Marburg (dpa/lhe) - Marburg scientists have been looking at conflicts worldwide for around 20 years and also see their research as a contribution to peace. "It is our concern to have an impact on politics and civil society," said the managing director of the Center for Conflict Research at the University of Marburg, Susanne Buckley-Zistel, the German Press Agency. The center was founded in 2001, but officially the 20th anniversary will only be celebrated now, next Friday (July 15) due to corona.
The changed conflict situations - national and international - or new questions and perspectives are reflected in the work of the center. "Of course, you can also see changes in the world in peace and conflict research," said Buckley-Zistel. Therefore, the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine will also occupy research in the next few years.
"In my personal opinion, what we have to deal with is: How does the war in Ukraine change norms and values in Germany? Decades of achievements in German peace policy were quickly overturned," said the professor, referring to this, for example Billions program to upgrade the Bundeswehr. It is important to think again about what these developments mean.
The Center for Conflict Research works in an interdisciplinary manner and focuses on central social and international conflict situations in teaching and research. According to Buckley-Zistel, the aim is to do innovative research, explore new topics and find relevant questions. "We always try to look a little further, a little deeper." The Marburg researchers, together with colleagues from other universities, are currently investigating how power structures from the colonial era affect today's conflicts.
