Berlin – Summer

Berlin is one of the few cities in the world where the history of authoritarian rule is not a distant abstraction — it is embedded in the streets, the archives, and the institutions around you. Within a single city, students can stand in the former headquarters of the Nazi regime at the Topography of Terror, walk through the surveillance files of the East German Stasi, and witness how a city has chosen to memorialize — and take responsibility for — some of the darkest chapters in modern history. No classroom can replicate that.

The program takes full advantage of this. Rather than simply touring these sites, students use them as research environments — completing structured field observations, analyzing original propaganda and surveillance documents in archives, and meeting with historians, political scientists, and civil society experts who work with this material every day.

Berlin is also a living laboratory for questions about democratic resilience. Germany’s postwar transformation from a totalitarian state into one of the world’s most stable democracies raises exactly the kinds of questions this program explores: How do authoritarian regimes control information and shape public perception? How do societies reckon with that legacy? And what does political science research have to offer in answering them?

GLOBIS Center:
110 E Clayton St, 6th floor
706-542-2730
[email protected]

Program Director:
Dr. Alexa Bankert
[email protected]

Visit link to get dates, costs, and to apply: studyaway.uga.edu

The priority deadline for all GLOBIS Maymester and Summer Study Away programs is November 1. Applications submitted by this date will receive full review by program directors. Applications received after November 1 will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Program directors have final discretion on all applications.

Admission to all GLOBIS Study Away programs is competitive. Applicants are encouraged to invest the time and effort necessary to submit their strongest possible application. The Statement of Interest should clearly demonstrate both your writing skills and your motivation for participating in a GLOBIS Study Away program.

If you have any questions or concerns about applying, please contact GLOBIS or the program director for more information.

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