Debatte is KriSol’s publication platform. It is curated by an editorial collective and aims to foster discourse that is complex yet clearly positioned in favor of critical scholarship in solidarity. We want to showcase this discourse, open it up, and make it accessible to a wider audience. After all, the threat to and narrowing of spaces for thought and debate concern society as a whole.

Here we present and share noteworthy articles that were published in international or more remote German-language media and that we find important (Picks); we contextualize and recommend publications by KriSol members (Drops), and we also publish our own longer contributions (Posts).

What unites us programmatically is that we take positions opposed to the “reason of state” (Staatsräson), whose authoritarianism we reject. Debatte is committed to empirical evidence, human rights and an engaged research ethos. It aims to introduce and explain knowledge, standards, methods, perspectives and research questions from academia to a broader public. We give many voices a platform: voices from different disciplines, voices with different backgrounds and experiences, especially marginalized voices, voices that reflect a diversity of political perspectives – as long as they share the premises of critical, inclusive, solidarity-based research. Debatte stands for an understanding of discourse that transcends opinion journalism and strives for critical complexity. Complexity in this context means being aware of the multifaceted nature of the phenomena described. It does not mean balance in the sense of presenting “both sides” or the whole range of opinions that exist on a topic. The latter, however, unfortunately characterizes not only journalism but is also increasingly being demanded in academia – to the detriment of an in-depth examination of specific perspectives. We oppose the authoritarian efforts of state restrictions on research autonomy and we advocate for the preservation of academic and intellectual freedom.

The editorial collective currently consists of Marion Detjen, Julia Eckert, Isabel Feichtner, and Christian Strippel.​​​​​​​