DIW Berlin part of new Excellence Cluster analyzing global challenges for the liberal democracy and market economy model

DIW Berlin is part of a new Cluster of Excellence based in Berlin. Contestations of the Liberal Scripts (SCRIPTS) will analyze the contemporary controversies regarding the liberal order from a historical, global, and comparative perspective. Prof. Martin Kroh of the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) at DIW Berlin is one of the 25 researchers participating in the Cluster.

Twenty-five years after the end of the Cold War, the liberal model of political and economic order faces a profound crisis. What are the causes of the current contestations of the liberal script, and what are the consequences for the global challenges of the 21^st century? The Cluster will address these questions by connecting the academic expertise in the social sciences and area studies in Berlin, thereby bridging prevailing methodological and institutional divides. Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, the WZB Berlin Social Science Center, the Centre for East European and International Studies, the German Institute of Global and Area Studies, the Hertie School of Governance, and the Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient are the other institutions participating in the Cluster. Based on research collaborations with universities in all world regions, SCRIPTS addresses the diversity of the contestations and their inter-connections. At the same time, the Cluster maintains close cooperative ties with major political and cultural institutions.

Excellence Clusters are far-reaching research cooperation projects in which researchers of various disciplines work together on a particularly meaningful and trend-setting topic. Excellence Clusters are funded by the German Federal State as well as the German regional states.