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
journalist and Eastern Europe watcher
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