Past Events

	Title	Date	Type	Speakers
	Making Sense of the Results of the European Elections	Tue, 28.05.2019, 17:00	Lecture	Ivan KrastevMichael Zantovsky, Ondřej Ditrych	Making Sense of the Results of the European Elections Patocka Debate 2019 Tue, 28.05.2019, 17:00 Speakers: Ivan KrastevMichael Zantovsky, Ondřej Ditrych Series: Lecture “Democratic politics need drama,” the political analyst Ivan Krastev is convinced. Elections are a form of therapy session in which voters are confronted with their worst fears – a new war, demographic collapse, economic crisis, environmental horror – but become convinced they have the power to avert the devastation. If this assumption is correct, then in front of our eyes the European Union is turning into a true democracy. The traditionally uneventful and boring European Parliament elections have for the first time produced a drama usually reserved for the national stage. In this debate, Ivan Krastev provided a first analysis of the results of these historical elections and tried to make sense of the voters’ unsettling judgments. His remarks were responded to in a conversation with Michael Žantovský moderated by Ondřej Ditrych. Read more
Making Sense of the Results of the European Elections Patocka Debate 2019 Tue, 28.05.2019, 17:00 Speakers: Ivan KrastevMichael Zantovsky, Ondřej Ditrych Series: Lecture “Democratic politics need drama,” the political analyst Ivan Krastev is convinced. Elections are a form of therapy session in which voters are confronted with their worst fears – a new war, demographic collapse, economic crisis, environmental horror – but become convinced they have the power to avert the devastation. If this assumption is correct, then in front of our eyes the European Union is turning into a true democracy. The traditionally uneventful and boring European Parliament elections have for the first time produced a drama usually reserved for the national stage. In this debate, Ivan Krastev provided a first analysis of the results of these historical elections and tried to make sense of the voters’ unsettling judgments. His remarks were responded to in a conversation with Michael Žantovský moderated by Ondřej Ditrych. Read more
	European Elections 2019: The Day After	Mon, 27.05.2019, 16:00	Seminars and Colloquia	Marina Lalovic	European Elections 2019: The Day After Mon, 27.05.2019, 16:00 Speakers: Marina Lalovic Series: Seminars and Colloquia European elections represent the biggest electoral contest in Europe. But since the first votes in 1979, turnout in European parliament elections has been declining ever since. Could anything be different this time? One of the most important tests for the future of the EU seems to be the next European elections. These are the first elections without the participation of the United Kingdom, even though neither that’s clear so far. On the other hand, it is necessary to put the spotlight on how the rising populism shakes up these elections. Less than two months after an alleged Brexit day (March 29), in May 2019, these last elections were those most politically exploited by European leaders. So far, one may identify three possible scenarios: a decisive victory for anti-EU parties, unexpected gains for the pro-EU parties and the third one could be a scenario that confusedly mixes the two. Regardless of who is going to win, the upcoming European elections are going to reshape both the reality and the perception of the current EU. Read more
European Elections 2019: The Day After Mon, 27.05.2019, 16:00 Speakers: Marina Lalovic Series: Seminars and Colloquia European elections represent the biggest electoral contest in Europe. But since the first votes in 1979, turnout in European parliament elections has been declining ever since. Could anything be different this time? One of the most important tests for the future of the EU seems to be the next European elections. These are the first elections without the participation of the United Kingdom, even though neither that’s clear so far. On the other hand, it is necessary to put the spotlight on how the rising populism shakes up these elections. Less than two months after an alleged Brexit day (March 29), in May 2019, these last elections were those most politically exploited by European leaders. So far, one may identify three possible scenarios: a decisive victory for anti-EU parties, unexpected gains for the pro-EU parties and the third one could be a scenario that confusedly mixes the two. Regardless of who is going to win, the upcoming European elections are going to reshape both the reality and the perception of the current EU. Read more
	Democracy and Its Enemies	Wed, 22.05.2019, 18:00	Panels and Discussions	Chantal Mouffe Ludger Hagedorn Shalini RanderiaPeter Engelmann	Democracy and Its Enemies Peter Engelmann in conversation with Chantal Mouffe Wed, 22.05.2019, 18:00 Speakers: Chantal Mouffe Ludger Hagedorn Shalini RanderiaPeter Engelmann Series: Panels and Discussions Democracy is undoubtedly the most successful form of government in our times. Unlike in the early 20th century democracy today is neither endangered by dictators or by military coup d’état. We are witnessing instead a growing erosion of democracy and its legitimacy from the inside. The title the IWM publication expresses this new threat succinctly Wenn Demokratien demokratisch untergehen (When Democracies are dismantled democratically). The volume marks the resumption of a series of IWM publications in cooperation with Passagen Verlag, Vienna. Read more
Democracy and Its Enemies Peter Engelmann in conversation with Chantal Mouffe Wed, 22.05.2019, 18:00 Speakers: Chantal Mouffe Ludger Hagedorn Shalini RanderiaPeter Engelmann Series: Panels and Discussions Democracy is undoubtedly the most successful form of government in our times. Unlike in the early 20th century democracy today is neither endangered by dictators or by military coup d’état. We are witnessing instead a growing erosion of democracy and its legitimacy from the inside. The title the IWM publication expresses this new threat succinctly Wenn Demokratien demokratisch untergehen (When Democracies are dismantled democratically). The volume marks the resumption of a series of IWM publications in cooperation with Passagen Verlag, Vienna. Read more
	What Europeans Really Want	Tue, 21.05.2019, 10:00	Panels and Discussions	Ivan Krastev Ivan Vejvoda Piotr Buras Ulrike LunacekIngrid Steiner-Gashi	What Europeans Really Want Fears and Hopes Before the European Elections Tue, 21.05.2019, 10:00 Speakers: Ivan Krastev Ivan Vejvoda Piotr Buras Ulrike LunacekIngrid Steiner-Gashi Series: Panels and Discussions 70 percent of Europeans are yet to make up their minds on who they want to vote for, and nearly 100 million swing voters are up for grabs. Just days ahead of the European election, and building on a comprehensive survey by the European Council on Foreign Relations, our distinguished panel will offer insight in how Europe’s new lawmakers can give the EU a renewed license to operate. The elections themselves come in the middle of a heated debate about the future of Europe. What will it mean for the European Union if Eurosceptic parties gain control and how could the mainstream parties respond? What do the Europeans expect from the new European Parliament in the upcoming legislative term? Read more
What Europeans Really Want Fears and Hopes Before the European Elections Tue, 21.05.2019, 10:00 Speakers: Ivan Krastev Ivan Vejvoda Piotr Buras Ulrike LunacekIngrid Steiner-Gashi Series: Panels and Discussions 70 percent of Europeans are yet to make up their minds on who they want to vote for, and nearly 100 million swing voters are up for grabs. Just days ahead of the European election, and building on a comprehensive survey by the European Council on Foreign Relations, our distinguished panel will offer insight in how Europe’s new lawmakers can give the EU a renewed license to operate. The elections themselves come in the middle of a heated debate about the future of Europe. What will it mean for the European Union if Eurosceptic parties gain control and how could the mainstream parties respond? What do the Europeans expect from the new European Parliament in the upcoming legislative term? Read more
	The Return of Geopolitics?	Mon, 20.05.2019, 18:00	Panels and Discussions	Ivan Krastev Luiza Bialasiewicz	The Return of Geopolitics? Mon, 20.05.2019, 18:00 Speakers: Ivan Krastev Luiza Bialasiewicz Series: Panels and Discussions Over the past several years, it has become common to announce the ‘return of geopolitics’ in shaping the world order and relations between states. The popular media, but also the discourse of state leaders, increasingly makes use of classical geopolitical concepts in describing global events, from ‘spheres of influence’, ‘balance of power’ or ‘grand strategy’, to geographical descriptors like ‘heartlands’, ‘rimlands’ or ‘shatterbelts’. Read more
The Return of Geopolitics? Mon, 20.05.2019, 18:00 Speakers: Ivan Krastev Luiza Bialasiewicz Series: Panels and Discussions Over the past several years, it has become common to announce the ‘return of geopolitics’ in shaping the world order and relations between states. The popular media, but also the discourse of state leaders, increasingly makes use of classical geopolitical concepts in describing global events, from ‘spheres of influence’, ‘balance of power’ or ‘grand strategy’, to geographical descriptors like ‘heartlands’, ‘rimlands’ or ‘shatterbelts’. Read more
	Junior Fellows’ Conference	Thu, 16.05.2019, 10:00	Conferences and Workshops	Aishwary Kumar Aleksandra Głos Alicja Rybkowska Anastasiya Ryabchuk Eva Schwab Hubert Czyzewski Ivan Krastev Krzysztof Skonieczny Ludger Hagedorn Luiza Bialasiewicz Marci Shore Paweł Grad Sanja Dragic Zofia Smolarska Miloš Vec	Junior Fellows’ Conference Thu, 16.05.2019, 10:00 Speakers: Aishwary Kumar Aleksandra Głos Alicja Rybkowska Anastasiya Ryabchuk Eva Schwab Hubert Czyzewski Ivan Krastev Krzysztof Skonieczny Ludger Hagedorn Luiza Bialasiewicz Marci Shore Paweł Grad Sanja Dragic Zofia Smolarska Miloš Vec Series: Conferences and Workshops Program 10:00–10:30 Martha Nussbaum and the Uses of Imagination in Political Philosophy Krzysztof Skoneczny Assistant Professor, Faculty of Artes Liberales, University of Warsaw Discussant: Aishwary Kumar Read more
Junior Fellows’ Conference Thu, 16.05.2019, 10:00 Speakers: Aishwary Kumar Aleksandra Głos Alicja Rybkowska Anastasiya Ryabchuk Eva Schwab Hubert Czyzewski Ivan Krastev Krzysztof Skonieczny Ludger Hagedorn Luiza Bialasiewicz Marci Shore Paweł Grad Sanja Dragic Zofia Smolarska Miloš Vec Series: Conferences and Workshops Program 10:00–10:30 Martha Nussbaum and the Uses of Imagination in Political Philosophy Krzysztof Skoneczny Assistant Professor, Faculty of Artes Liberales, University of Warsaw Discussant: Aishwary Kumar Read more
	Citizens of Nowhere	Tue, 14.05.2019, 18:00	Panels and Discussions	Ivan Vejvoda Niccolo Milanese Ulrike Lunacek	Citizens of Nowhere How Europe Can Be Saved from Itself Tue, 14.05.2019, 18:00 Speakers: Ivan Vejvoda Niccolo Milanese Ulrike Lunacek Series: Panels and Discussions Europe might appear like a continent pulling itself apart. Ten years of economic and political crises have pitted North versus South, East versus West, citizens versus institutions. And yet, these years have also shown a hidden vitality of Europeans acting across borders, with civil society and social movements showing that alternatives to the status quo already exist. Read more
Citizens of Nowhere How Europe Can Be Saved from Itself Tue, 14.05.2019, 18:00 Speakers: Ivan Vejvoda Niccolo Milanese Ulrike Lunacek Series: Panels and Discussions Europe might appear like a continent pulling itself apart. Ten years of economic and political crises have pitted North versus South, East versus West, citizens versus institutions. And yet, these years have also shown a hidden vitality of Europeans acting across borders, with civil society and social movements showing that alternatives to the status quo already exist. Read more
	The East/West Within	Mon, 13.05.2019, 16:00	Seminars and Colloquia	Scott Spector	The East/West Within Jewish Cultural Innovation in Habsburg Galicia and Vienna Mon, 13.05.2019, 16:00 Speakers: Scott Spector Series: Seminars and Colloquia Austrian Jews under the Habsburg crown came to be perceived and to perceive themselves as sharply divided by an imaginary boundary between East and West. The presumption of a more traditional and insular Jewish communal life in Galicia, in particular, in contrast to the assimilated Judaism of cities like Prague and Vienna, resulted at times in relationships characterized by paternalism and suspicion. But are there ways in which this peculiar structure was the foundation of forms of intellectual creativity? Taking off from comparisons of the Habsburg Empire to colonial empires, I am interested in bringing the Algerian Jewish theorist Alfred Memmi’s insights in The Colonizer and the Colonized to bear on Jewish writers who passed between Austria’s Eastern and Western regions. Original forms of Zionism emerged from such subjects, who also contributed to novel forms of literature, journalism, and other media. The dialectical tensions in the particular cultural products discussed together in this colloquium pertain to a specifically Habsburg Jewish condition of identifying both as subject and object of the orientalist gaze. Read more
The East/West Within Jewish Cultural Innovation in Habsburg Galicia and Vienna Mon, 13.05.2019, 16:00 Speakers: Scott Spector Series: Seminars and Colloquia Austrian Jews under the Habsburg crown came to be perceived and to perceive themselves as sharply divided by an imaginary boundary between East and West. The presumption of a more traditional and insular Jewish communal life in Galicia, in particular, in contrast to the assimilated Judaism of cities like Prague and Vienna, resulted at times in relationships characterized by paternalism and suspicion. But are there ways in which this peculiar structure was the foundation of forms of intellectual creativity? Taking off from comparisons of the Habsburg Empire to colonial empires, I am interested in bringing the Algerian Jewish theorist Alfred Memmi’s insights in The Colonizer and the Colonized to bear on Jewish writers who passed between Austria’s Eastern and Western regions. Original forms of Zionism emerged from such subjects, who also contributed to novel forms of literature, journalism, and other media. The dialectical tensions in the particular cultural products discussed together in this colloquium pertain to a specifically Habsburg Jewish condition of identifying both as subject and object of the orientalist gaze. Read more
	Judenplatz 1010	Thu, 09.05.2019, 19:00	Lecture	Timothy Snyder	Judenplatz 1010 A Speech to Europe 2019 Thu, 09.05.2019, 19:00 Speakers: Timothy Snyder Series: Lecture ERSTE Foundation has initiated a public lecture, which will be held annually at Judenplatz as of 2019, in honour of Europe Day. The first speaker was the prominent historian Timothy Snyder from Yale University, who is also a Permanent Fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna. The place and time chosen for the lecture are no coincidence: European history is presented at Vienna’s Judenplatz like in no other place. Every year will provide a new opportunity to ask: Which text emanates from this urban space today? A text that shows the European narrative, which brought forth today’s Europe, in a different light. It is a contribution towards giving this idea of Europe – which for so long was an assurance of peace – a place in the centre of the city and of our awareness. Read more
Judenplatz 1010 A Speech to Europe 2019 Thu, 09.05.2019, 19:00 Speakers: Timothy Snyder Series: Lecture ERSTE Foundation has initiated a public lecture, which will be held annually at Judenplatz as of 2019, in honour of Europe Day. The first speaker was the prominent historian Timothy Snyder from Yale University, who is also a Permanent Fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna. The place and time chosen for the lecture are no coincidence: European history is presented at Vienna’s Judenplatz like in no other place. Every year will provide a new opportunity to ask: Which text emanates from this urban space today? A text that shows the European narrative, which brought forth today’s Europe, in a different light. It is a contribution towards giving this idea of Europe – which for so long was an assurance of peace – a place in the centre of the city and of our awareness. Read more
	What is Political Cruelty?	Mon, 06.05.2019, 16:00	Seminars and Colloquia	Aishwary Kumar	What is Political Cruelty? Liberalism of Fear and the Democratic Life Mon, 06.05.2019, 16:00 Speakers: Aishwary Kumar Series: Seminars and Colloquia “The important point for liberalism is not so much where the line is drawn,” Judith Shklar writes in a fascinating moment in her critique of cruelty, “as that it be drawn, and that it must under no circumstances be ignored or forgotten.” Where is this line? And who lives under its ambiguous constitutionality? Neither in her 1989 theses on the “liberalism of fear” nor in her 1982 demand that liberals start “putting cruelty first” does Shklar fully pursue the consequences of this morally unforgiving yet spatially uncertain line of liberal intolerance of cruelty. And while she does starkly pose the question “what is moral cruelty?” in terms of its debilitating effect on human freedom, the limit—border—that circumscribes liberalism’s constitutional response to extreme violence continues to waver. In this paper, Aishwary Kumar offers an archeology of this vacillating, political “line” that runs through liberal resistance against cruelty. By way of exploring its global implications, he follows Shklar on the cosmopolitical path she takes, along with BR Ambedkar and Hannah Arendt, into that “most ancient,” most exemplary form of organized violence and constitutional stasis known to legal and moral philosophy: the “Indo-European caste society,” which in her later writings Shklar sometimes replaces by the adjacent term “warrior society.” Her legalism is not causal. For it is in that trans-continental tradition that a relation is forged between caste and war, and the sovereignty of the line—maryada—attains its apotheosis. Might a semblance of political courage still be retrieved from that tradition of cruelty—a modern part of which becomes genuinely “anticolonial”—and rehabilitated into norms of democratic government today? Read more
What is Political Cruelty? Liberalism of Fear and the Democratic Life Mon, 06.05.2019, 16:00 Speakers: Aishwary Kumar Series: Seminars and Colloquia “The important point for liberalism is not so much where the line is drawn,” Judith Shklar writes in a fascinating moment in her critique of cruelty, “as that it be drawn, and that it must under no circumstances be ignored or forgotten.” Where is this line? And who lives under its ambiguous constitutionality? Neither in her 1989 theses on the “liberalism of fear” nor in her 1982 demand that liberals start “putting cruelty first” does Shklar fully pursue the consequences of this morally unforgiving yet spatially uncertain line of liberal intolerance of cruelty. And while she does starkly pose the question “what is moral cruelty?” in terms of its debilitating effect on human freedom, the limit—border—that circumscribes liberalism’s constitutional response to extreme violence continues to waver. In this paper, Aishwary Kumar offers an archeology of this vacillating, political “line” that runs through liberal resistance against cruelty. By way of exploring its global implications, he follows Shklar on the cosmopolitical path she takes, along with BR Ambedkar and Hannah Arendt, into that “most ancient,” most exemplary form of organized violence and constitutional stasis known to legal and moral philosophy: the “Indo-European caste society,” which in her later writings Shklar sometimes replaces by the adjacent term “warrior society.” Her legalism is not causal. For it is in that trans-continental tradition that a relation is forged between caste and war, and the sovereignty of the line—maryada—attains its apotheosis. Might a semblance of political courage still be retrieved from that tradition of cruelty—a modern part of which becomes genuinely “anticolonial”—and rehabilitated into norms of democratic government today? Read more