The research project on "Strategy Options of International Governance" seeks to better understand conceptual differences in governing international relations. The hypothesis is that designing strategies of international governance are influenced by perceptions of the international political order, which are represented in particular 'worldviews'. To differentiate between worldviews, three models, i.e. competing conceptions of transnational and international order have been developed: 1) State system; 2) Society of states and international organisations; 3) System of transnational network governance. Starting from constructivist theoretical approach the aim at recovering broad empirical evidence to confront this approach with empirical data. Thereby, we fill a gap between constructivist discourse analysis in empirical social research. Specifically, we compare Germany and France. These two countries have been chosen because of the persistence of different guiding principles in their political culture despite a high degree of integration in the EU and many similarities. Particular attention is paid to the methodology combining quantitative and qualitative text analysis.
