Many people find what is currently happening in the USA disturbing. An armed, deeply insecure society and, above all, blatant social inequality are among the conditions that have paved the way for Donald Trump's presidency. But what role do the Republican Party and the Supreme Court play besides Trump? And what is the significance of the racially tinged Christian nationalism that is also spreading among younger people? Three political scientists known beyond the borders of the Federal Republic of Germany will address these and other questions in a public discussion at Osnabrück University: Prof. Dr. Hubertus Buchstein (Greifswald), Prof. Dr. Rainer Eisfeld (Osnabrück) and Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Merkel (Berlin) will debate on April 22 from 5 to 7 pm in the university building in Seminarstraße 20, Room 15/E10. The discussion will be moderated by Vice President Prof. Dr. Andrea Lenschow (Osnabrück). The interested public is cordially invited to attend.
In a major essay based on the sociologist Max Weber, Prof. Merkel has attempted to understand Trump's way of exercising power as "sultanism", as rule according to arbitrariness and discretion, on the basis of loyalty and favors. Prof. Buchstein was Theodor Heuss Professor at the New School of Social Research in New York for a year. And Prof. Eisfeld's book "America's Democracy on the Brink of Failure. Inequality, oligarchy formation, Trump - and the Supreme Court".
The three academics will be discussing a number of questions at the event. For example: According to Prof. Eisfeld, "Trump no longer has a democracy, but a neoliberal to conservative oligarchy that his government, together with the Republican Party and the majority of the Supreme Court, wants to transform into an authoritarian type." Prof. Merkel: "Last but not least, it is about what new form of libertarian-oligarchic capitalism is currently emerging in the USA." And, adds Prof. Buchstein, "we are also concerned with the question of what illusions some German political scientists have had about the functioning of the US political system."
Further information for editorial offices:
Prof. Dr. Rainer Eisfeld, Osnabrück University
rainer.eisfeld@uos.de
Prof. Dr. Hubertus Buchstein, University of Greifswald
buchstei@uni-greifswald.de
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Merkel, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin
wolfgang.merkel@wzb.eu
