To fulfill their social responsibility for the preservation and advancement of democracy, 16 university faculty members from five departments at TU Dortmund University have come together to establish the interdisciplinary Initiative Center for Political Education and Local Democracy (IZBD). Among them are KoMet researchers Prof. Dr. Thomas Goll, Prof. Dr. Barbara Welzel, and Prof. Dr. Johannes Weyer.
The founding members of the Initiative Center for Political Education and Local Democracy also express their intention to incorporate the center into the City of Dortmund’s “Science 2.0” master plan, thereby establishing a solid and sustainable framework for collaboration between the university, the city, and the local community in this important area.
Reasoning
Democracy does not fall from the sky; from both a historical and contemporary perspective, it cannot be taken for granted and depends on the active participation of all citizens—these insights form part of the fundamental understanding of the necessity for political education in Germany. The crisis-induced collapse of the Weimar Republic and the horrors of the Nazi reign of terror were lived experiences of the founding fathers and mothers of the Federal Republic of Germany. All state constitutions also stipulate that education for democracy is a core task of general education schools at all grade levels (see Art. 7, paras. 2 and 3, Constitution of North Rhine-Westphalia; Art. 131, para. 3, Bavarian Constitution). Not only because of this early and never-abandoned commitment, but also due to the current global crises facing democracies, the question must be asked: How can the promotion of democracy—from the very beginning and throughout one’s entire life, i.e., in the home, at daycare centers, in schools, and in extracurricular education—be ensured as stably and sustainably as possible?
Focus of the IZBD
Unlike other initiatives aimed at promoting democracy and political education, the Initiative Center for Political Education and Local Democracy (IZBD) focuses on local politics. On the one hand, this focus enables education rooted in everyday life and direct access to institutions and individuals; on the other hand, knowledge of local organizational structures—such as the principle of subsidiarity—and processes is a fundamental prerequisite for understanding even the most complex multi-level political systems, such as the EU. The Initiative Center has therefore set itself the task of comprehensively incorporating knowledge about and understanding of local politics and local democracy into research and teaching, communicating this to the university and non-university public, and securing it through institutionally anchored cooperation between the university, city administration, and civil society.
Areas of Activity of the IZBD
Within the university, the members of the IZBD consider it their responsibility to regularly offer courses on political education and local democracy, or to address these topics in such courses. They strive to integrate democracy and political education into the curricula of the degree programs in which they are involved. They make the topic the focus of research initiatives and grant proposals and form research networks within and across faculties to pool their expertise.
As part of Master Plan 2.0, the Center provides expertise in democratic and political education to the City of Dortmund. It offers to assist the city administration and municipal institutions in implementing projects that promote democracy and to participate in the design, implementation, and evaluation of such projects.
The Initiative Center offers lectures and other events of interest to the general public (as well as to the university community) at TU Dortmund University and at various locations throughout the city of Dortmund.
Speakers for the Initiative Center for Political Education and Local Democracy:
Prof. Dr. Thomas Goll
thomas.goll@tu-dortmund.de
TU Dortmund
Fakultät Sozialwissenschaften
August-Schmidt-Str. 6
44221 Dortmund
