Crises of Democracy

In his lecture, Professor Adam Przeworski (New York University) will examine the current political situation in Europe and the United States in the light of past crises of democracy. The main question is to what extent the recent political transformations – institutional and cultural – can be rationalised in economic terms. The first part will compare some conditions of democracies that have survived and of those that have failed since 1918. Then the current economic and political conditions will be analysed in the light of this historical experience. Brief speculations about the future will conclude.

Adam Przeworski is the Carroll and Milton Professor of Politics and (by courtesy) Economics at New York University. Previously he taught at the University of Chicago, where he was the Martin A. Ryerson Distinguished Service Professor, and held visiting appointments in India, Chile, France, Germany, Spain, and Switzerland. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1991, he is the recipient of the 1985 Socialist Review Book Award, the 1998 Gregory M. Luebbert Article Award, the 2001 Woodrow Wilson Prize, the 2010 Lawrence Longley Award, and the 2018 Juan Linz Prize. In 2010, he received the Johan Skytte Prize. He recently published Why Bother With Elections? (London: Polity Press).

Dr. Mariana Llanos is Lead Research Fellow at the GIGA Institute for Latin American Studies and Head of GIGA Research Programme "Accountability and Participation."

The GIGA Distinguished Speaker Lecture Series brings leading minds in academia and policy from all over the world to Hamburg to stimulate public exchange on key global developments.