“Democracy is defined by its very nature as a ‘weak’ form of government, as a model with open flanks (…)”
In Munich, Paul Nolte discusses on April 14, 2013 the theme Democracy on the Defensive
Paul Nolte,
historian
historian
„Democracy has hardly ever been more topical – and is raising questions. At the start of the 21st century, euphoria and deep disappointment go hand-in-hand. In particular for Germans, after 1945 democracy was long placed on a pedestal like a monument that one encountered with reverence. But the rule of the people, the claim to equal freedom and self-government are rife with conflicts and contradictions. The history of democracy is not only about growth, progress and fulfilment, but instead can be compared to a never-ending search. It has never come about in a linear fashion, but has had to face severe crises. What is, what was democracy? History and the present are enmeshed with each other, and the answers to these questions can hardly be straight-forward; they invite us instead to reflect on the identity crisis of a promise.”
Biography:
Starting 2005 Professor of Modern History at the Free University of Berlin.Starting 2008 member of the Expert Commission for the German Federal Government’s first report on equality (Gleichstellungsbereicht der Bundesregierung).
Starting 2009 president of the Protestant Academy Berlin.
2010/11 Guest professorship at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA.
Related publications:
Was ist Demokratie? Geschichte und Gegenwart / (i.e. what is democracy? History and present), Munich 2012 (C.H. Beck)Riskante Moderne. Die Deutschen und der neue Kapitalismus / (i.e. risky modernity: the Germans and the new capitalism), Munich 2006 (C.H. Beck)
Die Ordnung der deutschen Gesellschaft. Selbstentwurf und Selbstbeschreibung im 20. Jahrhundert / (i.e. the ordering of German society: self-conception and self-description in the 20th century), Munich 2000 (C.H. Beck)
