Demokratie in Gefahr: Ein Abend mit Daniel Ziblatt

In the organizer's words:

Democracy is under pressure - in the United States, in Europe, worldwide. Norms are being eroded, institutions are faltering and processes that have long been taken for granted are increasingly being called into question. Cynicism and corruption are taking their place. In the USA, developments of democratic erosion are intensifying under Donald Trump, which are expressed, among other things, in executive overreach of power and increasingly militarized, sometimes extralegal violence by state authorities. American democracy is therefore in a phase of acute danger. This development has an impact beyond the USA: it reinforces similar dynamics in other democratic states and gives autocratic leaders and movements worldwide a tailwind.

Daniel Ziblatt, one of the most renowned democracy researchers, talks about the current challenges facing democratic systems. He analyzes the central dynamics of democratic regression and shows the concrete dangers that threaten liberalism and pluralism today.

At the same time, the picture is not entirely negative: at crucial moments, democratic institutions and norms have proven to be resilient. The recent parliamentary elections in Hungary, which saw Viktor Orbán voted out of office, also show that autocratic developments do not necessarily proceed in a straight line. What can we learn from experiences in which democracy has proven to be stronger or more enduring? And how can such patterns be adapted? Does this give rise to a new form of democratic politics?

With:

• Daniel Ziblatt, Eaton Professor of Political Science at Harvard University and Director of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard University.

Moderator: Joshua Yaffa, Writer-in-Residence at Bard College Berlin and author for The New Yorker.

The discussion will be followed by a Q&A session.

Daniel Ziblatt is Eaton Professor of Government at Harvard University and Director of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies. He also heads a research group on transformation and democracy at the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB). He is co-author of the bestseller "How Democracies Die" - "the most important book of the Trump era" according to The Economist - and of "Tyranny of the Minority". His articles appear regularly in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Die Zeit and other international media.

Joshua Yaffa is the first writer-in-residence at Bard College Berlin. He is a writer for The New Yorker and the author of "Between Two Fires: Truth, Ambition, and Compromise in Putin's Russia," which won the 2021 Orwell Prize.

A cooperation with Bard College Berlin

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