Does Liberalism Have a Future? And Does It Look Like Its Past?

Bard College Berlin, in cooperation with the Ludwig-Erhard-Forum für Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft and Zentrum Liberale Moderne cordially invite you to a debate on the past and future of liberalism with Prof. Dr. Alan S. Kahan. Drawing on his recent book, Freedom from Fear: An Incomplete History of Liberalism (Princeton University Press) which was named among the ‘Best Books of 2023’ by the Financial Times, Professor Kahan will discuss the troubled relationship of liberalism and populism in historical perspective. Beginning his story in the late eighteenth century, and carrying it into the 21st, he will argue that a return to the traditional three pillars of liberalism - freedom, markets, and morals - can help liberals respond to the populist challenge. The event takes place two days ahead of the 35th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall and two days after the US elections – events deeply connected to the past and future of liberty. Panelists include: Ewa Atanassow (Bard College Berlin), Stefan Kolev (Ludwig-Erhard-Forum), and Karolina Wigura (Zentrum Liberale Moderne).

Please register here.

Alan S. Kahan is a US-born Professor of British Civilization at the Université Paris-Saclay and a distinguished historian of liberalism. His many books include Tocqueville, Democracy, and Religion; Liberalism in Nineteenth-Century Europe; and Aristocratic Liberalism.

Ewa Atanassow is Professor of Politics at Bard College Berlin whose research focuses on the troubled relationship between liberalism and democracy. She is the author of Tocqueville’s Dilemmas, and Ours: Sovereignty, Nationalism, Globalization (Princeton University Press, 2022); and the co-editor of When the People Rule: Popular Sovereignty in Theory and Practice (Cambridge University Press, 2023) among others.

Stefan Kolev is the academic director of the Ludwig Erhard Forum for Economy and Society in Berlin and Professor for Political Economy at the University of Applied Sciences Zwickau. Stefan Kolev’s research focuses on the history of economic thought, especially ordoliberalism, Austrian economics and the German Historical School, on constitutional and institutional economics, and on economic sociology, especially Max Weber.

Karolina Wigura is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Liberal Modernity (Berlin) and a board member of the Kultura Liberalna Foundation (Warsaw). She specializes in the political philosophy of the 20th century, history of emotions, and populism. She is a regular contributor to The New York Times and The Guardian. Her recent publications include Posttraumatische Souveränität (Suhrkamp 2023, with Jarosław Kuisz).

In coorperation with Ludwig-Erhard-Forum für Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft Zentrum Liberale Moderne

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For more information, call 845-758-6822, or e-mail [email protected].

Time: 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm CET/GMT+1

Location: Zentrum Liberale Moderne (Reinhardtstraße 15, 10117 Berlin)

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