Chair of Political Theory and the History of Ideas

The Chair of Political Theory and the History of Ideas looks at the fundamentals of political science. Our seminars and lectures in Political Theory cover the basic concepts of politics, existing theoretical approaches for its study and normative justification strategies. In the History of Ideas, we teach on the historical sources of political thinking as well as epistemology and methods of interpretation. Both our teaching and research focus on the systematic combination of conceptual, normative and empirical questions of the subject matter – also with regard to the career prospects of the graduates. We offer one seminar in English in each of our B.A. and M.A. modules.

The Chair’s research is also internationally oriented. Current work focuses on the modern theory of democracy, critical theory, the political ideas of the 19th and 20th Centuries, as well as comprehensive editorial projects.