Foreign Correspondent Unplugged: What's driving the Left in Germany and the United States?

The American Council on Germany and the Goethe-Institut are holding a series of in-person events across the United States highlighting how German and American journalists based in the United States see political and social developments in Germany, the United States, and internationally. Our guests will take a step back from the stories they follow day to day and address a range of topics that affect citizens in both countries. Following the in-person gatherings, the discussions are released as podcasts.
 
Join us for the first event in New York City on May 29. A growing number of Americans and Germans have been engaging in civil action in recent years. They have come out to demand radical social and economic changes. What do their strategies look like? What is the role of civil society? And how do the two countries differ when it comes to the left at large?

Our guests – political scientist Sheri Berman and independent journalist Lukas Hermsmeier – will talk about progressive movements, ideas, and alliances in Germany and the United States in a conversation moderated by Steven E. Sokol.

Dr. Sheri Berman is a professor of Political Science at Barnard College, Columbia University. Her research interests include European history and politics; the development of democracy; populism and fascism; and the history of the left. She has written about these topics for a wide variety of scholarly and non-scholarly publications, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, and VOX. She currently serves on the boards of the Journal of Democracy, Dissent and Political Science Quarterly. Her most recent book, Democracy and Dictatorship in Europe: From the Ancien Regime to the Present Day, was published by Oxford University Press in 2019.

Lukas Hermsmeier is an independent journalist from Berlin based in New York and writes politics and culture – with a special focus on social movements and labor movements – for publications such as Die Zeit, Die Wochenzeitung, and the New York Times. His first book, Uprising – Amerikas neue Linke (Klett-Cotta, 2022), is about the resurgence of the left in the United States since Occupy Wall Street. His most recent opinion piece in the New York Times can be found here.

Dr. Steven E. Sokol (moderator) is the President and CEO of the American Council on Germany (ACG). Previously, he served as President and CEO of the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh and prior to that he was the Vice President and Director of Programs at the ACG. Educated in Germany and the United States, he has spent more than 20 years working for non-profit organizations in both countries. Dr. Sokol is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and sits on several advisory boards. He was awarded a Bundesverdienstkreuz (Order of Merit) for his work to strengthen German-American relations.