About us
History
In the late 1950s, Arnold Bergstraesser was one of the first to stress the potential of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East as partners in international economics and politics. In the second half of the 1960s, the Institute made a fundamental strategic decision on research policy. As a medium-sized institution, the ABI did not have the resources for wide-ranging area studies. Accordingly, it would henceforth focus its research and training on specific topics like education and political development.
Development of research
The Institute's origins in the Freiburg School of "synoptic political science" and its emphasis on in-depth cultural studies gave it a "scientific locational advantage". Elsewhere the relevance of this approach was realized, or rediscovered, only much later. This combination is rooted in the insight that it is pointless to analyse political processes and development policy in countries with different cultures without knowledge of these cultures, notably their history, languages and religions. Hence, as part of its training for young social scientists, the Institute insists that they spend lengthy periods in the relevant countries and cultural regions of their chosen field of study. Authorship of a thoroughly researched country monograph is a time-tested prerequisite for a permanent position as a social scientist at the Institute. Thanks to this focus on in-depth cultural studies, comparative empirical social research abroad has been an ABI brand label for the past two decades.
Given this background, it was natural that in its early years, the 1960s and 1970s, the Institute chose to focus on topics related to modernisation theory, the dominant global interpretive model at the time. Despite its weaknesses and undifferentiated approach, two crucial elements of the model have stood the test of time: its core moral claim that crucial elements of western society – human rights and democracy – have universal application, and the fundamental assumption social change is a global process – which, as globalisation, has since acquired a life of its own. Research findings in different regions substantiated the implications of the theory: the structure of the modern territorial state, its ability to adapt to change and enhance efficiency, and its stability were the crucial determinants for development and the most important conditions for foreign aid. Numerous case studies verified that the fundamental factor for developmental ability was the educational system and for stability the administrative system.
Consequently, a political and cultural approach to both educational and administrative research appeared to be the best vehicle for a more immediate and accurate analysis of developmental competencies and determinants of stability in – for the most part fragile – state structures in the Third World. Both offered a theoretical starting point that allowed a systematic insight into the political systems of the relevant states and their specific development problems and facilitated comparative studies between countries for general cognitive purposes. Over and above this, these two focuses had the advantage that they could be utilized for practical development policies, projects to promote education, and administrative reform.
Each of these priority focuses led to another. In many studies on educational policy it became obvious to what extent educational conflicts generated and politicised ethnic conflicts. Hence, ethnic conflicts and possibilities of regulating them became a topic of particular interest. The empirical studies on administration led to the insight that the most serious problems facing efficient administration are caused by internal migration to urban centres. Consequently, research on migration and development merit special attention.
Since the end of the Cold War, the tectonic plates of international politics have shifted. With the spread of globalisation, the pace of modernisation has speeded up. The Institute has responded by focusing more strongly on the effects, notably the crucial international political and economic risks associated with these developments, especially as they affect the countries of the South. Since the early 1990s, human rights and their protection within frameworks of democracy and the rule of law have come to be recognized as the international norm. The process of liberalisation has shaken the foundations of apparently entrenched authoritarian systems; the forces of democracy are gaining ground. At the same time, modernisation and globalisation are actively resisted in many parts of the world. The universalistic claim of democracy is disputed as inconsistent with ethnic, national or fundamentalist religious values. Without solid socio-scientific cultural analysis of these complex situations of tension and conflict, it is impossible to come to grips with them. Hence, there is a very close link between processes of democratisation and ethno-religious conflict, two of the Institute's research priorities.
At the international level a new phenomenon is the emergence of supranational systems of interaction. New forms of international cooperation, but also supranational systems of conflict, can only be understood against the backdrop of specific cultural dependencies and determinants. To investigate these questions, the Institute has introduced a new focus of research in international cooperation and global governance.
The common element in the two new research focuses is the attempt to identify conditions and modalities of good governance. The crucial concern in the study of relations within and between states is to find a response to conflict that allows efforts to promote economic and social development a reasonable change of success.