Economic activity is always embedded in society. On the one hand, a functioning economy depends on social services that it cannot produce itself, such as trust, willingness to cooperate, unpaid care work, reliable legal frameworks and normative orientations.

On the other hand, every economic system has a formative effect on the society in which it is embedded. While it enables prosperity and participation, it can also deepen social inequalities and place a strain on both people and nature.

Economic structures do not follow natural laws to which humans are subject. They arise from social action and cultural practices and are therefore changeable.

Economic processes create areas of tension – between individual and collective interests, and between current decisions and future consequences.

The Political Economy research unit is dedicated to investigating these areas of tension.

Symposium „Europe’s industrial policy options in the digital, green and geoeconomic transitions“ im Xplanatorium Schloss Herrenhausen, Hannover vom 15. April bis 17. April 2026

Funding institution: VolkswagenStiftung

Head: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Helen Callaghan
Project participants: Dr. Timur Ergen, Robert Hancké

Europe’s industrial policy options in the digital, green and geoeconomic transitions

Europe’s democracies are challenged by three interlocking global crises that place competing demands on finite ressources. Geopolitical realignment necessitates radically increased defense spending while disrupting trade routes and supply chains. The climate crisis requires funding for mitigation, adaptation and compensation of affected constituencies at home and in the Global South. Rapid technological change implies rising demands for state assistance with industrial restructuring and technological upgrading.

To debate European business strategy and industrial policy options in the face of these crises and the competing claims on strained ressources, we will convene a three day international symposium in April 2026, funded by the Volkswagen Foundation. Roundtables will cover the following topics (1) Europe’s place in the post-liberal international political economy; (2) Incentive structures of the digital and green transitions; (3) Industrial policy implications of new business models; (4) New industrial policies in historical perspective; (5) National growth models in a changing geoeconomic context.

Project: "Netzwork International and Comparative Political Economy"

Funding institution: Rhein-Main-Universitäten Förderlinie "Förderung der RMU-Vernetzung in innovativen Projekten"

Head: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Helen Callaghan

Political economy, as a subfield of political science, has suffered from excessive internal differentiation for decades. Particularly problematic are the underdeveloped dialogue between comparative political economy (CPE) and international political economy (IPE), as well as the lack of exchange between regional experts for OECD countries and the Global South.

Our RMU network is dedicated to the goal of promoting the urgently needed bridging of these sub-disciplines from both directions.

Our research programme consists of making theories and concepts of IPÖ and VPÖ reciprocally usable by specifically selecting, applying and further developing suitable research topics, theories and concepts. In doing so, due consideration should also be given to the growing importance of large emerging economies in the global economic system.

The planned activities aim to consolidate cooperation through the joint acquisition of third-party funding for teaching and research projects. In addition, the international visibility of our research and teaching programme is to be strengthened by organising several conference panels and subsequently publishing a special journal issue.

Constructive, cooperative, digital: Feedback concepts for promoting academic orientation among students

Head: Dr. Ruben Kremers

Funded by the Gutenberg Teaching Council (GTC)

Project: ‘Conflicts of interest regarding the Europeanisation of the legal framework for sustainable corporate governance: A comparison of the positions and strategies of German and Polish business associations’

Funding institution: Deutsch-Polnische Wissenschaftsstiftung (DPWS)

Head: Prof. Dr. Helen Callaghan
Collaboration: Prof. Rafal Riedel / Universität Opole

With the Green Deal, the European Union (EU) has launched an ambitious roadmap for a sustainable economy and society. A key component of this is the Sustainable Corporate Governance Initiative, which was launched in 2020. It aims to use EU company law directives to place greater responsibility on companies to act in an environmentally and socially sustainable manner.

Sustainability obligations entail costs for companies. At national level, corresponding legislation therefore often fails due to resistance from national business and industry associations, which point to competitive disadvantages. At European level, the situation is more complicated. The obligations that companies already have to comply with under national laws vary from member state to member state. This also means that interests differ. Companies from Poland and other member states that have been subject to comparatively weak sustainability obligations to date face significantly higher adjustment costs than German companies.

This raises the following questions: To what extent are the different national legal situations in Germany and Poland reflected in the positions of national trade associations on European legislative initiatives? To what extent do these divergences weaken the ability of European umbrella organisations to exert their influence at EU level? Are there any observable sectoral differences? Whose voices are heard in the event of diverging interests, and why?

The answers to these questions are not only relevant for basic political science research on the conditions for successful cross-border cooperation and the Europeanisation of interest groups. They also help to identify and remove political obstacles that are slowing down the integration of the European Economic Area. The already flourishing teaching collaboration between the research partners will benefit from the project and ensure the involvement of qualified
young researchers.

Grant: Foundation for Innovation in University Teaching
Lead: Prof. Dr. Helen Callaghan
Employees: Dipl.-Pol. Dorothea Klotter, Dr. Friedrich Plank, Dr. Jürgen Unger-Sirsch

The experiences from past Corona semesters have highlighted the challenges, but also the opportunities, of digital teaching and learning.

Building on these experiences and innovative JGU projects of recent years, the project "Mainz Models for Digitally Enhanced Teaching and Learning (ModeLL-M). Strengthening Feedback, Activation, self-management, and Collaboration through Hybrid Learning Settings" addresses the complex interactive relationships of teaching and learning.

ModeLL-M is one of 139 projects nationwide that are funded by the foundation "Innovation in university teaching" within the framework of the call for proposals "Strengthening university teaching through digitalization" (2020).

Model Area C: Lecture.21

At the Institute for Political Science, six large bachelor's lectures are currently being re-conceptualized due to the appointment of three new professorships. This provides a rare opportunity to fundamentally rethink lecture-based content delivery. Similar to the pilot CoP, we also see great potential for improvement regarding self-management, feedback, collaboration, and activation.

In the social science context, imparting factual knowledge is not the most important learning objective, even in bachelor's degree programs. Independent critical thinking and the ability to weigh different perspectives against each other or to transfer and apply basic knowledge are underserved by frontal teaching. Following the recommendations of the ZQ of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, our CoP therefore also wants to implement the shift from teaching to learning in the area of the lecture. The sage on the stage should more often give way to the guide on the side. For this, we choose a multi-stage approach. Modules of activating teaching will first be developed and tested in relation to three content-complementary lectures on European integration and then transferred to other lectures at the Institute. The resulting, tested, and Political Science-tailored toolkit for innovative lectures will then be available to all members of the Institute and the public.

Head in Mainz: Dr. Ruben Kremers
cooperative research seminar "Exploring the Frankfurt Financial Center"

The Rhine-Main region is significantly shaped by the international importance of the Frankfurt Financial Center. Nowhere is the political influence and economic power of the financial sector as visible and tangible as in Frankfurt's banking district. But what exact role does the local Frankfurt Financial Center play in the global financial market architecture? Which actors and institutions (inter-)act here? Which products and services circulate? Which rules and laws apply? Which infrastructures are available? What can be learned in Frankfurt about the history of the financial sector, about scandals, crimes, and political resistance? And finally: What new insights and perspectives does Frankfurt offer on the role of the financial sector in capitalist democracies and in Global Political Economy?
The seminar offers students the opportunity to answer these and other questions within the framework of guided research projects and excursions in small groups. It pursues the university teaching approach of research-based learning. The seminar includes a theoretical introduction to the political economy of financial markets, several excursions to important financial centers in Frankfurt, a tour through Frankfurt's banking district, and a series of student research projects.

The Research unit offers the following courses in the current semester.