In the first phase of funding, Project Area B was dedicated to the institutional prerequisites of governance in areas of limited statehood. The historical and political science research projects asked how, in what form, and under which conditions governance efforts can succeed without a state-generated “shadow of hierarchy.” By refining its governance definition, Project Area B has shifted its focus towards examining hierarchical and non-hierarchical governance institutions. In the second phase of funding, the projects will examine the question of “legitimate rule,” specifically the normative requirements for recognition compared to the actual recognition of governance institutions in areas of limited statehood. In these contexts, legitimacy can be grounded in an institution’s capacity to solve problems, as well as in input-related legitimacy principles.

By concentrating on governance institutions and focusing on “legitimate rule,” Project Area B engages more directly than the other two project areas with the interdisciplinary questions concerning the entire Collaborative Research Center (SFB). We believe that the interdisciplinary questions on governance institutions are so essential to the SFB that we have devoted an entire project area to them.

With the SFB’s six research goals in mind (laid out in its Mission Statement) we have developed three areas of interest which tie the research projects together: (1) the criteria and (2) the prerequisites of governance institutions and their legitimacy, as well as (3) the ways in which these two factors change over time.