Moderation: Jarosław Kuisz

The future seems more uncertain than ever. Democracies struggle to prevent financial crises, energy shortages, climate change, and war – so how can we look ahead with confidence?

In his latest book, „The Lost Future: And How to Reclaim It“ (Yale University Press, 2023), Jan Zielonka argues that democracy’s short-sightedness is a key reason for political instability in our increasingly interconnected world. Governments remain confined within national borders and focused on the short-term interests of today’s voters – often with devastating consequences for future generations. Zielonka calls for a new approach to politics that redefines time and space. How should democracy adapt to a high-speed world? We will explore this and other pressing questions with our guests.

Jan Zielonka: Professor of Politics and International Relations at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and Emeritus Professor at St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford. He is the author of 18 books, including Counter-Revolution: Liberal Europe in Retreat (Oxford University Press, 2018) and The Lost Future: And How to Reclaim It (Yale University Press, 2023).

Michael Zürn: Director at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center and Professor of International Relations at the Freie Universität Berlin. His work focuses on global governance, international institutions and their legitimacy, and contestations of liberal-democratic orders. From 2019-2023, he was co-spokesperson of the Cluster of Excellence “Contestations of the Liberal Script” (SCRIPTS) that was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Jarosław Kuisz: Senior Fellow and Program Director for Liberal Democracy at the Center for Liberal Modernity, Editor-in-Chief of the Polish online weekly Kultura Liberalna, and Assistant Professor at the University of Warsaw. As a leading Polish thinker, Kuisz will share his thoughts on the historical roots of Poland’s political dynamics, explored in his two latest books “The new politics of Poland” (MUP, 2023) and “Postraumatic Sovereignty” (with Karolina Wigura, Suhrkamp, 2023) focusing on Poland’s transformation after 1989.

Organizer: Zentrum Liberale Moderne, supported by the Polish Institute in Berlin

Info: libmod.de, yalebooks.yale.edu
Entry: Sign-Up
Venue: Zentrum Liberale Moderne, Salon, Reinhardtstraße 15, 10117 Berlin