Stellenticket Freie Universität Berlin

The Cluster of Excellence "Contestations of the Liberal Script (SCRIPTS)" is a research consortium that analyses the contemporary controversies about the model of liberal democracy and the market economy. The term "liberal script" relates to a set of ideas and institutional prescriptions about how society is organised based on the core principle of individual selfdetermination. The main purpose of SCRIPTS is to understand why the liberal model of order has fallen into crisis despite its
political, economic, and social achievements. SCRIPTS has been operating since 2019 and is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) until the end of 2025. The Cluster is hosted by the Freie Universität Berlin and unites eight major Berlin-based research institutes. Cluster research teams are
made up of doctoral researchers, postdoctoral researchers, and professors from social, political, and area studies. SCRIPTS is well connected with research institutes and knowledge exchange partners throughout the world, including political and cultural organisations, as well as civil society actors. In addition, SCRIPTS brings renowned visiting scholars from all over the world to Berlin.
The Postdoc will join the project on "Reinterpreting the alternative script? War in Ukraine, state-sponsored narratives of block building in authoritarian countries and their public perception" led by Prof. Genia Kostka (Institute for China Studies) and Prof. Alexander Libman (Institute for East European Studies) and funded by the excellence cluster SCRIPTS. The position provides an opportunity for both independent and collaborative research within an ambitious project while working in a small research team in Berlin. The goal of the research project is to investigate the state-sponsored narratives of economic block building emerging in conjunction with the war in Ukraine in China and in Russia. Based on the analysis of the official rhetoric, webscraping and analysis of social networks in Russia and in China, as well as analysis of search profiles in Chinese and Russian search engines and
(if possible) public opinion surveys in both countries, we expect to identify the nature of the official narratives, as well as how these narratives are (re)interpreted by the general public in both countries.
We value diversity and welcome all applications — independent of gender, nationality, ethnic and social background, religion, disability, age, sexual orientation and identity. Applications from women and persons with a migration background are especially welcome. Applications from people with a recognized disability status will be considered preferentially.