Institutions & Scholars

Here, you find a collection of institutions and researchers in the various social science disciplines that focus on (international) comparative analysis in theory and practice. We consider this list as an organic collection and welcome additional recommendations!

Communication and Media Studies

  • Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research, Institute for Historic Journalism, Communication and Media Studies, University of Bremen, Germany. As an inter-faculty research institute, the center bundles research activities in the area of media and communicative change regarding a broad range of cultural, social, organizational and technological context fields. The research institute is committed to interdisciplinary cooperation, integrating researchers from the areas of media and communication studies, cultural studies, information management and media pedagogics. One aim ist he critical enhancement and development of media and communication theories – especially with regard to ist application in international comparative contexts.   →   See especially Prof. Dr. Stefanie Averbeck-Lietz
  • Chair of Journalism Studies, Institute for Communication Studies and Media Research, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany. Research and teaching activities of Professor Hanitzsch and his team emphasize an international and comparative perspective. Specific attention is paid to the current, and partly dramatic, transformations of journalism throughout the world. In a broader interdisciplinary context, they explore issues at the intersection between communication research, political science, sociology and social psychology.   →   See especially Prof. Dr. Thomas Hanitzsch 
  • Chair of Media Systems in International Comparison, Institute for Media Studies, Ruhruniversität Bochum, Germany.   →   See especially Prof. Dr. Barbara Thomaß
  • Department of Media and Communications, LSE London School of Economics, London, UK. The work of the department is strongly comparative and transnational, committed to strengthening interdisciplinary scholarship drawing on a number of social science disciplines and multi-method approaches to research.   →   See especially Prof. Dr. Sonia Livingston und MA Corinne Schweitzer
  • Division Communication Theory and Media Effects, Institute for Media and Communication Studies, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany. The main emphasis of the research and teaching at the Division lies on political communication, media content and media effects as well as on the study of media debates in public sphere. Thereby, the division is especially interested in taking a look beyond the national scope of Germany by applying an international comparative perspective to communication research. The research is dedicated to international comparative projects of political communication cultures in various European countries, gathering international comparative data from interviews, content and network analyses.   →   See especially Prof. Dr. Barbara Pfetsch
  • Hans-Bredow-Institute for Media Research, University of Hamburg, Germany. The research conducted by the Institute focuses on mediated public communication and aims at understanding the underlying determinants, assessing future opportunities and risks, and providing orientation for the actors involved in this communication. The research approach is thereby interdisciplinary, i.e. the institute combines sociological, legal, economic and pedagogical approaches, as well as a cross-national comparative perspective.   →   See especially Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schulz
  • Institute for Comparative Media and Communication Studies, Austrian Academy of Sciences & University of Klagenfurt, Vienna/Klagenfurt, Austria. The institute investigates the connection between media change and the changing forms of political communication and public opinion formation, as well as the accompanying consequences for action and responsibility on the macro-, meso- and micro-level. The research projects thereby apply mainly an international comparative, longitudinal and/or cross-sectional approach, from an international and cross-media perspective. Research at CMC is thereby also interdisciplinary (using approaches and theories from Historical Science, Social Psychology, Sociology, and Media and Communication Studies) and internationally collaborative, and strives for an enhancement of the comparative methodology.   →   See especially Dr. Josef Seethaler
  • Research Unit on International and Comparative Media Research, IPMZ Institute of Mass Communication and Media Research Zurich, University of Zurich, Switzerland. Research and teaching of the unit focuses on the area of international and comparative approaches to media and communication research. Projects pursue comparative cross-national research questions in a wide area of subfields, mainly in Journalism & News, Political Communication, Media Systems & Media Cultures. An additional focus lies on the innovation of the methodology of comparative research designs.   →   See especially Prof. Dr. Frank Esser
  • Working Unit for Comparative Analysis of Media Systems/Communication Cultures, Seminar for Media and Communication Studies, University of Erfurt, Germany. The working unit has a focus on the comparison of media systems and international/intercultural communication research. The unit is especially interested in political communication processes within and between media systems, questions of democratization, conflict communication, globalization and International Relations. The geographical focus lies on Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.   →   See especially Prof. Dr. Kai Hafez

Education Studies

  • The Institute of Education and Society, University of Luxembourg employs a multidisciplinary perspective on education including sociology and educational sciences, theory and history of education, comparative education, inclusive education, (political) economy, and cultural studies. Its research focuses on education processes and education systems in its cultural, political, and economic contexts from cross-national and/or comparative perspectives, emphasizing historical and spatial comparisons. →   See especially Prof. Dr. Justin Powell.
  • Center for Comparative and International Education, Department of Education Studies, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany. Research of the center focuses on Comparative Methods in Education and Social Science (theories, methods, history), Comparative Historical Educational Research, historical internationalization research, and educational borrowing and lending (transfer research).   →   See especially Prof. Dr. Florian Waldow
  • Comparative Education Research Center, Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, China. One focus of the center lies on international comparative education research, the comparative perspective being especially applied in the areas Early Childhood Studies und Higher Education Research.   →   See especially Prof. Dr. Marc Bray
  • Division for Historical-Systematic and Comparative Education, Institute for Education Studies, University of Paderborn, Germany. The division applies a comparative approach in its research and teaching activities. This includes a strong international and culture-focused perspective on education systems and practice. Geographically, the analyses thereby focus not only on Europe, but also on Asia, Africa, and Latin America as compared regions.   →   See especially Prof. Dr. Christine Freitag

Political Sciences

  • Chair of Comparative Politics, Institute for Political Science, University Duisburg-Essen, Germany. Research of Prof. Dr. Susanne Pickel and her team focuses on the comparison of political systems, political cultures and institutions. The analyses thereby apply methods of Comparative Politics, comparing countries and regions especially in South-Eastern Europe and Latin America.   →   See especially Prof. Dr. Susanne Pickel
  • Chair of Comparative Politics, Department of Political Science and Communication Studies, University of Greifswald, Germany. Research and teaching of Prof. Dr. Detlef Jahn and his team focus on the dimension of Comparative Politics – in particular they concentrate on methodological aspects of comparison as a method. Prof. Jahn has developed a textbook for the introduction to comparative politics, and more recently has analyzed conceptual and methodological issues of processes of diffusion and public policy.   →   See especially Prof. Dr. Detlef Jahn
  • Department of Political Science, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary. The department offers in-depth expertise in the comparative politics of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Representing a comprehensive range of academic approaches and expertise, faculty address questions of political philosophy, democratization and regime change, constitutional politics, political economy, media, voting behavior, party politics, human rights and Europeanization – mainly in an international comparative manner.   →   See especially Prof. Dr. Carsten Q. Schneider
  • Subfield of Comparative Politics, Charles and Louis Travers Department of Political Science, University of California/Berkeley, USA. Members of the department’s comparative politics faculty are widely recognized as national and international experts in the subfield of comparative political research, and the coverage of substantive themes, methodological approaches, and geographic expertise is very broad.   →   See especially Prof. Dr. David Collier

Sociology

  • Center for Comparative Social Surveys, Department of Sociology, City University London, UK. The research of the center focuses on design, implementation, and analysis of large scale and cross-national surveys, as well as on the linking of surveys and other data sources, e.g., administrative and geographical data. Projects for instance look into the methodological and substantive issues in large scale and comparative surveys.   →   See especially Dr. Rory Fitzgerald
  • Chair of Comparative Sociology, Institute for Sociology, University Duisburg-Essen, Germany. The research unit focuses on Comparative and Transnational Sociology, with studies and teaching in the areas of comparative economic and organizational sociology, or the analysis of globalization processes and institutional change.   →   See especially Prof. Dr. Sigrid Quack
  • Chair of Social Structure Analysis, Institute for Sociology, Department for Social Sciences, University of Hamburg, Germany. The research unit has a central focus on theoretical approaches and methods of Comparative Sociology, the comparative analysis of welfare states, welfare cultures, family policies and family structures, as well as comparative labor market analyses. Research projects analyze, for instance, the relationship between cultural change and welfare state change, cross-national and historical differences in gender, care and the work-family relationship, historical development of cultural family models, or the changing relationship between formal and informal work.   →   See especially Prof. Dr. Birgit Pfau-Effinger
  • Department of Sociology, Irvine School of Social Sciences, University of California, USA.   →   See especially Prof. Dr. Charles Ragin
  • Research Focus 2 International Comparative and Historical Analysis of Society, Department of Sociology, University of Graz, Austria. This research focus explores the development, continuity and change of social action patterns and attitude patterns from an intercultural comparative and historical-sociological perspective. Research activities focus on two areas and methodological approaches: Within the framework of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) and other international research cooperatives, projects analyze the change of attitudes and behaviors in central areas of life, as well as social dynamics in specific social fields, applying complex international comparative statistical analyses of survey data and of other quantitative surveys. Research in the second area explores processes of long-term change in mental dispositions and mentalities together with changes in social and institutional structures from an international comparative perspective as well as from a diachronic perspective. Thereby, content analysis of source texts is the common methodological basis of these studies.   →   See especially Prof. Dr. Franz Höllinger

Interdisciplinary Institutions