Democracy as Utopia, Experience and Threat
Forecasted
Democracy as Utopia, Experience and Threat supports humanities and social science research groups studying historical conflicts over democracy to explore competing visions of a just society and political order.
Funder: Gerda Henkel Foundation
Due Dates (Anticipated): June 2027 (Annual application deadline)
Funding Amounts: Up to three scholarships at €2,760 or €3,720 per month, plus travel and equipment funds, for up to 36 months
Summary: Supports historically oriented humanities and social science research groups studying conflicts over democracy and the foundations of social order.
Key Information: Applicants must be university-linked postdoctoral researchers working in groups of at least two scholarship-funded scholars.
Description
This historically oriented subsection of the Gerda Henkel Foundation’s Special Programme Democracy supports humanities and social science research into conflicts over social order, from ancient times to the present. Democracy serves as a direction for inquiry rather than a universal standard for judging societies. Projects should consider competing demands for participation, self-organization, justice, freedom, hierarchy and good leadership, including both advocates of change and defenders of established or alternative orders.
Three complementary perspectives guide the programme: utopian ideals that inspire movements, experiences mobilized critically against democracy or established democratic practices, and perceived threats that motivate conflict. The scope includes protest and revolutionary history, constitutions, elections and political parties, while extending to multiperspectival histories of conflict and culture concerned with a just society and the right political order.
