GRADUATION TALK ▼

THE IMPORTANCE OF HUMAN DECISION-MAKING

AN INTERVIEW WITH MARTIN WIRTZ

▐  Martin on decisions that go beyond individuals and the EU as a moving target.

   What drew you to your current field and what interests you most about this field?

   M.W. Many things in life are not just naturally given, but are the result of human decisions. Before this background, I find it extremely interesting to understand how, then, such decisions are made. This applies especially to those decisions that do not just concern individuals, but societies as a whole. That is what drew me towards the social sciences, and to political science in particular.

   What fascinates you about the EU in particular?

   M.W. Academically speaking, researching EU politics never gets boring, because the EU is a moving target: It changes permanently, and that always raises new and interesting research questions. This, partly, is the result of what also fascinates me personally about the EU: Not to take for granted what is already there and seems to be the natural state of things, namely a world of nation states, but to think about ways of cooperation beyond, above, and below this level of governance.

   What is the next step in your career?

   M.W. The next step has, in fact, already begun: I am researching and teaching at the Chair for the Governance of Innovative and Complex Technological Systems. This is fun because in a number of ways, it is very different from what I have been doing so far. At the same time, the EU is arguably a complex political system, one that is regularly used to regulate complex and innovative technological systems. ◼

Image Credits: © Bamberg Graduate School of Social Sciences