Online Seminar: “Debate and Democracy – How to successfully counter populists”

16 March 2022. We are very much looking forward to our digital discussion with Dr Tobias Endler on the topic of “Debate and Democracy – How to successfully counter populists“. This topic has unfortunately gained great topicality in recent weeks and we will of course also address the war in Ukraine and how journalists are dealing with it. The interactive workshop for journalists, bloggers and everyone who participates in modern public discourse will take place tomorrow, Thursday, 17 March 2022, from 04:30 pm to 07:00 pm (CET) on Zoom.

We ask: How do we counter populist simplifications and all-too-simple answers regarding none-too-simple challenges in our 21st-century world? What is the best way in modern democratic society to fight hard and passionately over issues that affect us all, and yet stay connected, and aware of the common goals we’re fighting over?

What is our perception of public democratic debate today? And are we still “up-to-date” in a world that keeps spinning ever faster, and seemingly dissolving into factions that drift ever further apart?
These are questions that are not easy to answer so long as we cannot be sure what “debate” and “democracy” actually mean in our time.

The interactive workshop offers a theoretical framework for considering these issues as well as many practical tools for translating our insights into the “real world” of journalistic work. The workshop also introduces an international perspective in tackling these questions: Why – and if so, how – can the world’s oldest democracy, the United States, be an inspiration in that regard? Or should we recognize the situation in the US as a warning?
Participants will be given ample room for questions, comments, and exchanging thoughts.

The seminar language is English.

Dr Tobias Endler has published extensively on democracy and public debate, and most recently on the future of “the West” (Game Over: Warum es den Westen nicht mehr gibt). He teaches and researches at Heidelberg University, and has held a Teaching and Research Fellowship at Yale. He is currently working on a book on progressive discourse in Germany and the US. Tobias regularly joins the M100 Sanssouci Colloquium.