The Constable’s New Clothes

Everything under Control?

How do the state and society decide what is psychologically “normal”? How are ideas of normality reflected in official procedures? The historian Stefanie Coché has examined the practice of committing patients to psychiatric institutions in the “Third Reich,” in East Germany and in West Germany by looking at more than 1,400 medical records. She found out that states abused their power in ways different from what we might assume.

»It Is Good to Have a Lot of Data«

Increasing numbers of people are recording their physical activities – the number of steps they walk during the day and their sleep rhythms at night. Who ultimately controls this data – the state, health insurance companies, Google or the users of self-tacking devices? In this interview, Christiane Woopen, a distinguished expert in medical ethics, speaks about big data in the health sector

When the State Fails

Libya, Iraq and Syria. Sudan, Somalia or the Central African Republic – the list of so called failed states, states that are no longer able to fulfill their basic functions, is long and keeps getting longer. In the past twenty years, more and more states that were once stable appear to be imploding. Civil war, international terrorism and streams of refugees are the consequences. Why do states fall apart? And is there a way out? Professor Thomas Jäger from the Department of Political Science is an expert in international relations. His answers shed new light on western perceptions of successful statehood.