Interdisciplinary Center for Peace and Conflict Research in Bavaria

Research program – Conflicts.Meanings.Transitions

When tyranny ends, when societies come to terms with their past, when values change, people contest what these transitions mean. How these interpretational struggles unfold is essential for societal peace in the present and future.

In the research network Conflicts.Meanings.Transitions („Deutungskämpfe im Übergang“) we examine such contestations from an interdisciplinary perspective.

In particular, we focus on meaning struggles over peace strategies by non-state actors, over violence, and over universal rights and diversity.

Our network promotes diverse methodologies, interdisciplinary exchange, and institutionalization of peace and conflict research in Bavaria. We strive for societal and political impact in the region and beyond by sharing results with political actors, academia, and the broader public.

Scholars from the Universities of Augsburg, Bayreuth, and Erlangen-Nuremberg, and from Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History (Munich-Berlin) are collaborating, coordinated at the University of Bayreuth.

Our guiding question

How do struggles over meaning contribute to peace?

Research Areas

Conflicts.Meanings.Transitions

News

Friedensgutachten 2025
Peace is in retreat: Russia’s war in Ukraine is destabilizing Europe, the war in Gaza […]
Podcast über Frieden Augsburg
Augsburg’s Mayor Eva Weber speaks in the podcast “Augsburg direkt“ on the occasion of the peace festival […]
Statement by the board of the German Association for Peace and Conflict Research (AFK) on […]
How can we overcome prejudice? This question lies at the heart of this Bayreuth Peace Talks. Prejudice […]
Abschlussvortrag Finissage
On May 21, the closing event of the special exhibition Leben im Umbruch. Bayern 1918-1925. Zwischen […]
We kindly invite you to the following event (in German)! Holocaust-Erinnerung, Antisemitismus und Nahostkonflikt. Überlegungen […]

Picture attribution: Stop the war coalition by Chris Beckett (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0); Hiroshima by Jan Sändig, Conflicts.Meanings.Transitions; Diversity/rainbow flag by Benson Kua (CC BY-SA 2.0)