By Tim Schroll, 13 November 2025 – An unusual course took place during the summer semester of 2025. Dr Gregor Walter-Drop and Christopher Rohles from the Peace Academy Rhineland-Palatinate enabled students at RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau to experience and discuss contemporary history in a new format. A central role was played by pieces of trees from the Eifel region, which contain shrapnel from the Second World War. In order to view these pieces of trees not only as historical ‘contemporary witnesses,’ but also to do justice to their artistic/material dimension, a collaboration with Prof. Tina Stolt from the Institute of Art History and Fine Arts was established. This resulted in an exploratory and multi-perspective course, in which students of art and political science courses in particular participated. In the following, participants report on their experiences from this special networking event.
By Dr Samantha Ruppel, 12 September 2025 – Concepts of peace are often shaped by normative assumptions – with a liberal understanding and a focus on institutions, democracy and the market. However, this model ignores the frictions that can arise when universal norms encounter local contexts. Power imbalances between global and local actors, between forms of knowledge and political structures, shape peace processes and influence which perspectives are heard and which are marginalised. A hybrid approach to peace that integrates both top-down and bottom-up dynamics can reflect these frictions in order not only to implement peace, but also to take into account different ideas of peace. This article discusses the need for critical reflection on these power relations and shows how local actors shape spaces for peace despite structural inequalities.
By Majbrit Hüttenhein - In the wake of the #MeToo movement, cases of violence and abuse of power have gained new publicity since 2017. The problem does not stop in the film industry, but is also reproduced in academic structures in particular. It is precisely in situations in which power hierarchies exist between people that this relationship is repeatedly exploited. The fact that violence and abuse of power also occur and remain concealed in German-language peace and conflict research is all the more serious, as this field also conducts research into the dismantling of structures of violence and social justice!
By Christopher Rohles, 12 September 2024 – Persistent power relations from the colonial era continue to contribute to global dependency and marginalisation, which in turn affect science and research. This often gives rise to unconscious, latent racism. In order to empower people from the Global South and their perspectives in science and research, awareness of postcolonialism must be raised and large parts of the Global North must be proactively willing to critically question and relinquish their privileges.
