CCC Roots

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The roots of the Research Group Communities, Comparisons, Connections, can be traced back to the creation of the Ghent-based Research Group World-Systems Analysis in 1993. Founded by social scientists, historians and philosophers who were drawing upon world-systems analysis, the initiative aimed to overcome disciplinary divides in order to understand the past, present and future of global politics, culture and economics. Different initiatives were taken to promote this perspective. First, the group organized several colloquia and workshops across Belgium, created an ‘Immanuel Wallerstein Chair’ at Ghent University, and received guest lecturers such as Immanuel Wallerstein, Giovanni Arrighi, Peter Taylor, Etienne Balibar, Bart Tromp, József Böröcz, Patrick O’Brien and Ha-Joon Chang. Second, since 2001 the Research Group organized the graduate course “Introduction to World-Systems Analysis” at Ghent University, which continues to be followed by students of history, geography, political science, sociology and philosophy. Third, the Group supervised over thirty master theses and several doctoral dissertations, participated in the public debate, while publishing their research results in national and international journals.

These initiatives helped to pave the way for the creation of three research programs at Ghent University. While CCC focuses on the study of social transformations from a longue durée and global perspective, The Center for Ethics & Value Inquiry (CEVI) carries out research and teaching on the ethics of globalization and on ethics under the conditions of globalization. Meanwhile, the research projects on Globalization and World Cities within the Department of Social and Economic Geography (SEG) focus on the study of urban geography, world city-formation and global commodity chains.

 

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and objectives of the research group.