Sommaire: Panel discussion: Friday, 18 May 2012 at 6:30 p.m. hosted by Deutsches Haus at New York University on the current European crisis and its deeper roots with leading EU-experts and intellectuals. Ulrike Guérot, Peter Schneider, Martin Eichtinger, and Christiane Lemke in conversation with Martin Rauchbauer. Will the current European fiscal crisis produce a bottom-up revolution in Europe? According to Ulrike Guerot, our current visiting scholar, the crisis will establish the basis for political discussions about welfare-distribution across the EU. As a consequence, a transnational democracy may be emerging in Europe. European citizens may engage more frequently in the domestic discussions of other European countries.
Panel Discussion: Is Europe the New Babel? The Role of Language in Building a Transnational Democracy
Friday, May 18th, 6:30 p.m. at Deutsches Haus at New York University
Join us for this debate on the current European crisis and its deeper roots with leading EU-experts and intellectuals. Ulrike Guérot, Peter Schneider, Martin Eichtinger, and Christiane Lemke in conversation with Martin Rauchbauer. Will the current European fiscal crisis produce a bottom-up revolution in Europe? According to Ulrike Guerot, our current visiting scholar, the crisis will establish the basis for political discussions about welfare-distribution across the EU. As a consequence, a transnational democracy may be emerging in Europe. European citizens may engage more frequently in the domestic discussions of other European countries.
In the future, language will matter even more in the organization of this new European democracy, if Europe is increasingly moving towards a liability or debt community.
Hence, a few crucial and practical questions are often overlooked: How will future pan-European discussions about new social contracts be run? Who will participate and how authentic will these discussions be? Is English sufficient as the lingua franca? Or will Esperanto get a second chance? Will computer translation programs fix anything? Will it be possible to turn to a Polish TV channel and get the news directly in, say, Italian? In which language will trade unions and civil society interact? The question of European political culture is again prominently on the table.
Will it, then, be possible to have a transnational discussion about a new, pan-European social contract and a political model? 'Parliament' also has different meanings and underpinnings in German and French, but it will be important to talk about the role of (national) parliaments in the EU institutional system, their role and their importance. What role will the legislative elements of the system play here?
Or can a European democracy be sustained without such discussions? How important is a common language for democracy and mutual understanding? 'Toute est langage,' the French psychologist Françoise Dolto once said. Referring to Henry Kissinger's famous quest for a European phone number, the next question for tomorrow's Europe well be: what is Europe without a language through which European citizens can make themselves understand?
ABOUT THE PANELISTS
Peter Schneider is a German writer and essayist. His novel Lenz, published in 1973, became a seminal text for the political Left, capturing the feelings of those disappointed by the failure of their utopian revolt. He has been a writer-in-residence at U.S. universities such as Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, and he is our current writer-in-residence at Deutsches Haus at NYU.
Ulrike Guérot is a German political scientist and heads the Berlin office of the European Council on Foreign Affairs. She is also our current visiting scholar and contributes to Deutsches Haus with her weekly blog The Alien Scholar in NYC.
Christiane Lemke is a German political scientist and currently holds the Max Weber Chair for European Affairs atNew York University.
Martin Eichtinger is an Austrian diplomat. He was the Chief of the Cabinet of the Austrian Special Representative for Payments to Former Forced and Slave Laborers of the Nazi-Regime, and served in several other positions, including Austrian Ambassador to Romania. He is currently the Director General for Cultural Policy at the Austrian Foreign Ministry.
Martin Rauchbauer is the Director of Deutsches Haus at New York University.
DAAD sponsored event.
Events at Deutsches Haus are free of charge. Please let us know which event you would like to attend by sending us an email to deutscheshaus.rsvp@nyu.edu. Space at Deutsches Haus is limited, please arrive ten minutes prior to the event. Thank you!
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