Why has conspiracy theory risen to prominence in our current political moment–especially in the US, where presidential candidate Donald Trump has frequently affiliated himself with conspiracism? How is conspiracy theory deployed as a political tool? This talk proposes a new way of assessing the relationship between thinking and feeling, highlighting their deep interrelatedness and enabling us to see conspiracy theories as powerful political tools. This helps draw a clearer map of the role conspiracy theories are playing in the 2024 US election and devise more effective ways of responding to them.
Founded in 1949 to counter the Soviet threat, NATO now faces a renewed threat from Russia. For more than three decades Europe seemed to be at ease, enjoying the “peace dividend.” Only too late, Dr. Marcus Pindur argues, a lot of Europeans realized they were not able to defend them-selves. The US fields fifty percent of NATO´s military power, more than all other alliance members combined. Likewise, the nuclear umbrella de-terring atomic attacks on the European allies is provided largely by the US. Dr. Pindur lays out how – in a newly endangered, unstable world with America´s support no longer ironclad – Europeans have to adapt.
Most prominently at stake for Australia in the 2024 US election is the direction of Australian conservative politics. Trump engages an idiom and symbolism that is internationally shared and unites various right-wing agendas, particularly in Australia, where the English language and Murdoch-owned media outlets make Trump a focal point for the Australian right. His victory, Dr. Smith argues in his lecture, would embolden a populist, far-right ascendancy on the conservative side of Australian politics at the expense of more moderate and liberal tendencies within the conservative coalition. A defeat of Trump is likely to have the opposite effect.
Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has fundamentally reshaped transatlantic relations, laying bare Europe's reliance on the United States for security and exposing the EU's economic and military vulnerabilities. In her lecture, Dr. Puglierin argues that no matter who wins the presidential election in the US Europeans need to urgently build a more balanced transatlantic relationship to be able to protect their own economic and security interests.
We are currently witnessing the merging of digital and analogous worlds. In this new media framework, the development of generative AI and the increasing political power of Silicon Valley pose fundamental challenges for the upcoming U.S. election. In his lecture, Dr. Hoffmann interrogates the close interrelation between the digital ecosystem and the future of democratic discourse. In the light of the rightward shift of Silicon Valley politics, considered a “rise of techno-authoritarianism” by some commentators, as well as the potential for disinformation offered by generative AI, the U.S. political system is, so Dr. Hoffmann argues, utterly unprepared for the impact of technology's latest advances on electoral proceedings.
This year’s presidential race is likely to be particularly close, with possibly only a few thousand voters in battleground states determining the outcome. With this prospect ahead, Dr. Trautsch looks at the constitutional and political factors – such as the function of the electoral college, the importance of swing states, the impact of independent candidates and choices of potential vice presidents – that will shape the 2024 election. Interrogating this framework, his lecture lays out a road map for an analysis of the upcoming election campaign.
The U.S. Constitution and political system separate powers between branches and levels of government. Despite such division and decentralization of powers, national political-party competition, also over the presidency, has intensified within the states themselves. Yet, these trends have not produced more centralization, but make individual states more nationally relevant than ever, not least given their predominant authority over elections, including federal ones. Against this backdrop, Dr. Sonnicksen’s lecture focuses on the 2024 election in the larger context of how U.S. institutions of federalism and democracy interact, and interrogates the role of the states in the electoral process.
As American democracy has come increasingly under attack from within, and lies, conspiracy theories, and physical violence thrive, artist Bill Travis has sought to express his fear and rage as authentically as he can, through images. The photo-based pictures he has made over the past few years find inspiration in the art of Francisco Goya, especially his Black Paintings, with their powerful examination of humanity's dark underside. Rather than depict actual individuals, Travis focuses on emotional forces, which is why his series deals with images of conflict. What's happening in the United States today is transformed into a visual realm that creates its own time and space.
Viktor Orbán’s “illiberal democracy” has become a model for the global radical right. At the Conservative Political Action (CPAC) conference in Washington, DC, in February of 2024, the Heritage Foundation presented its “Project 2025,” a blueprint for a second Trump administration that, if enacted, would essentially mean an “Orbán-ization” of the US. The Center for Fundamental Rights advertised for CPAC Budapest, which took place in April of 2024. How far-reaching is this transnational network of the radical right? While advising not to buy into the right’s narrative of a unified movement against “globalism” and “wokeism,” Dr. Greven shows how its impact goes beyond photo-ops of narcissists like Trump and Orbán.
Donald J. Trump’s presidency (2017-21) was a rough ride for Europeans: Trump called NATO obsolete, repeat-edly scolded allies, questioned US security guarantees, and cozied up to leaders in Moscow and Beijing. A few months ago, he even suggested to give Russia a free pass to attack financially “delinquent” NATO mem-bers. Unsurprisingly, the scenario of Donald Trump`s potential return to the White House sends shockwaves through Europe at a time of height-ened geopolitical and geoeconomic conflict. The lecture analyzes the severe security challenges Germany, NATO, and the EU currently face and discusses options to weather the storm.
Descriptions of political opponents as “vermin” and migrants engaged in “poisoning the blood of our country” illustrate the extent to which Donald Trump’s rhetoric has further radicalized since he left the Oval Office. While the threat posed by the former – and potentially future – president attracts most attention, the role of the Republicans in damaging US demo-cracy is far more extensive and runs deeper. Today’s Republican Party can be described, Dr. Adorf argues, as a populist, profoundly illiberal and white nationalist movement whose reluc-tance to abide by democratic norms and conventions predates the Trump era and will affect the United States long term.
Canadians are paying close attention to the 2024 U.S. presidential election, reflecting multiple concerns and considerations about the potential outcome and its implication for Canada. While a significant majority of 62% assume that the U.S. would be "much worse" if Trump wins, they are strategically preparing for any scenario, as does Kirsten Hillman, Canadian Ambassador to the United States, who spearheads the Trudeau government's Team Canada approach. The lecture will discuss Canada’s perspective on the presidential race with a particular emphasis on trade issues.
The United States increasingly sees the economy as part of its national security to which China is deemed to pose the greatest threat. Consequently, a key priority of US foreign policy is to prevent the rise of China as an economically, technologically and ultimately militarily superior power. Dr. von Daniels argues that regardless of who wins the US elections, EU member states need to better coordinate their economic and security policies if they want to protect their citizens’ security and prosperity in times of geoeconomic and geopolitical confrontation between the United States and China.
The current presidential race is dominated by the oldest pair of candidates in the history of US elec-tions, both of whom are highly un-popular in the general electorate. A majority of American voters would prefer a different set of choices which makes third party candidates attrac-tive. In addition, there is no clear set of issues defining the Biden and Trump campaigns; instead, voters are moti-vated by the rivals’ negative images. Now what does this mean for the issues that the US is indeed con-fronted with, ranging from climate change to tax policy and foreign policy? Do they play a role at all in the 2024 US election?
Earth in the Balance? Environmental Politics and US American Elections Environmental issues have never loomed large in U.S. presidential elections; the latter, though, often have a considerable impact on environ-mental issues both domestic and global. This holds particularly true in 2024. While public debates focus on inflation, immigration, and abortion rights, the most consequential question may be whether the U.S. stays on the path charted by the 2022 “Inflation Reduction Act” which directs vast public funds towards carbon-neutrality and puts the country at the forefront of global efforts to tackle climate change. In this talk, Dr. Bergthaller will discuss what is at stake for the environment in the 2024 presi-dential election and reconsider U.S. climate policy since the Clinton era.
Just four years ago, the election of the first “Madam President” seemed immi-nent: six women, the highest number ever, competed in the Democratic primaries. Though none of them clinched the nomination, Joe Biden’s choice of Kamala Harris as his Vice President suggested that a woman would rather sooner than later move into the Oval Office. But no. Why has it historically been so difficult for women to rise to the highest office? Which factors played into preventing a woman candidate in 2020, and Biden stepping aside for Harris or another female Democrat in 2024?
"Studierende fragen - Alumni antworten" Join us for this year's "Forum Beruf" on June 24th, 6 p.m. (s.t.)
The book is “almost everywhere,” lamented Henry James in 1899. Advancements in transport as well as communications and printing technologies effected an explosion of print which indeed seemed to transform US literary culture during the early decades of the 20th century. Strikingly absent from the scholarship is the significant contribution of motion pictures to these cultural shifts. In her paper, Prof. Gleeson-White sketches the argument of her new book "Silent Film and the Formations of US Literary Culture: Literature in Motion" and shows how motion pictures provided Black authors a means to navigate the gnarly terrain of authorship during the Jim Crow era.
Join us for our Student Symposium in the context of Prof. Dr. Sabine Sielke's seminar "On the Occasion of the 2024 Presidential Election: Media, Culture, Power." The seminar students will present their research on urgent issues and intricate dynamics of media, culture, and power.
