Reflecting on 1989: What the Past Three Decades Can Tell Us About the Future

Keynote Speaker and Panelist

• Francis Fukuyama, Professor of Political Science, Stanford University

Panelists

• Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, Vice President, The German Marshall Fund of the United States
• Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, Professor of Democracy Studies, Hertie School

Thirty years ago, the Berlin Wall fell, ending the division of an entire continent. The bipolar system of the Cold War dissolved and a new optimism about the future took hold in the West and around the globe. Liberal democracy was on the march and Francis Fukuyama’s thesis of “the end of history” pointed the way ahead. Today, the hopeful mood of 1989 has been replaced by gloom. The West is no longer unified in its support for liberal democracy and a new geopolitical competition is reshaping the international system. What lessons can we draw from 1989 to face current challenges? How should we handle today’s uncertainty to protect democracy tomorrow?

This event is part of the series “The Backlash Against Liberal Democracy” launched by the German Marshall Fund of the United States, Villa Aurora & Thomas Mann House e.V., and the Robert Bosch Foundation. The series brings together influential voices from Europe and the United States to shed light on different aspects of the challenges that liberal democracies face. Speakers so far have included historian Timothy Snyder from Yale University as well as political scientist Daniel Ziblatt from Harvard University. This event is organized in cooperation with and generously supported by the Hertie School.

Attendance is by invitation only