With a turbulent few weeks behind us, the world is still wondering where we are going. A few months ago there was no shortage of alarming developments around the world, but what we are witnessing these days few of us would have predicted. While in recent years the concept of “multi-crisis” has become popular to characterise the major global transformations we find ourselves in, and to make sense of what we still do not fully comprehend – as scholars and as citizens – new terms are now entering our vocabulary: a new world order is expected to emerge on the ruins of the old West, a new arms race appears on the horizon, “Europe” ponders how to secure its privileged position in a “post-liberal order”. For critical scholars and students of global and European studies, these debates and dynamics are challenging for many reasons. We seem to be witnessing the return of superpower fantasies, the relapse into patterns of imperial and colonial thinking that we thought had disappeared, the rehabilitation of isolationism and multiple centrisms, and the intensified competition between different ideas about how to structure the global order and what place different regions of the world should have in it. From a historical and interdisciplinary perspective, we are all the more called upon to contextualise and deepen our knowledge of the different dynamics in different parts of the world, rather than universalising the experience of one society or region. We must continue to provide a forum for multiple perspectives, to offer space for elaboration and debate, to challenge assumptions taken for granted, and to develop visions for the future. This requires us to put even more effort into careful methodological reflection, meticulous research, the defence of reasoned, transparent and respectful academic research and teaching based on argument and a willingness to remain open to its revision.
All the more reason, then, to hope that you have had a productive break in which you were also able to recharge your batteries. And we hope you are as excited as we are to start into the summer term together. We warmly welcome back the students in the Erasmus Mundus Global Studies Program, in our Double Master in Global Studies and Economic History, and the students in the M.A. Global Studies – Peace and Security in Africa, who join us now on-site at GESI after we have studied together online during winter. We also warmly welcome our Arqus Joint Master in European Studies back in Leipzig or joining us new. It is a pleasure to see the GESI family grow.
As you know, GESI is embedded in a vibrant landscape of research centres and excellent scholarship on global and European issues in Leipzig. The closest link is the Research Centre Global Dynamics (ReCentGlobe), which brings together a variety of innovative research projects and centres dealing with transregional processes in the past and present. ReCentGlobe organises colloquia, guest lectures and conferences that you are invited to attend and be inspired by. Stay in touch and stay up to date either through the EMGS or GESI websites, the ReCentGlobe Bulletin (subscribe here: www.recentglobe.uni-leipzig.de/index.php) or on Instagram (recentglobe). This year's ReCentGlobe Annual Conference will focus on “Regions in Transition, National Entities and Trans-regional Interdependencies: What does social cohesion mean?” on 7-8 May 2025. Check the website for upcoming news.
Closely associated with the university are the non-university Leibniz Institutes for the History and Culture of East Central Europe (GWZO) and for Regional Geography (IfL). In addition to the scholars working at these centres and institutes, there are many area studies experts at the institutes of the University of Leipzig. You will meet many of them as your lecturers or supervisors, and you will certainly benefit from their advice and expertise.
For the summer, we can already announce a number of upcoming events that are either specially organised for you or to which you are cordially invited to become part of the Global and European Studies community in Leipzig. The month of April will start with the annual conference of the university alliance Arqus, which will be hosted by the University of Leipzig from 2 to 4 April 2025 (https://arqus-alliance.eu/event/2025-arqus-annual-conference/). For a few days, representatives from all nine partner universities will meet to discuss the future of the alliance and the position of European universities in a turbulent world. Not only because our European Studies programme is rooted in this alliance, but also because it can provide inspiring exchanges and ideas.
In the first week of classes we will open the GESI Summer with a keynote lecture by Matthias Middell “A world falling apart - a new world order in the making? On the Perspectives of Global and European Studies” on 9 April at 17:00. The event, which will be followed by a reception, will be an opportunity not only to discuss with the founding director of the Institute and current Vice-Rector for Internationalisation, but also to celebrate the start of the new academic year.
In June we have organised an excursion to Dresden, to the Museum for Military History, which is an excellent place to reflect critically on the cultural history of violence, war and peace in a global context. If you are interested, please contact Janine Kläge (janine.klaege@uni-leipzig.de) as places are limited. Further excursions are planned, for example to Weimar and the former concentration camp Buchenwald or to the Museum of Hygiene in Dresden. We will keep you informed of the progress. On 20 June 2025, the Long Night of Sciences will offer fascinating events to get to know the city and its scientific and academic landscape. GESI and ReCentGlobe are organising a poster exhibition, a fishbowl talk and a film night under the title "Is our world order falling apart? More information on the programme will follow soon. Nearby, the city of Chemnitz, this year’s European Capital of Culture, is offering a fascinating programme in the region, which you should check out at https://chemnitz2025.de/en/.
We are also looking forward to a number of events that will bring us together as a community of students and faculty, such as the Joint Summer School in Bad Hersfeld (Germany) from 3 to 7 July, which will bring together students from all our MA programmes, while offering a combination of joint and tailor-made activities and workshops for the different programmes. In addition, the MA Thesis Colloquia will provide a useful forum for second year students from all programmes to develop their projects.
To keep up to date with events, discussions and news about the Institute and the programmes, please visit our website, follow EMGS on Instragram (Gesi_leipzig) or LinkedIn and Arqus Joint Master's Programme in European Studies on LinkedIn. We are currently reviewing our social media and communication strategy and will no longer communicate via X, as many universities and scientific organisations worldwide have decided to do. We will keep you informed of further developments.
Throughout the semester, we will be organising events at GESI and with partners, including book launches, roundtable discussions, guest lectures – and last but not least, we will find opportunities to celebrate together at our summer party. If you have any ideas and would like to contribute to our community, please do not hesitate to contact us. We look forward to a productive summer term and wish you all a great start in Leipzig.
Dr. Steffi Marung
Director of Global and European Studies Institute