(Un)Lösbare Probleme? – (Un)Solvable Problems‪?‬ Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung

Two decades ago, we were still reflecting on the "democratization of democracy". Times have changed. Now we are thinking about the resilience of democracy. Times are changing. The long and global trend of democratization, which accelerated once again after 1990, reached its peak in 2008. Since then, liberal democracies are now in the 15th year of a continuous and significant decline. This is true even for the best constitutional liberal democracies of the Northern hemisphere. An extraordinary simultaneous accumulation of external crises has challenged democracy in the last 15 years: financial and euro crises, migration and refugee crises, climate crisis, pandemic and finally the Russian war against Ukraine and its economic repercussions on Western democracies. How can democracies arm themselves against this, how do they strengthen their resilience? What actually is resilience of democracy? Do we have sufficient theoretically inspired concepts that we can use in empirical studies? The Talk aims to present such an analytical concept of democratic resilience in order to finally answer the action-theoretical question: How can democracies strengthen their resilience in the current decade of crisis?

Wolfgang Merkel is Professor Emeritus at the WZB.

Menschen scheinen zunehmend gespalten über den richtigen Umgang mit der Klimafrage. Vor diesem Hintergrund diskutieren wir folgende Fragen: Wie polarisiert ist die deutsche Gesellschaft in Klimafragen? Wie sind die Konflikte um das Klimathema in den politischen Wettbewerbsraum eingebettet? Liegen sie quer zur klassischen ökonomischen Links-rechts-Achse und sind eng verknüpft mit Positionen zur Einwanderungs- und Europapolitik? Und welche Rolle spielen Protestbewegungen in der gesellschaftlichen Polarisierung? Leisten die Aktionen von Gruppen wie die Letzte Generation mit ihren Straßenblockaden und anderen konfrontativen Protestformen dem Klimaschutz tatsächlich einen Bärendienst?

Swen Hutter ist Direktor des Zentrums für Zivilgesellschaftsforschung im WZB.

Jérémie Gagné ist Senior Projektmanager und Studienautor bei der gemeinnützigen Initiative More in Common.

Es moderiert Harald Wilkoszewski, Abteilungsleiter Kommunikation.

When Corona hit, many social scientists turned their attention to trying to understand the social and political correlates of the spread of the disease, the socioeconomic impacts of the crisis, and social explanations for the effectiveness of different responses to the disease. Social sciences, however, largely study normal times and the utility and validity of their model tools can get stretched when turned to address a crisis. How well did these models and tools perform in this crisis and what can be done to ready social sciences for the next one?

Macartan Humphreys is Director of the Research Unit Institutions and Political Inequality.

This session is moderated by Harald Wilkoszewski, Head of Communications at WZB.

The slides used in this session can be accessed here.

The threat of nuclear war between the United States, Russia or China is greater today than at any time in the past 60 years. The talk will analyze the nature of the threat and argue that the deterrent of mutually assured destruction (MAD), though continuing to impose a disciplining effect, is an unreliable safeguard against nuclear escalation, generally and particularly in today's strategic landscape. A radical focus on strengthening and building a legal and political infrastructure aimed at avoiding and ultimately, precluding, great power conflict is necessary.

Mattias Kumm is Research Professor "Global Constitutionalism" at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center and Professor "Rule of Law in the Age of Globalization" at Humboldt University Berlin.

The event is moderated by Harald Wilkoszewski, Head of the Communication Department.

Wie steht es in Deutschland um die Chancen, einen Kindergartenplatz und den gewünschten Schul- oder Studienplatz zu erhalten? Und wie wichtig ist es überhaupt, dass ein Kind in den Kindergarten geht und welche Schule es besucht? Inwiefern werden die Lebenschancen durch einen Kindergartenplatz, den Platz an der Wunschschule oder -universität beeinflusst? Wir sprechen über Zulassungsverfahren, Zulassungskriterien und die Frage, ob sie fair und effektiv sind.

Felix Weinhardt ist Mitarbeiter der Abteilung Bildung und Familie am DIW Berlin und Professor für "Public Economics" an der Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder).

Dorothea Kübler ist Direktorin der Abteilung Verhalten auf Märkten.

Michael Zürn: Globale Herausforderungen und Demokratie (Moderation: Harald Wilkoszewski)