Kein Kartell, kein Monopol, keine Oligarchie?

In the framework of the excellence programme designed to promote science and research at German universities, a debate broke out as to whether the programme would strengthen existing tendencies toward structures of cartel, monopoly and oligarchy. A most recent study wants to prove that such structures do not show up in the German Research Foundation’s programme of funding individual research projects. This finding is, however, not appropriate to give the all-clear. Among crucial factors supporting structures of cartel, monopoly and oligarchy, the shift from block grants to individual grants based on competition can be identified, just as the shift from funding of single research projects to funding large-scale coordinated programmes and funding institutions, most recently along with the excellence programme. It is exactly these crucial factors that have been excluded completely from the study. Hence, it slips into the tracks of a science of affirmation. This aberration can be explained by the entanglement of interests in research, research funding and research evaluation, which works against free research and is an epistemological barrier to science research.