The Leipzig Research Centre Global Dynamics (ReCentGlobe) is a central institution of Leipzig University. Through broad interdisciplinary cooperation, ReCentGlobe is dedicated to the study of globalization projects in the past and present. More than 250 staff members from various faculties and subjects work together at the Centre. They collaborate in training and further educating young academics at the Graduate School Global and Area Studies (GSGAS).
Research Network
In the Central German science region, ReCentGlobe cooperates primarily with the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, as well as institutes from the Max Planck Society and the Leibniz Association, notably through the Leibniz ScienceCampus “Eastern Europe – Global Area” (EEGA), and the Forum for the Study of the Global Condition. In addition, it maintains national cooperation through CrossArea e.V. and Forum Transregionale Studien e.V. while enhancing its worldwide cooperation via a network of more than 100 partner institutions throughout all continents.
Research Programme
Globalization “as we know it” seems to have come to an end. Contrary to the expectations raised by a temporary although omnipotent ideology of globalization, the world has not become more unified, peaceful, and Westernized. Instead, it continues to be affected by ongoing conflicts and increasing inequalities while being confronted with a growing number of “global problems” – such as climate change, migration, resource scarcity, hunger, and epidemics. These circumstances require a new approach to study global dynamics:
- We have to understand the global condition as being historically transformable;
- This global condition does not originate in, nor is only driven by, the Global North. Instead, it depends on the interactions of all societies on the planet;
- Interconnections, disconnections, and realignments of cross- border linkages take place concurrently but are unevenly distributed in space and thereby lead to new inequalities;
- The new global dynamics can only be adequately understood by bringing together approaches from the humanities and social sciences with those from the natural and life sciences concerning the changes in the human- nature relationship under the conditions of the Anthropocene.
Research Areas
These views and approaches have developed within the research profile of Leipzig University and are based on many years of preliminary work in various third-party-funded projects. At ReCentGlobe, they are systematically investigated through four Research Areas:
Research Area 1 | Globalization Projects and New World Orders
RA1 analyses how (dis)entanglements of actors, institutions, and spatial phenomena changed under the global condition, together with how these processes resulted in spatial formats and integrated them into spatial orders. Global history thus becomes understandable as an enduring dialectic of de- and reterritorialization since the 18th century.
Research Area 2 | Social Cohesion, Populism, and Changing Global Condition
RA2 brings together social, cultural, political sciences, and historical research on the reasons, mechanisms, and legitimizing strategies for cohesion within and between societies. It focuses on the formation of actors that emerge in response to new global dynamics. Particular attention is being paid to the populist challenge to the liberal order in the face of the formation of transnationally organized cosmopolitan or nationalistic movements.
Research Area 3 | Religion, Knowledge, and Values: Epistemes in Global Competition
RA3 investigates the formation, enforcement, and dissemination as well as the questioning and diversification of epistemes in the past and the present. Throughout human history, religions have shaped orientation and created symbolic worlds of meaning. In the modern era, nation-states have tried to take over this function to some extent. Since the late 20th century, there has been a growth of local diversification and global diffusion of epistemes.
Research Area 4 | Resources, Environment, and Health in a Global and Planetary Context
RA4 combines social and cultural science research with historical perspectives to study resource consumption, climate change, and health. It addresses the historically and currently varying efforts of humans to cope with global and planetary challenges and investigates their role in the formation and transformation of multiple world orders.
Research Environment
Global Hub
By 2026, with 34 million euros in funding approved by the German Science Council, the Global Hub will be built in the heart of Leipzig, providing an innovative and inspiring workspace for 500 researchers.
Graduate School Global and Area Studies
The Graduate School brings together the education and training of young academics in the field of interdisciplinary globalization research. The results from the Research Areas flow directly into a unique and one of the most innovative study programmes in Germany. As of 2022, more than 50 supervisors mentor 138 PhDs and 30 postdocs from all over the world.
Theory Forum
Understanding theoretical foundations and shared concepts, traditions of knowledge production, and current research developments is organized within the Theory Forum, which is responsible for coordinating larger and longer-term publication projects, such as the 20-volume series Handbooks of Globalization Projects (Vandenhoeck&Ruprecht/Brill Germany) and the Handbook of Global History (Palgrave Macmillan).
Labs
Research is supported by three Labs: cooperation with international and regional partner institutions and supervision of an international fellow programme (Cooperation Lab); data management and digital methods (Digital Lab); and knowledge transfer, participatory knowledge production, and science communication (Transfer Lab).