This issue marks a new chapter in the Democracy Seminar’s history. Four decades after its founding as a forum for democratic correspondence across borders, the Seminar begins a new phase through its partnership with the European Democracy Institute at Bard College Berlin and the New School for Social Research.
The relaunch comes at a moment when democratic institutions face renewed pressures around the world. Growing authoritarianism, democratic backsliding, geopolitical instability, and attacks on the rule of law invite renewed reflection on the role that intellectual exchange and public debate can play in sustaining democratic life. The contributions gathered in this issue revisit the Seminar’s history, introduce its new institutional home, and reflect on the responsibilities of democratic scholarship in the present moment. Together, they reaffirm the Democracy Seminar as a space for critical dialogue across disciplines, institutions, and borders.
Relaunching the Democracy Seminar
Michael Weinman (Indiana University Bloomington) and Siobhan Kattago (University of Tartu) discuss the relaunch of Democracy Seminar 3.0 and 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, they examine 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.
The Democracy Seminar and Me
Reflecting on the history of the Democracy Seminar, Jeffrey Goldfarb (The New School) 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 Jeffrey Goldfarb’s own intellectual work, reaffirming the importance of critical public thought in times of democratic crisis.
Why We Are Founding the European Democracy Institute
Berit Ebert (Professor at Bard College Berlin) and Boris Vormann (Professor at Bard College Berlin) discuss the foundation of the European Democracy Institute as a new co-host of the Democracy Seminar — as well as its role as a vital center for research, public debate, and educational initiatives on democracy in the 21st century.