The Germans celebrated the 20th anniversary of German Unification on October 3rd. A significant celebration for the Federal Republic of Germany and its citizens. From a sociological perspective one could ascribe a slightly anachronistic character to the festivities in light of the numerous concepts “aimed at justifying the changed spatial relationship of (post)national societies.” Because using conceptual terms like “de-nationalization,” “de-territorialization,” “global community” and “transnational spaces” makes a celebration of unity of the national state feel like one from the past.

The discussion about cosmopolitanism, global community and transnational networks is, of course, anything but new. Already at the time of the founding of the German Sociological Association in 1909, people were aware of the transnational character of commerce and traffic. What’s new is the supranational organizations gaining increasing importance in light of sagging global governance with respect to supervision and throughways of globalized business and a global public.

In contrast, national states appear to no longer carry the same weight in the “post-national constellation.” This tension between national state and transnationality is one of many topics being covered at the German Sociological Association’s anniversary congress, the theme of which is “Transnational Socialization.”.

With this issue of Research Special GESIS would like to add its voice to this social science debate. Current publications and research projects are offered in five chapters which present an excerpt of the current research landscape.

Go to the PDF (free of charge)