Past Events Archive

Brexit, the endless crisis of the euro and the suspension of „Schengenland“ are the symptoms of renationalization. So is the rise of anti-European populism – even in Germany, the traditional engine of integration. As always in its 65-years history, the EU will muddle through. But for all of its resilience, …read more

On September 24, Germans elected a new federal parliament. This talk will offer first insights into the political dynamics of the new administration, with particular view to the current challenges in domestic politics, transatlantic affairs and the future of the EU. Dr. Keller is the Coordinator of Foreign and Security Policy …read more

The Voice(s) of the People? Literature and Film between Democracy and Populism The workshop “The Voice(s) of the People? Literature and Film between Democracy and Populism” will offer a space for talks, close readings, and discussions of contemporary and canonical texts addressing the role of literature and film in their relationship to …read more

Keynote address for the Graduate Student Workshop “100 Years Later: The Russian Revolution and its Consequences” …read more

There are more violent conflicts, civil wars, crises around the globe than ever since WW ll. New powers are testing their strength, established powers are inward looking. Global and regional governance, from the UN to the Brettonwood institutions, to NATO and EU, are under pressure. Autocrats, even in NATO and …read more

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What happened to the great Central European luxury commodity of the eighteenth century, porcelain, when formerly mercantile firms had to compete in a (relatively) open market with mass producers of ceramics? How did the porcelain firms’ painters and modelers deal with the reality that consumers now wanted inexpensive imitations of …read more

After decades of state-building success, Austria-Hungary collapsed totally and utterly in 1918. For many years, historians have argued that this ramshackle empire was an anachronism, unfit to live among modern nation states in the twentieth century, and therefore it was destined to fall. But such thinking ignores the dynamics unleashed …read more

»Aufklärung ist der Ausgang des Menschen aus seiner selbst verschuldeten Unmündigkeit.” Dank prägnanter Verknappung bewahrt Kants Diktum seine hohe Attraktivität in der anhaltenden Debatte um die Frage, was unter Aufklärung zu verstehen ist. Spätestens seit Adornos und Horkheimers Dialektik der Aufklärung kommt hierbei auch immer eine Vernunft- und Kulturkritik zum …read more

Prof. Dr. Ortrud Gutjahr (Universität Hamburg) Aufklärungstheater: Lessings Dramen und Hamburgische Dramaturgie NOTE: This course only meets for 5 Fridays (09/1-09/29/2017) from 1-4pm in 282 Dwinelle Hall. Gotthold Ephraim Lessings Schauspiel Nathan der Weise (1779) gilt als das deutschsprachige Drama der Aufklärung schlechthin. Und dies nicht nur, weil es bis heute das am …read more