Cooperation event AIA NRW/Society for Rhenish History

The event “Region meets International Politics”, which the Academy organized together with the “Gesellschaft für Rheinische Geschichtskunde” and the Landschaftsverband Rheinland (LVR), focused on the diverse network of relationships between the local and international levels as part of the Academy’s annual theme “Translocalism and Sub-national Diplomacy”.

Internationalization processes have always heavily affected the transformation of rural areas in particular. Complex cross-border interdependencies have consequences for politics, society, the economy and culture in regional areas. Since the 1980s, social sciences have been intensively studying the phenomenon of internationalization in regional areas. The so-called “global turn” led to increased interdisciplinary cooperation and expanded conceptual-historical debates and the theoretical tools of the social sciences. Research on international relations also expanded its approach from a strongly institutional perspective to include the social dimension.

The conference opened with a keynote speech by Prof. Ferdinand Kramer from LMU Munich, who dealt with these interrelationships and gave an overview of the research field. In addition, young researchers in particular had the opportunity to present their dissertation projects and advanced research work. Dr. Mayssoun Zein Al Din moderated an exchange between the participants and the Fellows of the Academy. It was repeatedly emphasized that processes of internationalization and globalization are not linear for regional areas, but are highly dynamic, presenting people with major challenges at different times, but also bringing opportunities.