Conference
Civilization and Power
Freedom and Democracy
America has become the leader of the world, and Thomas Mann’s dream, a federation of European states, is coming true. At the same time, there are many, both inside and outside the West, who feel today that Western culture is untrue to its own ideal of civilisation, and that its universalism has degenerated into mere globalism. To these critics, the notion of freedom, which was central to Western democracy and which has become increasingly arbitrary, is no longer the fullest expression of human dignity. The question is: what is it that Europe can learn from America, and vice versa?
Speaker(s)

Gilles Andréani
French diplomat

Kwame Anthony Appiah
cultural philosopher

Anne Applebaum
historian and author Gulag: A History

Ronald Asmus
diplomat and political analyst

Michael André Bernstein
literary scholar and writer

Christoph Bertram
journalist and political advisor

Ladan Boroumand
human rights advocate

Mark Danner
journalist, specialized in international relations

Jean Bethke Elshtain
Catholic political philosopher

Hillel Fradkin
scholar of Islam

Francis Fukuyama
political theorist

Moshe Halbertal
professor of Jewish thought

Willem van Hasselt
philosopher, policy maker in international relations

Ágnes Heller
political philosopher

Ramin Jahanbegloo
philosopher

Mark Juergensmeyer
expert on religious violence

Robert Kagan
political commentator

Charles Kupchan
international relations expert

Farid Laroussi
French literature specialist

Anatol Lieven
journalist and policy analyst

Thomas L. Pangle
Plato translator and political philosopher

Diana Pinto
historian

John Ralston Saul
writer and President of PEN International

Karl Schlögel
Eastern Europe expert

Peter Schneider
cultural critic and novelist

Aleksander Smolar
political theorist

Bassam Tibi
philosopher and political theorist

John Vinocur
journalist

Richard Wolin
historian of ideas

Klaus Wölfer
Austrian ambassador