Free University of Berlin

As a sui generis system or system of its own kind, the European Union has been the subject of research and scholarship since its founding days in the 1950s. Not only did it develop from the Coal and Steal Community into a fully-fledged economic and partially political union, it also attracted ever more members to join over time, which is specifically true today: Following Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, the EU showed unprecedented unity in standing up against Putin and opening its membership door to Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia. In this course we focus on both developments: in the first part of the course, we examine they key historical stages to understand how the EU became an ever-deeper Union and learn about European integration theory, which can explain the deepening of integration to us. What does the EU regulate and how can we explain the expansion of competences under EU rule? The second part of the course covers different perspectives on the widening of EU integration – why, if at all, should the European Union enlarge? How does widening affect the deepening of EU integration? And how can EU integration support/impede the democracy and security of its candidate countries? Overall, the course combines perspectives on how the EU became what is it with discussions on the potential new Member States in order to allows students to understand the implications of new EU integration.

Programming and synchronizing concurrent processes that access shared resources: non-sequential programs and processes in their various forms; non-determinism, determination; synchronization mechanisms: locks, monitors, guards, events, semaphores; non-sequential program execution and object orientation; process control, selection strategies, priorities, dealing with and avoiding deadlocks; co-routines, implementation, multiprocessor systems; interaction via messages; programming and synchronizing concurrent processes that interact via message exchange; remote calling techniques; client-server, peer-to-peer; parallel computing on the network; coordination languages; processing on the server and on the client, mobility; middleware, structured communication, static and dynamic interfaces; event-based and stream-based processing; security of applications on the network; outlook on non-functional properties (time, memory, quality of service).

The seminar deals with the literary representations of insects. The introduction to the topic is the Czech play by the Capek brothers “From the Life of Insects” from the 1920s, in which the society of the interwar period is criticized in an allegorical manner. The traces of this short text can be found in the Russian novel “The Life of Insects” by Viktor Pelevin. The novel captures another transformative era - the geopolitical change of the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The characters show the characteristics of insects, but act like humans and experience both physical and social metamorphoses. In addition to considering the obvious intertextual references, the inclusion of Jan Švankmajer's animated film “Insects”, a free film adaptation of the play, also opens up a further intermedia perspective. The theoretical focus is on the concepts of allegory, metaphor and metamorphosis. Knowledge of the Slavic languages (Czech/Russian) is not a prerequisite for participation.

Suppose one event happens, and then another. What does it take for the first to be a cause of the second? We will consider answers to this question that reduce causation to laws of nature and to counterfactual facts. Then we will turn to grounding, which is the relation of determination that physicalists take to hold between physical facts and mental facts. We will look at the recently popular idea that grounding is closely analogous to causation, or even a kind of causation.

After decades of division and the restoration of urban normality after 1990, Berlin is in a situation that makes it sensible and exciting to take a look back at the “Golden Times” of the 1920s and compare them with the questions and problems of today's situation. With the founding of the Weimar Republic in 1918, the political framework conditions were in place to reorganize the Berlin area. The city of Berlin in its current area was created on October 1, 1920 with the “Greater Berlin Law”, which brought about the merger with 7 other cities, 59 rural communities and 27 manor districts. After this merger, Berlin developed into a metropolis in the 1920s that is still considered a symbol of modernity today. The 1920s were only “golden” for a few, but against the background of the size and anonymity of the megacity and the freedoms guaranteed by the new republic, the 1920s appeared to be a time of experiments, attractions and the fascination for the new. What problems had to be overcome back then and what solution strategies were tested and implemented? And what ideas about the future of Berlin were developed back then? Against the background outlined and in a comparative perspective, the seminar will deal with questions of local administration, economy and work, housing, transport and infrastructure and, in two main areas, with questions about population and migration as well as the offers of culture and cultural workers. Excursions in the city area and visits to museums/exhibitions are planned for the areas listed. 

Since the Covid19 pandemic and in the context of climate change, slogans such as “follow the science” or appeals to “trust science” have become ubiquitous. In fact, for modern societies, science and scientists are probably the last remaining unquestioned authorities; when we need guidance, we turn to scientific experts and trust that they will give us solid advice. However, this is a relatively new development; during the time of the ascent of the sciences, from the 18th through to the mid-20th centuries, new discoveries and inventions in the sciences as well as the scientists and inventors themselves were met with fear, skepticism or suspicion. One powerful expression of this attitude of societies towards the sciences can be found in popular works of fiction: we still use the names of fictional characters such as Faust, Frankenstein, Dr Jekyll or Dr Strangelove to characterize mad, evil or amoral scientists as well as dangerous scientific and/ or technological developments. Program: In this course, we will examine the development of literary / cultural imaginations of science and scientists, looking at key texts as well as key developments in the sciences: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, galvanism and the creation of life; Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde: experimental drugs and the split personality; H.G. Wells’ The Island of Dr Moreau: Vivisection and genetics; Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World: eugenics, genetic engineering and chemistry; the figure of the physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, the ‘father of the atomic bomb’, in post-war reality and fiction, and, finally, the benevolent scientific research on climate change as presented in Kim Stanley Robinson’s Green Earth trilogy. Based on extracts from the texts and on academic texts which contextualize and analyze the topics, discussions in class will take literature as a point of departure for a more fundamental examination of the connection between science and society.

This course seeks to examine the meaning and significance of “architecture” in one of the most historically marked cities of Europe. Berlin has been subject to many waves of renewal, some gradual, some democratic and some totalitarian. All of these have left their traces on the city’s buildings.

Although we may notice or like the appearance of particular buildings we see everyday or as tourists, their size often makes it seem as though “they have always been there.” Still, these buildings are the result of many individual, social and communal decisions. A building says a lot about the ideas held during the time it was built in. Therefore, the course will include formal and stylistic analysis of the architecture as well as focus on the historical, ideological and individual context of the works through the prism of the following question: What kind of message was this building meant to convey? In this perspective, the course gives a wide overview of the development of public and private architecture in Berlin during the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.

Following an introduction to the urban, political and cultural development and architectural history of Berlin since the middle ages, the Neo-Classical period will be surveyed with special reference to the works of Karl Friedrich Schinkel. This will be followed by classes on the developments of the German Reich after 1871, which was characterized by both modern and conservative tendencies and the manifold activities during the time of the Weimar Republic in the 1920s such as the Housing Revolution. The architecture of the Nazi period will be examined, followed by the developments in East and West Berlin after the Second World War and the traces of the Berlin wall, which are partly re-enacted. The course concludes with a detailed review of the city’s more recent and current architectural profiles, including an analysis of the conflicts concerning the re-design of Berlin after the Cold War and the German reunification.

Several walking tours to historically significant buildings and sites are included (Unter den Linden, Gendarmenmarkt, Potsdamer Platz, Holocaust Memorial, Humboldt-Forum etc.). The course aims to offer a deeper understanding of the interdependence of Berlin’s architecture and the city’s social and political structures in its historical development. It considers Berlin as a model for the highways and by-ways of a European capital in modern times.

Around the globe, right-wing populist and extremist movements and parties are on the rise. In some democracies, they have marginalized or even replaced mainstream conservative parties, in others – like in the US – they have radicalized them. In light of their typically ultranationalist (“America first”) and frequently isolationist and protectionist policy positions, it is somewhat counterintuitive that these actors would form cross-border alliances. And yet, the transnational networking of radicalized conservatives, right-wing populists and even extremists has increased in recent years. Gatherings such as the US-based Conservative Political Action Conferences (CPAC) have featured more and more international participants and high-level speakers. Common themes such as the “anti-woke agenda” can be observed across many different countries. In the seminar, we will explore the extent and relevance of these transnational networks, focusing on ideological exchanges and cross-border learning of strategies and tactics, including political communication.

Classical music is the only art form that goes directly to the human spirit, states Pierre Bourdieu. More than any other genre, classical music has been stated to divide society by race and class. Orchestras base their business model typically on a visions of a white middle-class (and middle-age) audiences.. At the same time, even modern pop musical forms often presume but rarely do cross racial lines. Why is that so and where does the racial divide in music stem from? This course examines the interplay of music and race in North American history. We will examine different genres of music across time and space with a particular eye on agency and target audience, sound and word. We will look at mostly classical musicians of the African-American diaspora and North America, including their their experiences, their art and politics, and their receptions. Through an interdisciplinary approach using history, critical race theory, and cultural sociology, we will discuss and define racism, bias, inequality, and scripts of exclusion and inclusion in both pop and classical music. Moreover, we will examine to what extent and how shared empathy through sound may have the potential to influence, perhaps even change racial conscience, decreasing discrimination and exclusion in and outside stages ranging from street gigs to the concert hall. The seminar seeks to fulfill two objectives: first, we will spend a significant amount of time considering some of the most recent literature dedicated to the history and present experience of music and race. Both historians and musicologists have identified peculiar factors informing the interplay of music and politics. These include specific music genres, minstrelsy, jazz clubs, the music industry, and the interplay of music and civil rights. What cocktail, we’ll ask eventually, does it take to activate music as an instrument of both power and suppression and how do race and music interplay? Second, we will try to understand the mechanism of sound in the name of identity, discrimination, political action and discuss whether there are particular lessons for the impending future.

As we observe increased news-avoidance, particularly among young adults, questions arise as to how journalists can counteract the trend and at the same time potentially redefine their role in public discourse. In this context, we will explore the role of constructive journalism in navigating and reporting on crises, such as natural disasters, pandemics, political upheavals, social and armed conflicts. Through a combination of theoretical discussions, case studies, and practical exercises, we will examine how journalism can go beyond traditional reporting to foster constructive dialogue, promote solutions, inspire change, and offer multiple perspectives during times of crisis. Thus the course objectives include: understanding the principles and concepts of constructive journalism, analyzing the challenges and opportunities of reporting on crises, examining case studies of constructive journalism in various crisis contexts, developing critical thinking and analytical skills in evaluating media coverage of crises, as well as practicing constructive journalism techniques through hands-on exercises and projects.