Germany and the Crisis of Liberal Democracy

IGS Birmingham’s two-year, DAAD-funded research project – Shifting Constellations: Germany and Global (Dis)Order (January 2019‒December 2020) – explores Germany’s roles and responses during a period of rapidly shifting constellations in global politics. The current world order is undergoing multiple disruptions and redefinitions, and crucial to our project is an investigation of how Germany is responding (and perceived to be responding) to these developments.

The first project workshop, to be held at the University of Birmingham on 25‒26 June 2019, will address the theme of Germany and the Crisis of Liberal Democracy. It will include contributions from members of our project partner centres in Beijing, Brandeis, St Petersburg, Tokyo and Wroclaw.

Programme

Tuesday 25th June

10.30 a.m.       Registration, Tea & Coffee

11.00 a.m.       Nick Martin (IGS Birmingham): Welcome and Introduction

11.15 a.m.       Jeanne Morefield (University of Birmingham): ‘The Liberal World Order: An Imperial Crisis’

1.00 p.m.         Lunch

2.00 p.m.        Strand 1: Institutions. Chair: Charlotte Galpin (IGS Birmingham)

Andreas Vasilache (St Petersburg-Bielefeld): ‘Squaring the circle: German foreign policy and the crisis of liberalism’

Satoko Watanabe (Tokyo): ‘Strukturkrise der Freiwilligendienste in Deutschland’

Julian Pänke (IGS Birmingham): ‘Germany to the Rescue? The sobering implications of Berlin’s Trading State Strategy’

4.00 p.m.         Tea & Coffee

4.30 p.m.        Strand 2: People and Migration. Chair: Tara Windsor (IGS Birmingham)

Daniel Marwecki (SOAS London): ‘Hegemon, Shaping Power or “Merkeling Through”? What the Refugee Crisis can teach us about German power in Europe’

Sabine von Mering (Brandeis): ‘Pegida vs Ende Gelände: Social movements and political parties in today’s Germany’

Nick Martin (IGS Birmingham): ‘Look Who’s Back: Nietzsche, Right-wing Populism in Germany, and the Refugee Crisis’

7.30 p.m.        Dinner – Umami Indian Kitchen, 25 Lordswood Rd, Birmingham, B17 1RP

Wednesday 26th June

10.00 a.m.       Tea & Coffee

10.30 a.m.      Strand 3: Media. Chair: Julian Pänke (IGS Birmingham)

Charlotte Galpin (IGS Birmingham): ‘Evaluating European integration as an issue in the context of the 2017 Dutch, French and German elections’

Maren Rohe (IGS Birmingham): ‘Germany as defender of liberal democracy in Russian and Polish oppositional newspapers’

12.30 p.m.       Lunch

2.00 p.m.        Strand 4: Ideas and Identities. Chair: Nick Martin (IGS Birmingham)

Fernando Gómez Herrero (Birmingham): ‘On Carl Schmitt’s Dialogue of Power and Space: Intellectual Life and Radio Broadcasts in between Germany and Spain’

Hideto Hiramatsu (Tokyo): ‘Christdemokratie und liberale Demokratie im heutigen Deutschland’

Huang Liaoyu (Peking): ‘Das Wunder der wiedergeborenen Unbefangenheit. Über das neue kulturelle Selbstbewußtsein der Deutschen’

Polina Zavershinskaia (St Petersburg-Bielefeld): ‘Symbolical practices for the social construction of national identity in modern Germany’

4.00 p.m.         Tea & Coffee

4.30 p.m.        Closing discussion

Common themes; publications; collaborations; key questions; planning of December 2019 workshop.

5.30 p.m.        Drinks reception