlin Social Science Centre is Europe’s largest social science institute. Around 160 German and international researchers work at the WZB, including sociologists, political scientists, economists, legal scholars and historians.
The WZB conducts basic research with a focus on problems of modern societies in a globalised world. The research is theory-based, problem-oriented, often long-term and mostly based on international comparisons. Our research areas are:
Education, work, life chances
Markets and choice
Society and economic dynamics
International politics and law
Dynamics of political systems
Migration and diversity
Research results are published for the scientific community as well as for experts in politics, business, the media and civic organisations.
As a non-university research institute, the WZB is member of the Leibniz-Association. The WZB closely cooperates with Berlin universities. Its research directors also hold chairs at universities in Berlin and beyond.
The WZB was founded in 1969 by members of the German parliament from all parties. The WZB is funded by the federal government and the state of Berlin.
Pandemic restrictions have shuttered research projects - some, for good. The consequences for science, not to mention policy and decision making, must be addressed
The better-to-do and the established of civil and political society have become complacent and deaf to ‘those at the bottom’. The working class has gone over to the right-wing populists.
Donald Trump is the latest example of populism’s return to the global political landscape. Nine scholars from seven countries examine the link between populism and democracy.
Democracy’s problem is not the crisis but the triumph of capitalism. Democracy has become market-conforming, resulting in whole sections of society lacking meaningful representation.
Recent weeks have been all about elections and broken promises: from early April to mid-May, half-a-billion Indians went to the polls in what many described an astonishing display of democratic prowess…
Professor of Comparative Political Science and Democracy Research at the Humboldt University Berlin; Associate of the Sydney Democracy Network, University of Sydney; Director of Research Unit Democracy: Structures, Performance, Challenges, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.