Security policy: Merging widely varied perspectives

Ten FAU experts involved in newly established Bavarian research alliance

Within a matter of weeks, US President Trump has turned the security policy of his country on its head, demonstrating the complexity of the dynamics concerning peace, conflicts and security across the globe. These dynamics are the focus of the newly founded Bavarian research alliance for research into peace, conflict and security. Ten researchers from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) are involved. One of them is Prof. Dr. Marco Bünte, Professorship for Politics and Society in Asia. In our interview he explains the objectives of the new alliance.

Donald Trump’s policies are facing Germany and Europe with entirely new challenges. What contribution can research into peace, conflict and security research make?

World order undergoing profound change. Today, the security agenda is characterized by a number of non-military security risks such as poverty, climate change, the rise of illiberal and authoritative regimes, religious fundamentalism or migration. The rise of new powers such as BRICS is a challenge for the West. The Bavarian research alliance is investigating these challenges in an attempt to offer solutions.

Which topics should definitely be addressed or explored in greater depth by scholars against the backdrop of current developments?

I’d like to give you an example: Russia’s war against Ukraine has been making itself felt in Germany for some time now, for instance in the form of cyber attacks on critical infrastructure or the distribution of fake news grasped by right-wing parties and spread further. Research into peace, conflict and security investigates this form of hybrid warfare and discusses the resilience of Western societies or democratic institutions.

The network unites researchers from various disciplines. How important is interdisciplinary collaboration for conducting research into and understanding international security policy?

We focus on bringing together very different perspectives in the modern world. A combination of computer science and cyber sciences help to investigate cyber warfare and digital disinformation, and reflecting on ethics and war from a humanities and cultural sciences perspective plays just as much of a role as technological innovations in developing new weapons.

The alliance works in four multidisciplinary clusters tackling different challenges of today’s times: war and peace, international law and human rights, culture and democracy, and economics, technology and the climate. These clusters are intended to generate new impetus for collaborative research projects and organize joint events.

What contribution will FAU researchers make?

The FAU researchers are predominantly from the humanities and social sciences. FAU’s contribution is based on our strengths in the areas of human rights and area studies, in particular regarding Chinese studies and politics in the Middle East and Asia.

How will the research from this network specifically shape policymaking?

We plan to make a specific contribution to politics. In future, we hope to not only provide policy briefs but also to organize events at the state parliament or on the fringes of the Security Conference. For example, this year a podium discussion was organized to mark the launch of the Security Conference, in which participants discussed the role of artificial intelligence for war and peace. FAU professor Katrin Kinzelbach reported on her project on the role of geodata in monitoring and documenting human rights violations in areas that are largely inaccessible due to security concerns.

Further information:

Prof. Dr. Marco Bünte
Professorship for Politics and Society in Asia
marco.buente@fau.de