Plus ça change. When the Democracy Seminar was last re-launched, in 2018, its curators at that time envisioned a “worldwide committee of democratic correspondence” in the hope that “democrats of the world...

In the context of renewed democratic crises on both sides of the Atlantic, the relaunch of Democracy Seminar 3.0 coincides with the founding of the European Democracy Institute as a space for critical reflection, debate, and transatlantic collaboration. Drawing on the intellectual legacies of Hannah Arendt and Fritz Stern, the article examines contemporary authoritarianism, democratic backsliding, and the enduring relevance of thinking critically in times of crisis. Against the backdrop of shifting global power, it frames the renewed Democracy Seminar as a “third escape toward freedom”—an effort to sustain democratic imagination, accountability, and shared political responsibility.

Reflecting on the history of the Democracy Seminar, the author traces its evolution from a semi-clandestine transnational network during the Cold War to its present role within the European Democracy Institute and the New School. The essay explores how decades of dialogue, disagreement, and collaboration shaped both the Seminar’s democratic commitments and the author’s own intellectual work, reaffirming the importance of critical public thought in times of democratic crisis.

Through personal encounters in Poland, Israel, and the United States, this essay reflects on the power of small acts of repair in times of political violence and moral devastation. Drawing connections between historical memory, contemporary protest, and everyday gestures of solidarity, it argues that even fragile acts of care can sustain hope and ethical responsibility in dark times.

The European Democracy Institute is founded on the belief that, in a world marked by democratic backsliding, authoritarian power, and global crises, Europe must renew and deepen its democratic capacities rather than retreat from them. Drawing on Europe’s conflicted history and pluralistic traditions, the Institute brings together research, education, and public dialogue to help imagine new democratic forms suited to an interconnected world.