Project Area A

Project A01 || Mathias Albert
Comparing forces and the forces of comparison: comparisons of military forces as comparisons of power in the international system from the eighteenth to twentieth century

The project deals with the evolution of military force comparisons as a central practice used by states in order to observe each other in relation to their power potentials. It focuses on the period from the mid-eighteenth century until the end of the Cold War. The goal is to elaborate on the role of a crucial practice of comparison in the emergence and evolution of the international system of states, also providing the first systematic account of the history of military force comparisons.

Project A02 || Thomas Welskopp
Doing Comparisons while Competing: The German, British, American, and French Iron and Steel Industries, 1870 – 1990

Competition, according to Max Weber, is a mode of struggle without conflict or violence. Economic competition in capitalism may be seen as a (mostly) peaceful rivalry among business enterprises striving for financial gain addressed at a third party (clients, customers, the state) whose favor is canvassed. Which role play comparisons within practices of capitalist competition? Which practices of doing comparisons are utilized or even developed while competing with rival firms for the favor of prospective customers or protective services by government? This project will contribute to answering these broader and theoretically relevant questions by analyzing comparative practices in the discourses of the German, British, American, and French iron and steel industries over two time periods: 1870s to 1940s, and 1945 to 1990.

Project A03 || Angelika Epple / Eleonora Rohland
World orders and societal futures: Practices of comparison in the phase of high imperialism

The wars fought in the Americas around 1898 challenged the existing world order on a global scale. While the United States established itself as a new empire, Spain lost its remaining colonies and Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines fell victim to new dependencies. These processes of dissolution and reformation fundamentally questioned the social order of the respective societies. Employing spatio-temporally coded practices of comparison, heterogeneous groups of actors were seeking to establish new discursive (world) orders and societal futures. The significance of those practices of comparison for historical transformation processes on a (trans-)local, (trans-)national or global scale form the core focus of this project part.

Project A04 || Kai Kauffmann
Cultural comparisons in German war propaganda in the years 1914 – 1918

The project is studying German review periodicals as an important medium for war propaganda in the years 1914 – 1918 and working out the operations and functions of cultural comparison these reveal. The approach to this research in the project is to conceive these journals as a specific medium representing a comprehensive practice of cultural comparison through its formal organization as a network for different types of texts and its thematic orientation towards describing the German nation in competition with others.