1. art and entertainment
2. music
3. music genres
4. opera

No.
99
September – December 2008
www.iwm.at
How to
Remember
Workshops with
Timothy Snyder
page 14
Hidden
Benefits
Elisabeth
Beck-Gernsheim
on Inequality and
Global Care Chains
page 4
Against
the Devil
Contributions
on Populism by
Slavenka Drakulic
and Junior
Fellows
pages 9, 24
Newsletter of the INSTITUT FÜR DIE WISSENSCHAFTEN VOM MENSCHEN, Vienna
and of the INSTITUTE FOR HUMAN SCIENCES at Boston University
CONTENTS
3 Timothy Snyder and Charles Taylor
at the IWM
4 Global Care Chains:
A Workshop on Inequality and an
Essay by Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim
Debates, Lectures, and Events
8 Habsburg, United States, and New
Europe: Monthly Lectures
11 State, Climate Change, and the
Role of Art in Politics and Society:
Lecture Series
14 Soviet Occupation and Stalinism:
Two Workshops
”United Europe – Divided Memory“
and Essays by Wolfgang Müller
and Stefan Troebst
19 Phenomenology and Violence;
Christianity, History, and Europe:
Two Workshops
20 Ukrainian Gas, the Desastrous
Power of Economics and
John Paul II: Further Events of
the IWM
From the Fellows
24 Against the Devil:
Comments on Populism
26 Imagining Cool:
Vuksa Velickoviç on Techno-Politics
and Belgrade’s Club Culture
28 Fellows and Guests
34 Travels and Talks, Varia
36 Publications
Guest Contributions
38 Abyssal Love.
James Dodd on Patocka,
Rosenzweig, and History
41 Lange nach Tocqueville
und kurz nach Obama:
Jens Alber über Eigenheiten der
amerikanischen Demokratie und
des US-Wahlsystems
44 Upcoming Events
2
No. 99
September – December 2008
Editorial
Das letzte Drittel des Jahres 2008 hat das IWM
sozusagen im Dauerlauf verbracht, mit mehr als
20 Veranstaltungen (die Junior Visiting Fellows
Seminare nicht mitgerechnet) lief der Betrieb auf
Hochtouren. Zu erwähnen wären vor allem die
Workshops zu den inhaltlichen Schwerpunkten des
Instituts: um Patocka und das Christentum ging es
im Oktober, zwei Workshops fanden im Rahmen
des neu begonnenen Schwerpunkts „United Europe – Divided Memory“ statt, ein Workshop zum
Thema „Ursachen von Ungleichheit“.
Zu all diesen Veranstaltungen finden Sie hier
in der IWMpost weiter führende Beiträge, so interpretiert James Dodd auf unkonventionelle Weise
Patockas Auffassung des Christentums anhand des
Judaskusses (S.38), Stefan Troebst zeigt in seinem
Beitrag exemplarisch am Jahr 1989, wie Erinnerungsgeschichte in Ost und West auseinander driften kann (S. 17), und Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim
analysiert den Zusammenhang zwischen einem
faulen Geschlechterkompromiss im Westen und
dem Mangel an Pflegekräften (dem „care drain“)
weiter im Osten (S 4).
Auch andere Veranstaltungen begleiten wir in
diesem Newsletter mit Essays: Der Publizist Mykola Ryabchuk, der im September einen Vortrag am
IWM hielt, äußert sich aktuell zum russisch-ukrainischen Gas-Konflikt (S.20), und dass sich die Forschungsinteressen gleich mehrerer Fellows des letzten Semesters beim Thema Populismus trafen, zeigen die Beiträge Slavenka Drakulic (s. 9) und von
Olga Wysocka, Elisabetta Ambrosi and Boyan
Manchev, die aus der Perspektive Polens, Italiens
und Bulgariens verschiedene Szenarien populistischer Politik beschreiben (Seite 24).
Dieser Newsletter mit der fast runden Nummer
99, wird überdies der letzte im gewohnten Format
sein. Das IWM wird im Laufe des Jahres 2009
einen gründlichen „Relaunch“ der Grafik seiner
Druckerzeugnisse und auch des Internetauftritts
vornehmen. Lassen Sie sich also überraschen – von
allen Beiträgen in diesem Heft, auch denen, die
nicht Platz hatten im Editorial erwähnt zu werden, und dann im April von einer IWMpost
Nummer 100 in neuem Gewand.
Andrea Roedig
IWM pubic relations
The last third of 2008 has been something of an
endurance race for the IWM. With more than
20 events taking place (not including the regular Junior Visiting Fellows seminars), it’s been full
speed ahead for the Institute. First and foremost
it’s worth mentioning a number of workshops
devoted to the central themes of the Institute:
firstly, in October there was a workshop on
Patocka and Christianity, then two workshops
devoted to our new theme “United Europe –
Divided Memory” and finally a workshop on
“Sources of Inequality.”
You will find topic-related articles on these
workshops in this edition of the IWM newsletter. James Dodd for example presents an unconventional interpretation of Patocka’s concept of
Christianity by way of the Judas kiss (p.38). Stefan Troebst shows in his article on the year 1989,
how the memory of history in east and west can
drift apart (p. 17), and Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim analyses the connection between compromised gender relations in the west and the continuing shortage of home care workers (“care
drain”) in the east (p. 4).
The newsletter also presents essays on other
events, including, for example, one by the publicist Mykola Ryabchuk, who gave a lecture at the
IWM in September, on the current gas dispute
between Ukraine and Russia (p. 20).
In the last semester several of our fellows were
interested in research on the topic of populism.
You can get an impression of this fortuitous
bundling together of common interests in the
text by Slavenka Drakulic (p. 9) as well as the
articles by Olga Wysocka, Elisabetta Ambrosi
and Boyan Manchev, which explore different
scenarios of populism from the perspective of
Poland, Italy and Bulgaria (p. 24)
This newsletter (just one short of the 100th
edition!) will be the last in the old, familiar format. The IWM is undertaking a complete overhaul of the design of its printed works and internet site and will re-launch them in the course of
2009. I hope you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the
articles in this edition, including those which I
haven’t had the space to mention in this editorial, and also by the 100th IWMpost in April, with
its brand new look.
| NEWS
Neue Methoden, neue Narrative
Timothy Snyder und Charles Taylor als Permanent Fellows am IWM
The IWM is happy to announce additions to
its group of Permanent Fellows: Timothy Snyder
(left), Professor of History at Yale University, and
Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor will join the
Institute in 2009 for extended visits and broaden
the Institutes work with two new projects.
Das IWM ist, wie es unsere Selbstdarstellungstexte oft formulieren, „von einer Gemeinschaft
von Gelehrten getragen“. Das ist keine bloße
Floskel, denn das Institut wäre nichts ohne die
Personen, die Freunde, Förderer, und die Fellows die es unterstützen und lebendig halten. Mehr als alles andere ist das IWM ein
Netzwerk von Menschen, die die Themen und
den Charakter des Instituts prägen.
Wir freuen uns daher besonders, dass wir
den Stab der Permanent Fellows, also derjenigen Wissenschaftler, die fest mit dem Institut verbunden und für die inhaltlichen
Schwerpunkte verantwortlich sind, um zwei
renommierte Personen erweitern konnten:
Der Yale-Historiker Timothy Snyder, Experte für osteuropäische Geschichte, und der
kanadische Philosoph Charles Taylor werden
ab 2009 regelmäßig in Wien am Institut sein
und zwei neue Schwerpunkte in die Arbeit
des Instituts einbringen.
Timothy Snyder hat 1997 in Oxford
promoviert, nach diversen Forschungsaufenthalten in Warschau, Paris, Wien (Snyder
war zwei Mal Visiting Fellow am IWM) und
Harvard wurde er 2001 zunächst Assistant
Professor, 2006 schließlich Professor an der
Yale University. Zu seinen mit Preisen ausgezeichneten Büchern gehören unter anderem The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland,
Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569 –1999,
(2003), Sketches from a Secret War: A Polish
Artist’s Mission to Liberate Soviet Ukraine
(2005) und zuletzt The Red Prince: The
Secret Lives of A Habsburg Archduke über
ein „schwarzes Schaf“ der Familie von Habsburg. Im September hielt Snyder am IWM
einen Vortrag zu den „Träumen und Alpträumen“ des Erzherzogs, in dessen Leben
sich europäische Geschichte und Politik
exemplarisch spiegeln.
Unter Snyders Leitung wird am IWM der
Schwerpunkt „United Europe - Divided
Memory“ durchgeführt, der im Jahr 2008 mit
zwei Workshops begonnen hat (s. auch Seite
14 ). Spätestens mit dem Jahr 1945 gingen die
„nationalen Narrative“ in Ost- und Westeuropa auseinander, und während für Westeuropa 1945 einen Neuanfang markierte,
bedeutete dasselbe Jahr 1945 in fast ganz Osteuropa den Übergang von einer Besatzungszeit zur nächsten, von der Naziherrschaft zur
Sowjetherrschaft. In „United Europe - Divided Memory“ arbeitet eine international und
interdisziplinär besetzte Expertenrunde daran,
anhand neuer Fragestellungen zur unmittelbaren Vor- und Nachkriegsgeschichte die verschiedenen, national verfassten Narrative miteinander zu verbinden. Es geht dabei nicht um
eine einfache Zusammenführung, sondern
auch um eine auf neue Weise verstandene
Geschichtsschreibung. „Keine Tragödie oder
zentrale Erfahrung sollte verloren gehen, aber
keine wird in einem ausschließlich nationalen
Rahmen aufgezeichnet“ (Timothy Snyder).
Ziel des Projekts ist es, zu einer neuen, übergreifenden, von Ost- wie Westeuropäern
akzeptierten Version der Nachkriegsgeschichte zu kommen.
Um eine neue methodische Herangehensweise geht es auch in dem Projekt von
Charles Taylor. Der vor allem durch seine
große Hegel-Studie und das Hauptwerk
Quellen des Selbst bekannte Philosoph lehrte zunächst in Oxford und ab 1982 an der
Mc Gill Universität in Montreal. Im Zentrum seiner Arbeiten stehen Fragen der
modernen Identität, der Anerkennung und
Multikulturalität, politisch inspirierter
Moralphilosophie und der Religion. Im Jahr
2007 wurde Taylor mit dem Tempelton-Preis
und im Jahr 2008 mit dem Kyoto-Preis ausgezeichnet, einer der neben dem Nobelpreis
höchsten Auszeichnungen für Verdienste um
Wissenschaft und Kultur. Taylor ist ein
langjähriger Freund und Vorsitzender des
Wissenschaftlichen Beirates des IWM, er war
mehrmals Visiting Fellow, hielt im Jahr 1991
die Patocka Memorial Lecture und im Jahr
2000 die „IWM-Vorlesungen zu den Wissenschaften vom Menschen“ über „Die Formen des Religiösen in der Gegenwart“.
Der Schwerpunkt, den Taylor am IWM
leitet, wird „Religion und Säkularismus“
unter den Bedingungen der Globalisierung
betrachten. Auch hier geht es um verschiedene „Narrative“, denn ganz offensichtlich
kann eine Beschreibung des westlichen Säkularisierungsprozesses nicht auf andere Kulturen und Zivilisationen übertragen werden.
Was meint Säkularisierung oder Säkularismus in anderen Kulturen? Zwar wird oft dieselbe Begrifflichkeit verwendet, aber wir
haben noch nicht die richtigen Konzepte
oder ein theoretisches Gerüst, um sie kulturübergreifend zu diskutieren. Ein solches
Rahmenwerk will der Schwerpunkt entwickeln. Ziel dieses Schwerpunktes ist es, die
Perspektiven verschiedener Kulturen, Religionen und theoretischer Ansätze miteinander zu verflechten, um zu untersuchen, in
welcher Weise sich Globalisierung auf die
Beziehung zwischen Religion und Säkularismus auswirkt.
Die beiden neuen Permanent Fellows werden die inhaltliche Arbeit des Instituts erweitern und auch weitere Visiting Fellows und
Junior Visiting Fellows mit ans IWM nach
Wien bringen. Ein eigenes Junior Visiting
Fellowship Programm für die Schwerpunkte ist eingerichtet (s. Anzeige S. 21). Wir freuen uns auf die neuen Impulse für das IWM.
September – December 2008
No. 99
3
WORKSHOP: CONSTELLATIONS OF INEQUALITY |
The Area of Hidden Benefits
By Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim
From December 12-14, 2008, a workshop on „Constellations
of Inequality in Processes of Societal Reproduction and Transformation” took place at the IWM. This second workshop in
the focus “Sources of Inequality” organized in cooperation with
the Renner Institute, aimed to rethinking the intersection of
the categories “race /class/ gender,” for example in relation to
the process of state transformation, globalization and changed
societal conditions. One of the main concerns addressed in the
discussion was “reproduction” and care work. The following
contribution shows how gender issues shift from patriarchal
authority to “transnational motherhood.”
In the many debates on family and family
But then, slowly and gradually, from the
change, there is general agreement on one late 19th century onwards, the privileges of
issue: The family has undergone major trans- patriarchy became subject of public debate
formations. Some see a story of loss: the weak- and political controversy. A process of transening of family bonds, a decline in stability formation began that is still going on. Today,
and solidarity. Others see a gradual move throughout Western societies the principle of
toward equality: more individual autonomy, equality is broadly accepted, from science and
more rights for women and children.
media to law and politics. Not the least, the
I want to take up the issue of “family and principle of equality is applied with respect to
equality” and give it a new turn—that is, a the family: The uneven distribution of privglobal turn. Starting with a brief look into ileges is taken for granted no more. The rights
social history, and with evidence based on the of women and children have come into focus.
fundamental changes that have taken place in Take Germany for an example. Fifty years ago,
family law, I will first
in 1958, the princistrongly argue in favour of
ple of gender equalWhat about their families?
the position claiming more
ity was made part of
What happens to the
equality. And then, in my
the German constichildren, partners, parents
next step, I will point out
tution, although it
the limits of this position.
was only after many
of migrant domestic
In most regions of prestruggles, and after
workers?
industrial Europe, patriarnearly two decades,
chal authority was a basic
that a fundamental
principle of the social order and of everyday revision of family law followed.
life. The man was the head of the household
Similar revisions of the law have taken place
and its representative in all dealings with the – some sooner, some later - in many countries,
outside world. He was the privileged heir to from Sweden to Spain to South Korea. The
the family property, to the family name, and man is no more the master; women and chilthe family line. He presided at table, had con- dren no more his subjects, and have gained
trol of financial matters, and settled contracts. more autonomy, rights and options. To put
He was the master, with women and children it in a nutshell: Patriarchy has lost. Democrasubject to his rule; according to a German law cy has finally reached the family.
of 1794, the man even had the right to decide
On the legal level, at least; everyday life
how long the wife-and-mother should breast- doesn’t often match the norms of the law. In
feed the baby.
recent years, the sexual division of labour in
4
No. 99
September – December 2008
the household has been the subject of numerous studies. From among the results, two
trends stand out: First, men have, in fact, been
changing. Men of the younger generation,
when compared to their fathers or grandfathers, take much more part in the up-bringing of their offspring, from taking them to
kindergarten to sports or playground activities. Second, changes have been, so far, modest in scope (except, maybe, in the Scandinavian countries). Women still bear most
responsibility with regard to childrearing tasks
and household work. Except for some rare
heroic souls, routine activities such as changing sheets or doing the laundry are not on the
male menu. In short, a gender gap, or as the
American sociologist Arlie Hochschild puts
it, a “stalled revolution” in gender matters.
With little support from their male partners, women who try to combine both motherhood and holding a job have to bear high
personal costs, for instance, sleep privation,
constant stress, and no free time. As a survival strategy, many of these women resort to
delegating some of the family work to female
helpers of all kinds, from grandmothers to
neighbours to cousins, and in recent years,
more and more often to another group:
migrant women.
When speaking of migrant domestic
workers we speak of women from all over the
globe: women from Mexico who as nannies
work in California; women from the Philippines who care for the elderly in Italy; women
| WORKSHOP: CONSTELLATIONS OF INEQUALITY
Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim is Professor
of Sociology at the University of Erlangen.
Her main fields of research are family and
gender, migration and multiculturalism,
social change and consequences of technological innovation. One of her recent publications is: Die Kinderfrage heute.
Über Frauenleben, Kinderwunsch und
Geburtenrückgang (2006).
have no access to public health services, unemployment benefits, or pension rights. They
are vulnerable to exploitation, and can be fired
without notice. Last but not least, their political rights are severely restricted.
For Klaus J. Bade, historian and outstanding migration expert in Germany, three
words characterize those working in the shadow economy: “Fleißig, billig, illegal;” that
is, hard-working, cheap, illegal.
Of course this is why migrants are hired:
because they are efficient and because they are
cheap. At first sight it is the middle-class
women of the First World who profit, but
when looking closer we find that their male
partners profit just as much, and probably
even more. More than the women, men in
such households are set free to follow their
ambitions and to pursue careers without being
disturbed by tedious tasks.
In many middle-class families today, both
men and women are well aware that the gender-role issue is a sensitive area, and that the
“stalled revolution,” if not handled carefully,
from Poland who clean houses and do the might escalate into explosive conflicts. Many
laundry for German families.
of these couples have come to a similar conFaced with high rates of unemployment in flict management strategy. They have reached
their home countries, and no prospects to earn a kind of silent treaty, an implicit agreement:
a decent living there, these women have decid- If women see to it that the family household
ed to look for work in the wealthier regions is functioning at a reasonable level, then men
of the world; thereby following the millions consent to their venturing out of the home
of “guest workers” of earlier decades.
and into the labour market, including to purIn this way, the needs of two different sue some career of their own. And conversegroups of women meet. Lacking help from ly, if their men “allow” women a career of
their male partners, women of the First World their own, then the women consent to proresort to outsourcing: turning over some of vide, as best they can, for the functioning
the care for their children, elderly parents, and of household and family affairs by outsourchomes to women from the
ing family work, not by conThird World . On the othstantly demanding male parThe new rule says:
er hand, women of the
ticipation.
If you really love
Third World can find a
To illustrate this point,
your family, you
way to earn money. While
imagine the following situamen’s contribution to
tion: What if all migrant
must leave it
household work is modest
domestic workers were sudat best, the work load has
denly to disappear, indeed, to
to coped with, no matter what. Hence the do what politicians in Western countries offimarket solution: Job offers to fill the gap.
cially expect them to do, namely return to
At first sight, it seems to be a perfect fit. their respective home countries – to Poland
Supply and demand correspond closely. But or Romania, to Mexico or Honduras? By all
a closer look reveals a serious flaw to this solu- probabilities, then it would no more suffice
tion. Its main characteristic is a massive imbal- that German men, or US men, praise genance of risks and profits for the parties der equality. In this emergency, women could
involved. Obviously the migrant workers have no longer keep to their implicit agreement,
to bear most of the risks. They are trapped and instead demand loudly that men do their
in a semi-legal, shadow economy. Because they share of family work. If this analysis holds
often have no visa, no work permit, and thus true, it reveals major hidden benefits not for
no residence rights, their position is fragile and the migrants, but for their employers. By
vulnerable. In most countries, these women relieving Western families of some of their
September – December 2008
No. 99
5
WORKSHOP: CONSTELLATIONS OF INEQUALITY |
S. Littig, G. A. Knapp, C. Klinger and B. Sauer
work load, migrant domestic workers stabilize – and contribute to - the precarious peace
in the arena of gender.
At this point, we might ask: What about
their families? What happens to the children,
partners, and parents of migrant domestic
workers?
This is a question that we – natives of the
West – mostly ignore, yet it is no minor matter. Many of the women working abroad have
families of their own in their home countries.
These women have left partners, children and
whoever else close to them, to go abroad and
earn a living. In fact, it is often the children,
and their responsibility towards them, that
motivates female migrants to go abroad; the
mothers want a better future for their sons
and daughters, free from hunger and constant
poverty. For this hope, they are willing to
accept long separations and a lonely and insecure life in a far-away country.
Yet this behaviour shows nothing less than
a revolution affecting basic rules. In older
times, it was proof of your love that you
would stick together, no matter what. Now,
in a globalized, market-driven world, for
many the opposite holds true. The new rule
says: If you really love your family, you must
leave it. You must go to some distant part of
the world, wherever there is money to be
made, because this is the only way to lift your
family out of misery and desperation at home.
Or, to quote from a novel by Michelle Spring:
“For migrant domestic workers all over the
6
No. 99
September – December 2008
Beverley Skeggs
globe, love means, first of all: having to go there. Transnational care chains are to be
away.”
found, for example, when we look at the
But how does this work? How are the chil- migration flows between Eastern Europe and
dren of migrant mothers cared for? Accord- Western Europe. Women from Poland go
ing to recent studies, the answer is that anoth- to Germany, cleaning the houses of middleer division of labour is being established in class families there; at the same time, women
the respective homelands of female migrants, from the Ukraine go to Poland, managing the
and again involving women only. Often household and family tasks of the Polish
migrant women rely on the help of other migrant women at work in Germany.
women in their home town (for instance a
While these care chains spread in many
grandmother, sister in-law, or neighbour). By directions, crossing borders, mountains,
sending them money and other gifts from oceans, and connecting diverse places, they
abroad, migrant mothers hope to grow a sense do so in no accidental way. On the contrary,
of responsibility among the recipients of such they follow a distinct pattern, rooted in
favours, and make
social inequality. As
them willing to look
Arlie Hochschild puts
Lacking help from
after their children’s
it: “Motherhood is
their male partners,
well-being and care.
passed down the hierwomen of the First world
In this way, new patarchy of nation, ethterns of motherhood are
nicity, race.” This senresort to outsourcing of
being created, named
tence brings into focus
family work
“transnational motherthe reality that globalhood” in recent studies.
ization accentuates on
They result in so-called “global care chains,” the level of family duties and childcare a
based on elaborate networks and spanning global hierarchy. It translates into a global
between countries and continents. To give a hierarchy of delegation. The work implied
typical example: In some family of the Sec- by the three Cs - caring, cleaning, cooking
ond or Third World, the eldest daughter is – is cast off along the lines of nationality,
responsible for looking after her younger sib- colour, and ethnicity.
lings; this sets her mother free to take care
Above all, children, old people, and disof some third woman’s children, and thus earn abled or ill people have to bear the consea little money; while the third woman has quences. With each step downward, the
migrated to some Western country, and is chances for receiving adequate help and good
nanny to the baby boy of a family resident care are being diminished. If Polish women
| WORKSHOP: CONSTELLATIONS OF INEQUALITY
Constellations of Inequality in Processes of Societal Reproduction
and Transformation
December 12
Session I
Session III
Gudrun-Axeli Knapp /
Birgit Sauer / Cornelia Klinger
Chair: Cornelia Klinger
(IWM, Vienna, Austria)
Welcome / Introduction
Wolfgang Gabbert
(University of Hannover, Germany)
Social Categories, Ethnicity and
the State in Yucatan, Mexico
Chair: Birgit Sauer
(University of Vienna, Austria)
Spike Peterson (University of
Arizona, Tuscon, USA)
Intersectional Analytics in Global
Political Economy
Beverley Skeggs (University
of London, Goldsmiths, GB)
Class, Culture and Morality: Legacies and Logics in the Space for
Identification
Myra Marx-Ferree
Peter Imbusch
leave their homes to work for German families, and women from
Ukraine leave their homes to work
in Polish households; who then will
do the caring-cleaning-cooking in
Ukraine?
Empirical studies have found
that indeed, those at the bottom of
the hierarchy bear the costs of delegating. Take, for instance, the children of migrant mothers. Often,
their grandmothers, aunts, and elder sisters are burdened by too many
responsibilities or are too old, too
tired, or too sick to master yet
another task. Even if they try hard,
the children left in their charge are
more or less on their own, and lack
proper care and proper meals. At
the same time there is little help to
expect from the fathers. Some men
disappeared years ago, taking leave
from family bonds and family
duties. And of those who stayed,
many find it hard to come to terms
with the role reversal which occurs
when women become the breadwinners. Because many men are
preoccupied with their own sense
of crisis, they are hardly able to offer
emotional support and protection.
The effect is that many children
lack a stable base, feel lonely, and
desperately long for their mothers.
In short, a “care drain” of major
dimensions is taking place. The
result is that families in poor countries will experience even more
destabilization. Now, they lack not
only material resources, but also
their most important “human
resources”: women.
When we look at the family
from a nation-state perspective, for
instance with respect to the
changes of national family law, we
find that a move toward more
equality has taken place. But the
picture takes on a different colour
when globalization comes into
view. On both sides of the global
divide, among rich and among
poor nations, families are being
transformed. While in some ways,
they are drawn together, becoming mutually dependent, at the
same time they grow further apart,
moving into opposite directions.
The former gain in vital resources,
and the latter lose. New hierarchies are emerging, both within
families (middle class families of
the West hiring servants from the
global “rest”), and also among
families (a care drain from poor to
rich nations). On the global scale,
the gap widens, and inequality
increases.
Peter Imbusch (University of
Bielefeld, Germany)
Contradictions of Social Responsibility - German Business Elites
and Globalization
Book presentation: Achsen der
Ungleichheit. Zum Verhältnis von
Klasse, Geschlecht und Ethnizität
and Über-Kreuzungen. Fremdheit,
Ungleichheit, Differenz with
Cornelia Klinger, Grudrun-Axeli
Knapp, Birgit Sauer (eds.)
Chair: Otto Penz
(University of Calgary)
December 13
Session II
Chair: Gudrun-Axeli Knapp
(University of Hannover, Germany)
Regina Becker-Schmidt
(University of Hannover, Germany)
Unequal Assessment of Forms of
Socially Necessary Work - Frictions in the Processes of Societal
Reproduction
Brigitte Aulenbacher
(University of Linz, Austria)
Class, Gender, Race and the Problem of Social Reproduction in the
Postfordist Era
Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim
(University of Erlangen, Germany)
Global Society:
More Equality? – For Whom?
Ulrich Brand
(University of Vienna, Austria)
The Hegemony of Sustainable
Development. Gendered Policy in
Global Environmental Politics
Beate Littig (Institute for Advanced Studies, Vienna, Austria)
The Case for Gender-Sensitive
Socio-Ecological Research
December 14
Session IV
Chair: Beate Littig
Ilse Lenz
(University of Bochum, Germany)
Power People, Working People,
Shadow People… Gender, Migration, Class and Practices of
(In)Equality
Mieke Verloo
(Radbound University of
Nijmegen, Netherlands; and IWM,
Vienna)
Multiple Inequalities, Intersectionality and the European Union
Martin Kronauer (Berlin School
of Economics, Germany)
Neue soziale Ungleichheiten und
Ungerechtigkeitserfahrungen:
Herausforderungen für eine Politik
des Sozialen
Myra Marx Ferree (University
of Wisconsin, Madison, USA)
Inequality, Intersectionality
and the Politics of Discourse:
Framing Feminist Alliances
Andrea Bührmann (University
of Münster, Germany)
Challenges of the Intersectionality
Approach for Empirical Social
Research - Methodological and
Methodical Considerations discussed
within the Case of Gender Studies
In cooperation with the
Renner Institute
September – December 2008
No. 99
7
MONTHLY LECTURES |
September 18
Timothy Snyder
A Habsburg Ukraine.
The Dream and the
Nightmare of
Archduke Wilhelm
(1895-1948)
Archduke Wilhelm von Habsburg chose for himself a Ukrainian nationality, and was chosen by Habsburg rulers to be their agent in Ukraine. His youth reveals the character of nationality in the Habsburg monarchy, his adulthood the contradictions of the idea of national self-determination
in the Europe of the first half of the twentieth century. Born a prince, Wilhelm became a pretender to thrones in Ukraine, a leader of
shadow armies in Austria, a famous bisexual lover in France, a fascist in Germany, and then finally a spy against Hitler and Stalin.
In his lecture, focusing on Wilhelm von Habsburg, Timothy Snyder captured the moment in the history of Europe, as the rule of
empire gave way to the new politics of nationalism.
Timothy Snyder is Professor of History and Director of Graduate
Studies, Departments of History and European and Russian Studies,
Yale University.
October 13
Jens Alber
Die Ungleichheit der
Wahlbeteiligung in
Europa und den USA
und die politische
Integrationskraft des
Sozialstaats
Politische Beteiligung und
Wahlverhalten haben viel mit der sozialen Lage zu tun, in der die
jeweiligern Wähler/innen sich befinden. Jens Alber verglich in seinem Vortrag die USA und die erweiterte Europäische Union in dieser Hinsicht und fragte anhand von Daten zum Niveau der sozialen
Ungleichheit und politischer Beteiligung nach möglichen Erklärungen für die beträchtlichen Differenzen: Es zeigt sich, dass die Wahlbeteiligung in Westeuropa nicht nur höher, sondern auch wesentlich gleicher verteilt ist als in den USA. Während in Europa durchschnittlich 70 Prozent wählen, tun dies in den USA nur etwa 55 bis
60 Prozent der Wahlberechtigten. Dabei gehen insbesondere schlechter gestellte Bürger in den USA signifikant seltener zur Wahl,
während der Unterschied zwischen besser Gestellten und schlechter
Gestellten in Europa nicht allzu groß ausfällt. Das ungleiche Niveau
der Wahlbeteiligung kann teilweise durch die unterschiedlichen
Wahlverfahren erklärt werden, aber das lässt offen, warum die institutionellen Anreize in verschiedenen Schichten unterschiedlich wir-
8
No. 99
September – December 2008
ken. Die These des Vortrags war, dass die größere Gleichheit der politischen Beteiligung in Europa mit der Inklusion der Bürger in den
Sozialstaat zusammenhängt. Der Sozialstaat integriert seine Bürger
durch allgemeine Sozialleistungen, so dass für den Einzelnen bei der
Wahl etwas auf dem Spiel steht und politische Entscheidungen für
ihn Relevanz erhalten. Passend zu dieser Vorstellung belegte Alber,
dass sich die europäisch-amerikanischen Differenzen einebnen, wenn
man die Analyse auf die Rentnergeneration beschränkt, die auf beiden Seiten des Atlantiks in ähnlicher Form in sozialstaatliche Programme eingebunden ist.
(s. auch den Gastbeitrag von Jens Alber in diesem Newsletter S. 41)
Jens Alber ist Professor für Soziologie an der FU Berlin und Direktor der Abteilung „Ungleichheit und soziale Integration“ am Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung.
In Kooperation mit der Deutschen Botschaft, Wien
November 18
Slavenka Drakulic
New Europe Strikes
Back. Should We Worry
about the Rise of Populism in the East?
There are a number of rising frustrations with and in the “new
Europes”. The reasons for these
frustrations might be on account
of unrealistic promises that were
made and could not be kept,
expectations that were not met, and rapid political changes that did
not correspond to the transformations of value. In her lecture, Salvenka Drakulic elaborated on
her new book project which is
a follow up to Café Europa,
written in 1996. Drakulic will
visit the sites described in Café
Europa again, investigating
what changed in the last decade. Part of the lecture was a reading of the first chapter of her
new book, An interview with
the oldest dog in Bucharest,
performed by the young actor
Florian Pilz.
(see also Draculic’s
contribution on page 9)
Slavenka Drakulic is a freelance author and journalist, living in
Zagreb, Stockholm and Vienna. She is well known for her books
about war crimes on the Balkans and about the war crimes tribunal
in The Hague. Recently she published Leben spenden. Was Menschen
dazu bewegt, Gutes zu tun, (2008), a book about organ donation.
| MONTHLY LECTURES/CONTRIBUTION
The Dormant Virus
The collapse of the financial market may cause a rise of populism in the East.
Does “new” Europe strike back? By Slavenka Drakulic
A seemingly banal incident involving foot- 30% of the vote thanks to xenophobic and dom without money is only another form of
ball fans in Slovakia in winter 2008 escala- anti-EU rhetoric. And even if such extreme slavery. As a Romanian political scientist Alited into a more serious conflict in which rightist populism sounds creepy to most peo- na Mungiu Pippidi writes: “While citizens
Hungarians burned Slovak flags and blocked ple, it addresses problems that other parties of Central and Eastern Europe feel proroads toward Slovakia. Even on the highest don’t want to touch because these are not democratic and pro-Europe, they remain
political levels of the two states, harsh words “sexy” topics in the era of
poor. A majority declawere exchanged.
“infotainment.” On the
res the economy of their
Yes, freedom and
The obviously planned provocation by other hand, herding with
households as ’bad or
opportunities came in
the Hungarian right-extremist party Jobbik, others under the national
very bad’ (90% in Bulthe same package –
together with their associates the Hungari- identity flag makes you
garia, 75% in Hunbut, people soon realan Guard, inevitably created an atmosphere feel warm and protected
gary).”
of anxiety on both sides. Moreover, Jobbik among your own kind. It
But the new kind of
ized, freedom without
is quickly gaining sympathy of many ordi- stinks, but you feel safe.
populism in former
money is only another
nary Hungarians because of the brutality This is what H.C.Strache
communist countries is
form of slavery
of the Slovak police. The incident created an and Pia Kjersgaard,
not anti-democratic.
ideal situation for populist manipulations of Umberto Bossi and KrzSome experts argue that
emotions and this is exactly what is going stina Morvai, Gigi Becali and Boyko Borissov it is good because it wakes up passive mason. Politicians on both sides, experienced in know only too well. The origins of anxiety ses and forces people to engage politically.
populist rhetoric, are competing in their might be different in Italy than in Hungary, Moreover, according to Ivan Krastev, a chair
efforts to add heat to the already boiling but the effect is the same.
of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia,
atmosphere of nationalistic prejudice. Words
If we think we know the Western kind of populism points to the profound transforlike sovereignty, national identity, and natio- populism, is the one rising in formerly com- mation of Europe’s liberal democracies. “The
nal pride are being used, only confirming munist countries a different one? What are streets of Budapest and Warsaw today are
that state (national, ethnic) borders in the the frustrations in the countries that joined flooded not by ruthless paramilitary forEU could be abolished, but would still live EU and thus fulfilled their dream?
mations in search of a final solution, but
in the minds of people.
To simplify a complicated issue, there are by restless consumers in search of a final
Nobody should be surprised by this deve- two main differences between the “old” and sale,” Krastev wrote a year ago.
lopment after a long series of similar nationa- the “new” Europe: while one opposes immiHis words sounded witty until only a few
list events in the former
gration and calls for anti- weeks ago—that is, until the collapse of the
Yugoslavia not so long
EU measures because financial markets. What now? There will be
And even if
ago. As a well known
people are afraid to lose less foreign investment, fewer jobs and less
such extreme rightist
polish intellectual Adam
privileges they have, the credit, but more budget cuts and even bigpopulism sounds
Michnik once said,
other has to cope with the ger budget deficits. There will be more nationationalism is like a
disappointment of people nalistic incidents like the one in Slovakia and
creepy to most people,
virus— it is dormant
who expected something more harsh words … The situation in ”new”
the thing is that it
until the right conditions
they did not get. You lost Europe’s countries was hard enough without
addresses problems
arise. Hopefully these
your national sovereignty a recession. How much will this change the
that other parties don’t
recent developments are
and now you are in dan- political landscape? Is this new situation
not leading in the same
ger of losing your natio- perhaps a chance not only for the expansion
want to touch
direction, or as far, as
nal identity as well, popu- of the extreme right, but for a comeback of
they did in the Balkans.
lists tell them. Corrupti- the left? After all, they have right to say,
But the point is another one, that almost hun- on is rampant, the political elite not to be “Didn’t we tell you so?” Nowadays, Karl
dred- year- old grudges are still used to create trusted and democracy seems like a merry- Marx’s works are getting more and more
conflict and anxiety, which can be used by a go-round with the same politicians going up popular in Germany. While the question
right wing party for its own purposes of grab- and down. Above all, liberal capitalism crea- about the danger of rise of populism in the
bing attention and, eventually, power. The ted a huge class gap and poverty. Yes, free- “new” Europe would probably get a cautious
method is well- known, especially in Austria, dom and opportunities came in the same “No” as an answer only a while ago, it now
where of late two such parties received almost package – but, as people soon realized, free- remains hanging in the air.
September – December 2008
No. 99
9
MONTHLY LECTURES |
December 2
36
Klimapolitik und Solidarität
Anthony Giddens
Klimapolitik
Nationale Antworten auf die Herausforderung
der globalen Erwärmung
Claus Leggewie
und Harald Welzer
Können Demokratien den Klimawandel
bewältigen?
Ingolfur Blühdorn
Klimadebatte und Postdemokratie
Zur gesellschaftlichen Bewältigung der
Nicht-Nachhaltigkeit
Wolfgang Sachs
Wem gehört, was übrig bleibt?
Ressourcenkonflikte und Menschenrechte
Lukas Meyer
Klimawandel und Gerechtigkeit
Dirk Messner
Klimawandel, globale Entwicklung
und internationale Sicherheit
Nadine Pratt
Ich kaufe, also bin ich gut?
Nachhaltiger Konsum –
eine Kontextbestimmung
Oliver Geden
Strategischer Konsum statt
nachhaltiger Politik?
Ohnmacht und Selbstüberschätzung des
»klimabewussten« Verbrauchers
*
Chris Niedenthal
Herausgegeben am
Institut für die
Wissenschaften vom
Menschen
Greetings from Hel.
Photographien
Verlag neue kritik
Kettenhofweg 53
D – 60325 Frankfurt
Tel. 0049 (69) 72 75 76
Bestellungen auch übers Web:
Preis:
Abo € 24,- (D)
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Einzelheft € 14,- (D)
www.iwm.at/transit.htm
Jürgen Kocka
Mode
und Wahrheit.
Zum Wandel der
Geschichtswissenschaft in
den letzten fünf
Jahrzehnten
Die Geschichtswissenschaft ist ein sehr wandlungsfähiges Fach. Jürgen
Kocka erläuterte in seinem Vortrag die wichtigsten Trends der
letzten 50 Jahre und zeigte, dass Mode und Wahrheit nicht
notwendig im Gegensatz zueinander stehen. So wie sich die
Kleidermoden ändern, wandeln sich auch die Erkenntnisse,
thematischen Präferenzen und methodischen Grundlagen in
der Wissenschaft. Die Mode, so Kocka in Anlehnung an Georg
Simmel, setzt eine Differenz zum bereits Bekannten, sie wird
um ihrer Neuheit willen geschätzt, und die Orientierung an
Neuheit, die Suche nach neuem Wissen ist auch die gesellschaftliche Funktion wissenschaftlicher Forschung. Am Beispiel der Geschichte des Ersten Weltkriegs veranschaulichte
Kocka die Wandlungen des Faches. Standen noch bis in die
1950er Jahre die politische Geschichte und die Kriegsschuldfrage im Vordergrund, verlagerte sich das Fachinteresse in den
60ern hin zur Sozial- und Gesellschaftsgeschichte. Ende der
70er Jahre dann kam es zur so genannten konstruktivistischen
Wende: Sprache, Semantik und kollektives Gedächtnis rückten mit der Kulturgeschichte in den Mittelpunkt historischer Betrachtung. Heute dominiert mit Transnationalisierung
ein neues Interesse an makrohistorischen Herangehensweisen,
die räumliche wie zeitliche Grenzen überwinden: die Welt des
Ersten Weltkriegs wird ebenso betrachtet, wie seine Bedeutung für eine „Geschichte der Gewalt“.
Wie aber lassen sich diese letzten Wandel der Geschichtswissenschaft erklären? Ein Grund ist, dass mehr Historiker
ausgebildet werden und mit der Zunahme an Absolventen,
Publikationen, Spezialisierungen in den letzten Jahrzehnten
neue thematische und methodische Trends befördert wurden.
Die Geschichtswissenschaft orientiert sich aber auch an ihrer
gesellschaftlichen Umwelt, an den Problemen und Interessen
ihrer jeweiligen Zeit – durch diese Orientierung bleibt sie
gesellschaftlich relevant. Daher, so Kocka zum Abschluss seines Vortrags, „muss, wer die Geschichte der Geschichtswissenschaft schreiben möchte, auch immer eine Geschichte
der Zeit schreiben, in der die Geschichte praktiziert wurde.“
Jürgen Kocka ist Professor für die Geschichte der industriellen Welt an der Freien Universität Berlin und Forschungsprofessor am Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung;
er ist Vizepräsident der Berlin-Brandenburgischen Akademie
der Wissenschaften.
In Kooperation mit der Deutschen Botschaft, Wien
10
No. 99
September – December 2008
| LECTURE SERIES
Umweltpolitik und Solidarität
Der Klimawandel stellt die bestehenden demokratischen Institutionen
und das Instrumentarium herkömmlicher Politik vor eine nie gekannte
Herausforderung. Klimawandel ist ein globales, ebenso akutes wie langfristiges Phänomen, dem nur mit Maßnahmen beizukommen ist, die den
nationalen Rahmen und kurzatmigen Planungshorizont von Parteipolitik
überschreiten; zugleich wirft er die Frage nach globaler Gerechtigkeit
(Nord-Süd-Gefälle) und Generationengerechtigkeit auf.
October 27
Nadine Pratt
Ich kaufe, also
bin ich ... - gut?
Chancen und
Grenzen von
nachhaltigem
Konsum
Bio-Milch bei Aldi
oder Plus, Bio-Tomaten bei Wal-Mart und
Fair-Tade Schokolade
bei Lidl. Die Nachfrage nach ökologischen
und sozialverträglich
produzierten Produkten und Dienstleistungen ist in den letzten
Jahren rasant gewachsen und bewegt sich
von der ehemaligen „Ökonische“ hin zum
Massenmarkt.
In ihrem Vortrag beschrieb Nadine Pratt,
wie sich das alte Label „öko“, das mit altruistischen, asketischen und eher lustfeindlichen Verhaltensweisen konnotiert war, zu
einem neuen Verständnis von „bio“ wandelte, das weniger politisch-ideologisch als vielmehr sinnlich-ästhetisch aufgeladen ist.
Während „öko“ noch für Verzicht stand, ist
„bio“ zu einer Genusskategorie geworden,
und es wächst die Zahl der so genannten
LOHAS-Konsumenten (Lifestyles of Health
and Sustainability), vor allem in Europa und
den USA, aber auch China, so zeigte Pratt,
wird in Zukunft zu einem der Schlüsselmärkte in diesem Bereich werden. Pratt diskutierte in ihrem Vortrag auch mit dem
Konzept „nachhaltiger Konsum“ einhergehende Fragen: Welche Konsumstile sind
„nachhaltig“? Welche Verbrauchergruppen
verhalten sich „ökologisch“? Wo liegen Grenzen, etwa wenn die effizientere Nutzung von
Ressourcen durch wachsenden Konsum in ihrer
Wirkung wieder neutralisiert wird (der so
genannte „ReboundEffekt“)? Auch wenn
angesichts der boomenden Märkte vor allem in
Asien und Südamerika
mit einem rasanten
Zuwachs an energieintensiver Güterproduktion und Verbrauch zu
rechnen ist, setzte Pratt
einige Hoffnung in ein
aufgeklärtes Konsumverhalten der Entwicklungsländer und in den „Marrakesch-Prozess“,
eines 2002 auf dem Weltgipfel für nachhaltige Entwicklung in Johannesburg initiierten 10-Jahres Programms für nachhaltige
Konsum- und Produktionsweisen.
Nadine Pratt ist Senior Consultant am
UNEP/Wuppertal Institute Collaborating
Centre on Sustainable Consumption and
Production (CSCP).
Kommentar: Daniela Graf, Geschäftsführende Obfrau der Grünen Bildungswerkstatt
November 5
Wolfgang Sachs
Wem gehört, was übrig bleibt?
Ressourcenknappheit und
Menschenrechte
Zwischen Industrie- und Schwellenländern,
zwischen reichen und armen Nationen und
zwischen reichen und armen Klassen – in all
diesen Arenen der Ungleichheit findet ein Tauziehen um Naturressourcen statt. Dieses Tauziehen entscheidet zu einem guten Stück darüber, welche Länder und welche Menschen
im 21. Jahrhundert zu Gewinnern gehören
und welche deklassiert werden. Die Frage ist
allerdings nicht nur, ob es genügend Ressourcen geben wird, sondern an wen und wofür
sie verteilt werden, wenn sie knapp werden.
Wem gehört, was übrig ist von den Ölvorräten, dem Wasser, den Wäldern, der Atmosphäre? Das Interesse der globalen Mittelklasse an Ressourcen für erweiterten Konsum kollidiert mit dem Interesse der „Vierten Welt“,
der indigenen Völker und Stammesgesellschaften, der Bauern, Viehzüchter und Fischer an
denselben Ressourcen zur Sicherung ihres
Lebensunterhalts. So ist die Ökologie des
Reichtums über transnationale Nachschubketten mit der Ökologie der Armut verschränkt. In seinem Vortrag plädierte Wolfgang Sachs für eine menschenrechtsorientierte Umweltpolitik, die darauf abzielt, das Bürgerrecht für alle Weltbewohner auch angesichts
der Endlichkeit der Biosphäre zu garantieren.
Wolfgang Sachs, Leiter des Querschnittprojekts „Globalisierung und Nachhaltigkeit“ am
Wuppertal Institut für Klima, Umwelt, Energie.
Kommentar: Wolfgang Pirklhuber, Landwirtschafts- und regionalpolitischer Sprecher der
Grünen im Nationalrat
September – December 2008
No. 99
11
LECTURE SERIES |
Redefining the State?
An International Comparison of Modern Conservative Politics
Den Staat neu denken?
Moderne konservative Politik im internationalen Vergleich
December 10
Dirk Messner
This lecture series on “modern conservative politics” puts
particular emphasis on positions concerning the role of the state.
The aim is to present and compare recent changes and
developments of conservatism which are underway in various
European countries.
Wie der Klimawandel die NordSüd-Beziehungen verändert
In seinem Vortrag betrachtete Dirk Messner den
Klimawandel nicht in erster Linie als Umwelt- sondern als politisches Problem. „Klimapolitik“, sagte er „ist Sicherheitspolitik“. Messner sprach von
einem Erdsystemwandel bislang nicht dagewesenen Ausmaßes und rechnete am hypothetischen
Szenario einer Erderwärmung um 4 Prozent bis
zum Ende des Jahrhunderts die Folgen durch: An
mindestens vier Stellen werde das Erdsystem
„umkippen“ – für weite Teile der Welt gebe es
Dürren, Wasserknappheit, Extremwetterereignisse und Massenmigration aus umweltbedingten
Gründen. Große Teile der Kontinente würden verelenden. Die Folgen des Klimawandels werden
dabei vor allem diejenigen Regionen am härtesten
treffen, die nicht zu seinen Hauptverursachern
gehören und die heute schon benachteiligt sind:
Afrika, Lateinamerika und Asien. „Der Klimawandel erzeugt Armut“, so Messner, daher müsse
Armutsprävention heute beim Klimaschutz anfangen. Angesichts dieser Szenarien – und 4 Prozent
Erderwärmung ist nicht einmal der worst case –
plädierte Messner für einen neuen Menschenrechtsdiskurs, radikale CO2-Reduktionsfahrpläne weltweit und für einen sofortigen und konsequenten Umbau der Weltenergiesysteme auf nichtfossile Wirtschaft.
Dirk Messner ist Geschäftsführer des Deutschen
Instituts für Entwicklungspolitik in Bonn.
Kommentar: Ulrike Lunacek, außen- und entwicklungspolitische Sprecherin der Grünen im
Nationalrat
Die Reihe wurde organisiert in Zusammenarbeit
mit der Grünen Bildungswerkstatt
12
No. 99
September – December 2008
October 6
Rocco Buttiglione
As Much State as Needed;
as Little State as Possible
What are we talking about when we talk
about the state? The first states consolidated as territorial sovereign associations in early 16th century Europe, but
the idea of state reaches as far back as
ancient Greece, with its central functions
being described by Plato as: external
defense, internal social peace and the
promotion of economic prosperity. In
the age of globalisation it seems questionable whether the state has still the
capacity to fulfill these tasks. New wars,
the current financial market breakdown
and problems related to transnational
migration put the classical concept of
the state into question, Buttiglione
argued, because no state can cope with
these challenges on its own. Therefore
states have to intensify their cooperation, and a functioning example for such
cooperation is the EU, Buttiglione claimed, not only a common European
market but particularly a common foreign and security policy. Strengthening
the European Council would compensate member states for their loss of power
due to the expansion of EU competencies. Thus, Buttiglione concluded, more
Europe does not mean less state but
Europe is rather “a way to bring states
together”.
Rocco Buttiglione, Professor of
Political Science at Saint Pius V
University of Rome; Vice President of
the Italian Chamber of Deputies and
President of the UdC (Unione di
Centro).
In cooperation with the
Politische Akademie
Anzeige
| LECTURE SERIES
Kunst – Gesellschaft – Politik
Die Reihe „Kunst – Gesellschaft – Politik“ fragt nach dem Ort
und der Funktion der Kunst heute. Was bleibt vom auratischen,
einzigartigen und utopischen Charakter des Kunstwerks im Zeitalter von Massenproduktion und Massenkonsumption von Kunst?
November 20
Ruth M. Sonderegger
Zum politischen Alltag der Kunst
Mit einer erfrischend frechen Unbekümmertheit behauptet der französische Philosoph Jacques Rancière seit
einigen Jahren ein intimes Verhältnis
zwischen der Politik und einer als
autonom verstandenen Kunst. Dabei
ist er weder blind für propagandistische Vereinnahmungen der Kunst in
der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts
noch naiv in Bezug auf die rezente
Entwicklung des Kunstmarkts sowie
gegenwärtige Tendenzen zur Instrumentalisierung von Kunst für soziale
Projekte, welche die (Sozial-)Politik
nicht mehr finanzieren will. Das Politische an der Kunst, sagt Ranciere,
liegt darin, dass sie die Bedingungen
der alltäglichen Wahrnehmung thematisiert, neue Einteilungen des Sinnlichen vorschlägt und damit die Grenzen des Wahrnehmbaren verschiebt.
In ihrem Vortrag würdigte
Ruth Sonderegger Rancières mutigen
fresh start in
Bezug auf die
festgefahrene
Diskussion um das Verhältnis zwischen Kunst, Politik und Gesellschaft
und zeigte am Beispiel einiger aktueller partizipativer und aktionistischer
Kunstformen, wie man Rancières
ästhetische Theorie weiter entwickeln
und auf ein größeres Feld an politischen und künstlerischen Ausdrucksformen beziehen könnte.
Ruth M. Sonderegger ist Professorin
für Philosophie an der Universität
Amsterdam.
December 16
Wolfgang Ullrich
Designer als Interpreten:
Wie Konsumgüter unseren Alltag inszenieren
Die heutige Produktwelt inszeniert und
überhöht unseren Alltag und macht ihn
mehr denn je zu einer Fiktion. Situationen und Handlungen werden jeweils
durch die Konsumgüter interpretiert.
Damit leistet die Sphäre des Konsums,
was man traditionell von der Kunst
erwartet hat. Gibt es also noch einen
Unterschied zwischen dem ‘ästhetischen
Schein’ der Kunst und dem Schein der
Waren? Wolfgang Ullrich wandte sich
in seinem gegen die allzu einfache Kon-
sumkritik und den Vorwurf, Konsumismus sei eine Art Ersatzreligion. Vielmehr verstand er – provokativ – Konsumgüter als Medien und das Konsumieren als eine Kulturtechnik, die
gelernt werden kann, ähnlich wie das
Bücher lesen zu anderen Zeiten.
Wolfgang Ullrich ist Professor für
Kunstwissenschaft und Medientheorie
an der Staatlichen Hochschule für
Gestaltung, Karlsruhe.
Die Neuen Frauenbewegungen haben Selbstbestimmung, Gleichheit, Zuwendung und
einen neuen Eros gefordert und sie haben die
Politik, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft in Deutschland grundlegend verändert. Dabei haben sie
sich auch selbst transformiert.
Der Band, herausgegeben von Ilse Lenz, Professorin für Geschlechter- und Sozialstrukturforschung an der Ruhr-Universität Bochum,
dokumentiert die wichtigsten Quellen der neuen Frauenbewegung und stellt sie in ihrer Vielfalt und in ihren Veränderungen vor. Auch die
Reaktionen der Männerbewegung wurden aufgenommen.
Der Band eröffnet einen einzigartigen Zugang
zu den Kontroversen um Geschlecht und
gesellschaftlichen Wandel in Deutschland seit
1968.
VS-Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2008,
49,90 Euro.
www.vs-verlag.de
Die Reihe ist organisiert in Zusammenarbeit im dem Renner Institut.
September – December 2008
No. 99
13
Via Lewandowski „Als Stalin weinte“
© VG Bildkunst Bonn
WORKSHOP: UNITED EUROPE - DIVIDED MEMORY I & II |
Enthusiasm and Terror:
Memories of Stalinism in Austria
By Wolfgang Müller
The IWM research focus “United Europe - Divided Memory” seeks
to overcome divisions among national historiographies and between
East and West. Within the framework of this project two international
and interdisciplinary workshops, supported by the Allianz Kulturstiftung, took place at the IWM. From September 19 to 21 the first
workshop aimed to discuss German and Soviet policies in the occupied
countries of Eastern Europe during 1939 and 1944 and the resistance
against it. The second workshop “Stalinism and Europe, 1933-1953”
was held from November 28 to 30. Opened with a public keynote
lecture by the German historian Stefan Troebst, it focused on Stalin’s
policy and its consequences for wartime and postwar Europe.
In the discussions, Austria turned out as a special case: While liberated
by the Soviets and occupied until 1955, the time of Stalinism is, as
the here printed contribution argues, not an important issue in
the country‘s collective memory.
14
No. 99
September – December 2008
In contemporary Austria, Stalinism does
not seem to play a large role in collective
memory. When the public’s attention is
drawn to the middle of the 20th century,
it focuses primarily on World War II and
the experience of Nazism. While the Vergangenheitsbewältigung has made the
country’s Nazi past into a public issue since
the late l980s, Stalinism has not achieved
comparable standing. In the collective
memory of postwar Austrian history, the
State Treaty and the country’s neutrality
play a prominent role.
Despite being liberated by the Soviet
Army and occupied until 1955, eastern
Austria was spared the fate of its eastern
neighbor states that underwent Sovietization and Stalinization. This might help to
explain why in Austria, in contrast to these
countries, Stalinism never became a central
issue of collective memory. Once the “Russians” and the “great father of all peace-loving mankind” were gone, the country
indeed had other priorities than dealing
with the Stalinist past. The last survivors of
the Gulag and POW (prisoner-of-war)
camps returned, as did some of the people
who had been kidnapped by the NKVD
and KGB on charges of anti-Soviet actions
after 1945. However, there were too few
victims of Stalinism in Austria and too little was known about them for it to become
a national issue. Furthermore, after 1955
Austria had to observe neutrality. It had
to find a modus vivendi with Khrushchev
and Brezhnev, foster détente, and develop
Osthandel, while avoiding being put on top
of the Soviet propaganda cart for “peacefulcoexistence” or slipping into neutralist fairways. Thus, the Austrian government was
not interested in making Stalinism an issue
and the country moved on.
Although Austria escaped Soviet rule, it
might serve as a case study for some of the
features we associate with Stalin: the ability to raise enthusiasm to the extent of
Byzantine cult, the judicial mass murder of
thousands of human beings, a deep distrust
and betrayal of his followers and allies, his
cautiousness and slyness, and the blunt
application of power politics.
Prewar
In the second half of the 1920s and early
1930s, the USSR seemed to be a fascinating utopia to a considerable number of
West European and North American intellectuals and workers. While conservative
| WORKSHOP: UNITED EUROPE - DIVIDED MEMORY I & II
Dr. Wolfgang Müller is a research
strata had been shocked by the Bolshevik
orthodox communists they were – and until
associate at the Austrian Academy of
revolution, others considered it to be one of
the 1980s remained – criminals brought to
Sciences and a lecturer at the University of
the greatest experiments in history. Propatheir just punishment. Most Austrians, in
Vienna. Currently he is a visiting fellow at
ganda was spread about the “great buildup”
1938 excited about the Anschluss, did not
Stanford University. His book on Soviet
in Stalin’s Soviet Union, thus raising enorcare very much about their fate either.
policy in Austria Die sowjetische Besatzung
mous sympathy in the West. The attraction
in Österreich 1945-1955 (2005) was
Postwar
to a country, allegedly without economic
awarded the Plaschka Prize.
In March 1938, the Kremlin unsuccessfulinjustice and social discrimination, became
ly urged the Western powers to take colleceven stronger when the West plunged into
tive measures against Germany, whose ecoeconomic crisis and when, in many Euronomic power and military strength had been
pean countries, authoritarianism and fascism
increased by incorporating Austria. Howevthreatened.
er, this protest was not a matter of principle:
In October 1934, Rudolf Weisz, an AusOnce Stalin had decided to find an arrangetrian social democrat, who had left his
ment with Hitler, the Austrian case was
homeland some months earlier for the Sovidropped and became a non-topic for more
et Union, wrote to his country’s legation in
than a year. It was only the German attack
Moscow:
on the USSR that made Stalin reassert his
„Russia, the motherland of the working
interest in Austria.
proletariat […] gave me the balance of my
In their Moscow Declaration of 1
soul again, by restoring the confident belief
November 1943, the Soviet Union, the Unitin the future of the proletariat, by undertaed Kingdom, and the United States officialking its gigantic buildup, by offering me the
ly declared their intention to reconstruct Auspossibility to educate myself, and by secutria as an independent state. Since Stalin
ring a good—in fact incomparable to the
expected the Western powers to pull back
Austrian—standard of living with regard to
their troops from Europe within two or three
material and cultural standards.“
years after the war, the dictator resorted to
Weisz was a Schutzbund member who,
together with about 750 men and their wives workers in the USSR were sentenced to a relatively cautious long-term approach in
and children, had fled their country after the death for anti-Soviet espionage and shot. order to strengthen Soviet influence in
abortive social democratic uprising against Two years later, a second wave of mass Europe without alienating the West. The
the authoritarian Dollfuß regime in Febru- imprisonment of Austrian workers followed. popular front strategy, which entailed the
creation of all-party governments with strong
ary 1934. Their enthuThe former Schutzbündler
communist representation, outwardly seemed
siastic reception in the
were
also
dragged
into
StalIn the second half
USSR was well organin’s struggle against spies acceptable to the Western allies. However,
of the 1920s and early
ized and it can be conand dissenters (real or from the Soviet point of view, this strategy
1930s, the USSR
sidered a high point in
imaginary). About 220 of was designed to shift the political direction
Soviet
propaganda
them were imprisoned, 46 toward “people’s democracy” and socialism.
seemed to be a fasciWhen, in the last days of the war, on 3
efforts to create an
were extradited to the
nating utopia
image of a strong, carGestapo, at least 30 were April 1945, the Austrian veteran social demoing “homeland of
tortured and shot, at least crat Karl Renner contacted a Soviet officer on
socialism” at home and abroad. A second 20 died in prison camps. In most cases, the the ground, he was entrusted by Stalin to form
major group of Austrian émigrés in the Sovi- allegations had no basis in reality at all. Franz such a popular-front government. The Soviet
army was instructed to
et Union consisted of young communists Koritschoner, co-founder
provide the Austrian
who studied at the International Lenin of the CPA, was accused
Had the first Soviet
population with food, to
School. Due to the secretive and sectarian of having joined the
reports from Austria
win their sympathy, and
character of the Communist Party of Aus- “infamous Bukharinite
described the populato strengthen Soviet
tria (CPA), this group of about 250 men and plot.” He underwent torinfluence, while the local
women altogether was torn apart by intrigues ture before his broken
tion’s attitude towards
communists in the govbetween various fractions, by leadership body (with no teeth left)
the Red Army as
ernment should prepare
struggles, and by its obsession with secrecy was extradited to the
mainly friendly, this
for a “Democratic Peoand party discipline already before the “Great hands of the Gestapo.
changed rapidly
ple’s Republic Austria.”
Purges” started—an attribute characteristic They shipped him to
However, in the genof Stalinist parties. A third group was formed Auschwitz, where he was
by workers who came to the USSR in the killed the day after his arrival. Altogether, eral elections of 25 November 1945, the
late 1920s and early 1930s.
about 600 Austrians, mostly communists, CPA, which was widely associated by the
Their enthusiasm did not protect them perished as victims of Stalin’s prewar terror. Austrian population with the Red Army, suffrom falling victim to the Stalinist terror,
Their fate, however, did not garner much fered a crushing defeat, garnering only 5.42
however. In 1933, the first of the Austrian attention among Austrians at that time. For percent of the vote. The main reason for the
September – December 2008
No. 99
15
WORKSHOP: UNITED EUROPE - DIVIDED MEMORY I & II |
communist disaster, however, was that the
The chances of achieving Austria’s transiSoviet Union, among Austrians, was discred- tion to “people’s democracy” were virtually
ited—at least partially due to Goebbels’ prop- non-existent after 1945 as long as the Westaganda, but even more importantly due to ern allies stood in the western part of the counthe disastrous behavior of the Red Army. The try and the Austrian majority, as the election
number of rapes of Austrian women by Sovi- results showed, remained fiercely anticommuet soldiers from April to August 1945 alone nist. Nevertheless, the Soviet authorities folis estimated at between 100,000 and lowed their line until Stalin’s death. This inflex400,000. Hundreds of civilians were mur- ibility was a symptom of the growing paralydered. At least part of the crimes can be sis of Soviet policy in the late Stalin period and
attributed to a hunger for revenge stirred up a result of ideological preconceptions that posby Nazi crimes committed on Soviet soil and tulated the ultimate victory of the Soviet systhe officially promoted hatred propaganda tem.
by Ilya Ehrenburg and others.
Nonetheless, Stalin understood that he
The whole disaster had a terrible effect could speed up Austria’s transition to socialon the Soviet image in Austria. Had the first ism (which he, as a true Bolshevik, believed
Soviet reports from Austria described the pop- would happen in the future anyway) only by
ulation’s attitude towards the Red Army as either creating a non-viable communist
mainly friendly, this
microstate in the Sovichanged rapidly. Since the
et zone of Austria (the
Dozens of Austrian
army could not be
German model), or by
civilians, police officers,
attacked directly, the
a communist putsch or
anger turned against the
other violent means
even politicians, were
CPA. In most people’s
(the Korean model).
arrested by Soviet milieyes, however, the main
Since Austria was not
tary police or secret
culprit remained the Soviimportant enough for
services on the streets
et Union.
him to take either risk,
This chapter of Sovihe refrained from getand disappeared—some
et-Austrian history seems
ting more deeply
of them forever
to have been the most
involved. Thus, in coninfluential one for a long
trast to Austria’s eastern
time with regard to collective memory. It was neighbors, the country did not suffer from
the first time that a great number of Austri- Sovietization, mass persecutions, “show trians were directly affected by or at least wit- als,” or other features of the late Stalin years.
nessed Soviet crimes in their own homes.
Stalin’s “restraint” seems not to have
Their own experiences seemed to verify what improved the Austrian image of the Stalinist
they, their parents, and their grandparents Soviet Union very much. Once the shock
had been told, not only by Nazi propaganda over the 1945 Red Army’s crimes had settled
but also during World War I and even before, somewhat, ordinary Austrians were confrontabout the “Asian nature of the Russians.” ed with a new Stalinist phenomenon creatResearch focused on the issue in the 1990s, ing fear and anger: Dozens of Austrian civiland oral histories were made with former vic- ians, police officers, even politicians, were
tims and their relatives. The experience was, arrested by Soviet military police or secret
at least in some families, passed on from gen- services on the streets and disappeared—
eration to generation.
some of them forever.
We know now from the Russian archives
Cold War
that the Austrian victims of the late Stalin
The communist defeat in the elections years were suspected and convicted of anticaused a change in the Soviet attitude toward Soviet activity, espionage, or Nazi crimes.
Austria. This change included the tighten- Some of them were actually criminals. Howing of political control, the intensification ever, as during the Great Terror, most of them
of communist propaganda, and the full were innocent. Again, it seems that Stalin’s
takeover of “former German assets” in the crimes against the population, crimes that
Soviet zone. In the meantime, the CPA affected Austrian people directly or were at
became increasingly “Stalinized,” obsessed least witnessed by them, had more impact on
with party discipline and “purity.” External- collective memory than his cautious schemes
ly, the CPA was isolated and excluded from to set Austria on the way to “people’s democpolitical power.
racy.”
16
No. 99
September – December 2008
United Europe - Divided Memory I
September 19
Session I
Session III
Marek Wierzbicki
(Institute of Political
Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences)
Soviet Economic
Policies and their
Impact on the Polish
Society under Soviet
Occupation, 19391941
Rafa Wnuk (Instytut
Pami´ci Narodowej,
Lublin, Poland)
Anti-Soviet Resistance in Eastern
Poland
Christoph Mick
(University of
Warwick, UK)
Lemberg Under
Soviet Occupation
Evgenij Rozenblat
(Brest, Belarus)
Western Belarus
under Soviet
Occupation
September 20
Session II
Alex J. Kay
(Berlin, Germany)
German Economic
Plans for the Occupied Soviet Union
and Their Implementation.
Birthe Kundrus
(Hamburger Institut
für Sozialforschung,
Germany)
The Occupation of
Poland as Template
Pavel Polian
(Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences)
Soviet Prisoners
of War
Timm C. Richter (Villa ten Hompel, Münster, Germany)
Belarusian Partisans
and German Reprisals
David Marples
(University of Alberta,
Canada)
Soviet Partisans and
Ukrainian Memory
September 21
Session IV
Andrzej Wa´skiewicz
(University of
Warsaw, Poland)
The Home Army and
the Politics of Polish
Memory
Ihor Ilyushin
(Kiev Slavonic University, Kiev and
Cracow, Poland)
Ukrainian Communist
and Nationalist Partisans
Alexandra Goujon
(University of
Bourgogne, France)
Partisans, Genocide
and Belarusian
Identities
Dieter Pohl (Institut
für Zeitgeschichte,
Munich, Germany)
The Holocaust in the
Reichskommissariat
Ukraine
Leonid Smilovitsky
(Diaspora Research
Center, Tel Aviv,
Israel)
The Holocaust
in Belarus
The workshops were generously supported by
| WORKSHOP: UNITED EUROPE - DIVIDED MEMORY I & II
Stefan Troebst ist
stellvertretender
Direktor des Geisteswissenschaftlichen
Zentrums Geschichte
und Kultur Ostmitteleuropa (GWZO), und
Professor für Kulturstudien Ostmitteleuropas an der Universität Leipzig.
Zuletzt erschienen:
Das makedonische
Jahrhundert (2007)
United Europe - Divided Memory II
November 28
Keynote Lecture
and Discussion
Stefan Troebst
(University of Leipzig,
Germany)
1945 - ein gesamteuropäischer Erinnerungsort?
Discussion with Hans
Rauscher, Der Standard, Vienna,
Timothy Snyder, Yale
University, and
Heidemarie Uhl,
Austrian Academy of
Sciences, Vienna
November 29
Session I:
Collectivization,
Terror, Foreign Relations
Andrea Graziosi
(University of Naples,
Italy)
Is Europe a Posttraumatic Continent?
The Ukrainian
Holodomor and
Stalin’s Legacy
Sarah Cameron
(Yale University, USA)
Violence, Flight and
Hunger: The SinoKazakh Border and
the Kazakh Famine
Terry Martin (Harvard University, USA)
Affirmative Action
to Terror
Hiroaki Kuromiya
(Indiana University,
Bloomington, USA)
Espionage, CounterEspionage and Terror
Session II:
Making War,
Planning for Peace
Slawomir Debflki
(The Polish Institute of
International Affairs,
Warsaw, Poland)
Non-Aggression as
Foreign Policy
Geoffrey Roberts
(University College
Cork, Ireland)
Soviet Visions of
Peace, 1941-1944
Serhii Yekelchyk
(University of
Victoria, Canada)
Redrawing the
Borders, Regaining
the Nation: Soviet
Ukraine in the Wake
of Total War
Session III: Soviet
Policy to Europe
(1944-1953)
Mark Kramer
(Harvard University,
USA)
Stalin, Soviet Policy,
and the Consolidation of a Communist
Bloc in Eastern
Europe, 1944-1953
Jens Gieseke
(Center for Contemporary History Potsdam, Germany)
The Building of a
Soviet-Style PoliceState in East Germany, 1945-1935
Wolfgang Müller
(Austrian Academy
of Sciences, Austria)
Memories of Stalinism: The Case of
Austria
Session IV:
Takeovers in
Eastern Europe
(1944-1953)
Stefano Bottoni
(University of
Eastern Piedmont,
Alessandria, Italy)
The Case of Romania
Kyril Drezov
(Keele University, UK)
The Case of Bulgaria
the Allianz Kulturstiftung
Magie der Jahreszahlen
Wann endet(e) die Nachkriegszeit? Was eine „Wendemarke“
der Geschichte ist, hängt von der Perspektive ab.
Von Stefan Troebst
Dass der Zweite Weltkrieg 1945 endete, ist
ein weltweiter Allgemeinplatz – auch wenn
die Diskussionen über seinen Beginn weiter
anhalten. Aber wann endete die Nachkriegszeit? Und ist sie überhaupt schon zu Ende?
In seinem fulminanten Buch Postwar aus
dem Jahr 2005 setzt der New Yorker Historiker Tony Judt dieses Ende für Europa auf das
Wendejahr 1989 an. Mit der Beendigung des
Kalten Krieges, so sein Argument, höre die
Wirkung der Spätfolgen des Zweiten Weltkrieges endgültig auf: „Eine Ära war vorbei
und ein neues Europa wurde geboren.“ Der
Fall der Berliner Mauer 1989 sowie die Auflösung des Warschauer Paktes und die Wiedervereinigung von Bundesrepublik und
DDR 1990 führt er als Belege an.
Damit befindet sich Judt in Übereinstimmung mit der in Europa selbst vorherrschenden Sichtweise. Dem Krakauer Soziologen
Piotr Sztompka etwa stellt sich das Jahr 1989
als „kultureller und zivilisatorischer Umbruch“
dar und der Berliner Historiker Klaus Zernack urteilt emphatisch: „1989 – ein Jahrhundert wird auf die Füße gestellt“.
Zugleich aber relativiert Judt mit dem
Untertitel seines Buches - „Geschichte Europas
von 1945 bis zur Gegenwart“ - den Einschnitt
von 1989 erheblich, da auch die Nach-WendeJahre gleichsam gleitend in seine Darstellung
einbezogen werden. Insgesamt erscheint bei ihm
so die „friedliche Revolution“ eher als Übergang
zu einer „Nach-Nachkriegszeit“ denn als ein
Schlusspunkt und damit als Anfang von etwas
grundlegend Neuem.
Judts Sichtweise deckt sich mit derjenigen
einer Richtung der sozialwissenschaftlichen
Forschung, die mit Blick auf das östliche
Europa das Jahr 1989 weniger als Zäsur denn
als Scharnier zwischen der Periode des Kommunismus und derjenigen eines „Post-Kommunismus“ ausmacht. Vor allem Politikwissenschaftler und Ethnologen definieren dabei
den Charakter der Nach-Wende-Entwicklung
nicht so sehr durch das Neue in Gestalt von
Marktwirtschaft, Demokratie und Rechtsstaatlichkeit, sondern vielmehr durch das Alte,
das in dieser Sicht die Gegenwart entscheidend prägt. Und einige von ihnen sprechen
mit Blick auf die EU-Osterweiterungsschübe
September – December 2008
No. 99
17
WORKSHOP: UNITED EUROPE - DIVIDED MEMORY I & II |
bildtext
von 2004 und 2007 mittlerweile gar von
einem „Post-Post-Kommunismus“.
Aber auch beim Wechsel von der Vogelperspektive zur Nahaufnahme einzelner Staaten und Gesellschaften „verrutscht“ die Wendemarke 1989. In Ungarn etwa steht „1989“
für einen im politischen Bereich erfolgten
verspäteten Vollzug dessen, was auf gesellschaftlicher Ebene bereits seit den späten
siebziger und frühen achtziger Jahren Realität war. In den Nachfolgestaaten der
Sowjetunion ist 1991 das eigentliche Datum
des Umbruchs, der mit der Perestrojka Mitte der achtziger Jahre begonnen hat. Aus russländischer Sicht wird die Implosion der
Sowjetunion dabei primär negativ gedeutet
– als „größte geopolitische Katastrophe des
20. Jahrhunderts“, wie der damalige Staatspräsident und heutige Ministerpräsident der
Russländischen Föderation, Vladimir Putin,
Hans Rauscher
18
No. 99
September – December 2008
2005 anlässlich des 60. Jahrestages des Endes
des Zweiten Weltkriegs öffentlichkeitswirksam beklagte. Und in Polen werden als
eigentliche Wendedaten das Danziger
Abkommen zwischen der oppositionellen
Gewerkschaft Solidarnosc und der Parteiund Staatsführung vom August 1980 sowie
die Ausrufung des Kriegsrechts im Dezember 1981 empfunden.
Hier, in Polen, wird auch der erbittertste
politische Streit über die Bedeutung von
„1989“ für die Geschichte der eigenen Nation und Gesellschaft ausgetragen: Während
Liberale und Postkommunisten den Neuigkeitscharakter der 1989 formierten Dritten
Polnischen Republik unterstreichen – nach
der Ersten Republik, die 1795 in der Dritten
Teilung unterging, der Zweiten Republik von
1918 bis 1939 und der aus der Zählung ausdrücklich ausgeklammerten Volksrepublik der
Christoph Mick
Jahre 1944 bis 1989 –,
bestreiten die Nationalkonservativen um die Brüder
Kaczy´nski und „Radio
Maryja“ die Zäsur von 1989
und sehen die damals entstandene Dritte Republik in
direkter Kontinuität zur kommunistischen Volksrepublik:
Die im Spätkommunismus
entstandenen Netzwerke und
Seilschaften, so diese Ansicht,
seien bis heute der eigentliche
Machtfaktor in Staat und
Wirtschaft. Entsprechend lautet ihre Parole „Für eine Vierte Republik!“, in der dann
erstmals wirklich demokratische Verhältnisse herrschen
werden. Mit anderen Worten:
Das eigentliche „1989“ steht
in dieser Sicht noch aus.
Mit deutlich größerer Berechtigung lässt
sich eine solche messianische Perspektive auf
Weißrussland anlegen, das zwar 1991 ebenfalls einen Demokratisierungsschub erfahren
hat, der aber durch den Amtsantritt von Präsident Aljaksandr Lukaschenko 1994 gleichsam „abgewürgt“ wurde. Weißrussland ähnelt
daher den separatistischen De-facto-Staaten
Transnistrien in Moldova sowie Abchasien
und Südossetien in Georgien, die nicht ganz
zu Unrecht als „Freilichtmuseen der Sowjetunion“ bezeichnet werden.
Ungeachtet der gegen „1989“ vorgebrachten Argumente gilt das Jahr der Wende in Zentral- und Osteuropa und damit des Endes des
Ost-West-Konflikts europaweit wie global als
Chiffre für das Ende der Nachkriegzeit und
zugleich als zentraler metaphorischer Erinnerungsort des „kurzen“ 20. Jahrhunderts. Andere Periodisierungen, wie etwa der 9. September
2001 als Beginn einer neuen
Ära, oder „1968“ als weltweiter „Tonartwechsel“ konnten
sich gegen die Konkurrenz dieses dominierenden lieu de
mémoire nicht durchsetzen.
Denn wenn – mit Walter Benjamin – „Geschichte schreiben
heißt, Jahreszahlen ihre Physiognomie geben“, dann wird
das Antlitz unserer jüngsten
Geschichte ganz wesentlich
von „1989“ geprägt.
Der Artikel erschien am
28. 11. in Der Standard
| WORKSHOP
Phenomenology
and Violence
Christianity, History,
and Europe
October 23–24, 2008
Engagements with Jan Patocka’s Philosophy of History. October 30 – November 1, 2008
The workshop reflected on the possibility of a phenomenological
analysis of violence. It raised questions concerning the aptitude of
phenomenology to confront violence: In what ways does phenomenology contribute to a deepened understanding of violence? Can
a phenomenological approach help us to develop an integrative conception of violence that enables us to understand its many faces as
parts of a unified phenomenon? What is the relationship between
violence and sense? How do we need to modify the methodological coordinates of phenomenology in order to properly address violence in its twofold, i.e. both destructive and poietic phenomenality? The workshop was organized by IWM Visiting Fellow Michael
Staudigl.
Michael Staudigl
Toru Tani
October 23
October 24
Toru Tani (Kyoto)
Sinn und Gewalt
Peter Trawny (Shanghai)
Gewalt und Gewohnheit
Martin Endress (Wuppertal)
Gewalt – Überlegungen zur vermeintlichen Alternative zwischen
körperlicher und struktureller Gewalt
Eddo Evink (Groningen)
The Inevitability of Violence
Gerhard Unterthurner (Wien)
Symbolische Gewalt nach Bourdieu
Michael D. Barber (St. Louis):
From Alienation to Recovery: The
Subject’s Relationship to Institutional Violence.
Pascal Delholm (Flensburg)
Das Erleiden der erlittenen Gewalt
als Gewalt
James Dodd (New York)
Reflections on Violence
Nicolas de Warren (Wellesley)
The Violence of Meaning
Antje Kapust (Bochum)
Autoteleologie, Birelativität und Tripletheorie der Gewalt
Michael Staudigl
Grundprobleme und Leitmotive einer
Phänomenologie der Gewalt
The workshop was part of a research project funded by the
Austrian Sciences Funds (FWF), Vienna
“Christianity, History, and Europe” reflected on the diverse aspects
of a fundamental challenge put forth by Jan Patocka in his Heretical Essays in the Philosophy of History, which can be summed up in
the following questions: How open is the European intellectual tradition, and with that the idea of Europe in general, to the full force
of “religious experience”? Is the history of Christianity in Europe the
history of a culture that has fully embraced the religious, or is Christianity more the result of the limitation of the religious by way of its
mediation through Greco-Roman concepts and motivations? In what
ways does Christianity thereby itself lay the basis for its own secularization, and with that determine the horizon for our engagement
with the ideas of community and history? What importance would
this figure that Patocka presents of Christianity have for a renewed
consideration of the spiritual and historical promise of the idea of
Europe?
The workshop was organized by James Dodd, Ludger Hagedorn,
Klaus Nellen and Michael Staudigl.
See also guest-contribution on Page 38
October 30
November 1
Hanna-Barbara Gerl-Falkovitz
(Dresden): Postsäkulares aus der
Postmoderne. Ein Blick auf religionsphilosophische Ansätze aus Philosophie und Literatur der Gegenwart.
Nicolas De Warren (Wellesley)
Christianity Unthought: Patocka
and Europe
October 31
Nathalie Frogneux
(Louvain-la-Neuve)
Is there only a Greek pillar in
Patocka’s conception of Europe?
James Dodd (New York)
The Star, the Cross, and the Kiss
Ludger Hagedorn (Prague)
“Kenosis“ in Philosophie und
Religion. Die Lesart Patockas
Eddo Evink (Groningen)
Religion as Practice and the Care
for the Soul
Michael Staudigl (Vienna)
Politik, Religion und Gewalt nach
Michel Henry
Ivan Chvatik (Prague)
Kann man das Christentum
christlich überwinden?
Wolfgang Palaver (Innsbruck)
Krieg und Opfer: Die Geschichtsphilosophien von Patoãka und René
Girard im Vergleich
Peter Trawny (Shanghai)
Das Opfer und der Zeuge.
Wie christlich ist Europa?
Jan Frei (Prag)
Transzendentes Ziel, immanente
Zwecke. Zum Opferbegriff Patockas
René Kaufmann (Dresden)
Zur Theodizee-Problematik in ihrer
problemgeschichtlichen Entfaltung
Mikhail Khorkov (Moscow)
Religion als Weg zum Säkularen?
Eine nichtfundamentalistische
Perspektive aus phänomenologischer
Sicht
Olga Shparaga (Minsk/Vilnius)
Die Genese der Verantwortung
und die symbolische Ordnung des
Politischen
Andrzej Gniazdowski (Warsaw)
Politisches Subjekt und politische
Substanz. Kantorowicz’ Analyse der
politischen Theologie des Mittelalters und ihre phänomenologische
Relevanz
Funding provided by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation through
the Council of American Overseas Research Centers
September – December 2008
No. 99
19
friends
At the end of 2004, the Institute initiated the circle of IWM
friends to ask those who encouraged us and who followed
our work over the years to actively support the IWM. We
want to express our sincerest gratitude to more than one
hundred friends and donors who have contributed approximately € 60,000 over the last years, which has helped us to
co-fund our work since then.
You can become an IWM friend with a one-time donation
or regular annual contributions. There is no formal membership or predefined dues. However, we ask for € 100
from individual supporters (€ 50 from students) and € 5,000
from institutional donors. With your contribution you will
help us organize a manifold program, provide excellent research conditions for our fellows, and you will support the
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innovation. We cordially invite all our friends to support the
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Thank you!
The IWM is registered as a non-profit association. Since it has
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authorities have granted the Institute a special status regarding
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deductible.
Im Herbst 2004 haben wir die IWM friends gegründet,
um all jene, die unsere Arbeit über die Jahre hinweg begleitet und uns ermutigt haben, darum zu bitten, das Institut auch finanziell zu unterstützen. An dieser Stelle
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CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
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Deadline: April 30, 2009
Junior Visiting Fellows in the Research Focuses “United Europe – Divided Memory”,
“Religion and Secularism” and “Inequality/Solidarity”
The Institute for Human Sciences awards research fellowships to young scholars at the beginning of their academic career to pursue their individual project while working “in residence” as members of the international, multidisciplinary scholarly community of the IWM which consists of approximately forty Visiting Fellows and Junior Visiting
Fellows every year.
Scholars working on projects related to the topics United Europe – Divided Memory, Religion and Secularism
or Inequality/Solidarity are invited to spend six months at the IWM.
Please visit the IWM website for further details
20
No. 99
September – December 2008
www.iwm.at/fellowships.htm
| EVENTS: FACES OF EASTERN EUROPE
Corruption is Back
by Mykola Riabchuk
The IWM holds a regular seminar series “Faces of Eastern Europe” on
the history and current affairs of the region. On September 3, Ukrainian
journalist and author Mykola Riabchuk held a lecture about „The Dubious
Strength of a Weak State. Institutionalized Authoritarianism in the PostSoviet Ukraine.“ Following we print a recent text by him, a commentary on
the gas disputes between Russia and Ukraine.
The gas conflict between Russia and Ukrai- lobbying groups, and, last but not least, of the
ne is too complex and multi-dimensional murky legacy in energy trade inherited from
to be covered briefly. It is certainly not only the previous regime. The main reason why,
about gas nor is it a conflict only between until 2005, Russia sold gas to Ukraine, and
Russia and Ukraine.
Ukraine transported it westward at a rather
What I see on the Russian side is a well-pre- symbolic price, was certainly not reflective of
pared ‘special operation’ of the sort that had any kind of ‘friendship’ and ‘altruism’ on eitbeen skillfully implemented last year in the her side. It was a very effective and beneficial
Caucasus. It includes escalation of conflict sup- cooperation between some Ukrainian and
ported by militant propaganda within the Russian officials and oligarchs who know
country and coordinated international efforts much better than anybody else how much of
of Russian diplomacy, intelligence, and well- cheap gas was sold to and consumed in Ukraipaid PR-companies to promote the ‘true cau- ne and how much of it was resold to the West
se’ and discredit the ‘enemy.’ It includes also at a real price. Such a scheme could have
good logistics – concenobviously not functioned
tration of proper military
without the highest blesThe fecklessness of
resources against Georgia,
sing. The notorious
the EU, and the
and monopolization of
“RosUkrEnergo” comthe energy resources, spepany, inter alia, was creastupidity, or cynicism,
cifically from Central
ted by the personal politiof some Western leadAsia, against Ukraine. Yet,
cal decision of Putin and
ers drives me crazy
the most important is,
Kuchma. And, not by
that the ‘special operation’
chance, it was Yushchenmodel includes a well-elaborated trap for the ko’s and, especially, Tymoshenko’s attempts to
both Georgian and Ukrainian leaders. In one eliminate a dubious Gazprom-connected intercase, the task was facilitated by predictable psy- mediary RUE from the gas trade that infuriachological reactions of Mr. Saakashvili, in the ted the Kremlin and caused the first ‘gas criother case it is facilitated by predictable mistrust sis’ in early 2006. One may recollect that five
and infighting between the Ukrainian presi- years earlier, a similar attempt by Tymoshendent and prime-minister, as well as by oppor- ko to touch the sacred cow of the gas and oil
tunism of a political opposition ready to assist trade cost her the vice prime minister positithe Kremlin in any endeavour versus ‘orange’ on in Kuchma’s cabinet and even short-term
foes.
imprisonment under dubious charges. In SepOn the Ukrainian side, I see first of all an tember 2005, Tymoshenko was fired again –
ambiguity that has, most likely, two major this time by Yushchenko, and a few months
sources. First, it is the ambiguity, incoheren- later the president proved either professioce, inconsistency, and political weakness of Mr. nally incompetent or politically impotent to
Yushchenko himself. And second, it is a net complete the much-needed work to cleanup
result of deep divisions within the Ukrainian the energy sector – despite Kremlin pressure
elite, contradictory efforts among business and and blackmail. The cancer of large-scale cor-
ruption was not eliminated three years ago and
now we see its come-back with the force of
dreadful metastases.
Finally, on the European side, alas, I see a
protracted shortsightedness, parochialism, and
a lack of unity and solidarity that makes Russia a much stronger player than it really is in
terms of resources, and than it should be in
view of the policies it pursues and values it promotes domestically and internationally. I strongly believe that NATO’s refusal last year to give
Georgia and Ukraine a Membership Action
Plan encouraged Russia to invade Georgia and
to behave more and more ‘assertively’ vis-à-vis
Ukraine. The fecklessness of the EU, and the
stupidity, or cynicism, of some Western leaders drives me crazy. But it’s not basically my
business to criticize Western governments.
They have their own citizens and, I hope,
honest and vigilant intellectuals able to do this.
I just want to emphasize that even the largest
and strongest group will be helpless vis-à-vis a
mediocre bully as long as such a group is disunited and its member try to make separate
deals with the offender.
Further seminars in the series
„Faces of Eastern Europe“:
October 28
Krassimira Daskalova, Associate Professor of
History, St. Kliment Ohridski University, Sofia
Womens´ Movements and Feminisms
Central Eastern and South Eastern Europe,
19th and 20th Century
November 12
Juraj Buzalka, Lecturer in Social Anthropology,
Comenius University, Bratislava
Post-peasant Populism in Eastern Europe
September – December 2008
No. 99
21
EVENTS |
Die Macht der Wirtschaft, die Wirkung des Papstes,
die Zukunft der Bildung: Weitere Events des IWM
Politischer Salon, 24. November
22
Gesprächsforum
in Berlin,
5. und 6. Dezember
Unter dem Titel „Der Staat wird uns schon
richten“, diskutierten am 24. November
beim Politischen Salon am IWM der ehemalige Ministerpräsident Sachsens, Kurt
Biedenkopf und der österreichische Bundesminister für Wissenschaft und Forschung Johannes Hahn. „Kann man der
fortschreitenden Ökonomisierung aller
Lebensbereiche entgehen?“, war die Frage.
Biedenkopf hielt an einer Trennung von
Gesellschaftlichem und Ökonomischem
fest, Ökonomie sei nicht alles, und
Gemeinschaft sei keine ökonomische Kategorie, daher dürfe man auf sie auch nicht
das Kriterium der Effizienz anwenden. Der
Markt, sagte er, brauche ein moralisches
Gehäuse, es müssten Ressourcen frei
gemacht werden für „nicht messbare
Größen“, vor allem müsse in Bildung investiert werden. Soziale Kälte, meinte Biedenkopf allerdings, resultiere nicht aus der
Marktwirtschaft, sondern vielmehr aus
individuellen Egoismen.
Auch Johannes Hahn sprach sich für
Moral als Regulator des Markes aus, wandte sich aber gegen den schlechten Ruf, den
ökonomisches Denken habe. Handel treiben sei eine dem Menschen quasi natürlich innewohnende Eigenschaft. Zwar sei
manche Form von Ökonomisierung
„ethisch bedenklich“, man könne Krankenhäuser z.B. nicht nach rein betriebswirtschaftlichen Kriterien betreiben. Die gerade
nach der Wirtschaftskrise einsetzende neue
Tendenz zur Verstaatlichung allerdings hielt
Hahn für „fatal“, soziale Marktwirtschaft sei
neu zu interpretieren und Politik müsse für
andere als nur ökonomische Werte sensibilisieren. Dem hielt Biedenkopf eine weiter
gehende Definition entgegen: Politik müsse „langfristige Dringlichkeiten gegen mittelfristige Nützlichkeit und kurzfristige
Annehmlichkeiten“ durchsetzen. Diskussionspartner beim Politischen Salon waren der
Rektor des IWM, Krzysztof Michalski, und
Michael Fleischhacker, Chefredakteur von
Die Presse
Kurt Biedenkopf
In Kooperation mit Die Presse
Johannes Hahn
No. 99
September – December 2008
Seit dem Jahr 2007 organisieren das IWM und die Robert
Bosch Stiftung gemeinsam ein
Deutsch-Polnisches Forum zu
gesellschaftlichen und politischen Fragen Europas. Teilnehmer dieser internen ForumsGespräche sind Vertreter aus
Wirtschaft, Politik und Wissenschaft, meist, aber nicht ausschließlich, aus Deutschland und
Polen. Am 5. und 6. Dezember
fand das dritte dieser Foren in
Berlin statt, Thema war “Germany and Poland in Europe.
Education and Labour Market
– Towards a Knowledge-based
Society in Europe.” Beim
Forum hielten die beiden
Außenminister Polens und
Deutschlands, Radoslaw Sikorski und Frank-Walter Steinmeier Reden, sowie Matthias
Platzeck, Ministerpräsident des
Landes Brandenburg, und
Katarzyna Hall, die polnische
Erziehungsministerin. Impulsreferate zur Diskussion „Education and Labour Market“ hielten Pawel Bchniarz, Experte im
Kabinett des polnischen Premierministers, und Hans-Peter
Klös, Mitglied der Geschäftsführung des Instituts der deutschen Wirtschaft. Die Impulsreferate zur Diskussion „Brain
Drain as a Challenge for Poland
and Germany“ hielten Dieter
Simon, ehemaliger Präsident
der Berlin-Brandenburgischen
Akademie der Wissenschaften
und derzeitiger Präsident des
IWM, und Jerzy Wo´znicki,
Professor an der Technischen
Universität Warschau und Präsident der Polnischen Rektorenkonferenz.
| EVENTS
Tischner-Debatten in Warschau
Junior Visiting Fellows’
Conference
1. Dezember
Mehrmals im Jahr finden an der Universität Warschau die
gemeinsam vom IWM und der Universität initiierten TischnerDebatten statt, die an den polnischen Priester, Philosophen und
Solidarnos´c Seelsorger Józef Tischner erinnern sollen.
At the end of each term, the Junior
Visiting Fellows present the results
of their research at the Institute.
The conference on December 4 was
dedicated to “In/visibility: Perspectives on Inclusion and Exclusion”
Lauren Freeman, Ph.D. candidate in Philosophy,
Boston University
Love is Not Blind: In/Visibility
and Recognition in Martin
Heidegger’s Thinking
Andreas Elpidorou, Ph.D. candidate in Philosophy,
Boston University
This Body Belongs Neither to the Space of Reasons, Nor to the Space of Causes
Navid Fozi, Ph.D. candidate in Cultural Anthropology, Boston University
Exclusivity and Its Construct: The Case of the
Zoroastrian’s Daily Life and a Fieldwork Challenge
Olga Wysocka, Ph.D. Candidate in Political and
Social Sciences, European University Institute,
Florence
Populism in Poland:
In/visible Exclusion
Clemens Apprich, Ph.D. candidate in Cultural
Studies, Humboldt- University, Berlin; ÖAW DOC
stipendiary
InfoCities: Structuring
the Invisible
Am 1. Dezember diskutierten in diesem
Rahmen die Historikerin und Pulitzer
Preisträgerin Anne Applebaum, der Chefredakteur der Gazeta Wyborcza, Adam
Michnik, der Erzbischof von Warschau,
Kazimierz Nycz und der Yale-Historiker
Timothy Snyder über den internationalen
Einfluss Papst Johannes Pauls II („Jan
Pawel II na swiecie i w Polsce“). Moderiert
wurde die Diskussion von Krzysztof Michalski und Marcin Krol, Professor für Ideengeschichte an der Universität Warschau.
Magdalena Freudenschuss,
Ph.D. candidate (sociologie),
Humboldt University, Berlin, ÖAW DOC stipendiary
Negotiating Precariousness:
Navigating Discoursive In/Visibilities
OPEN CALLS FOR APPLICATIONS • Deadline: March 31, 2009
Milena Jesenska Fellowships for Journalists
Paul Celan Fellowships for Translators
Please visit the IWM website for further details
www.iwm.at/fellowships.htm
September – December 2008
No. 99
23
FROM THE FELLOWS |
The Political Anti-politics of Populism
During the last term, several Fellows at the Institute worked on the topic of “Populism“, referring to its
manifestations in different countries. A panel discussion on November 20 at the IWM brought some of their
perspectives together, showing that styles of populists may vary, but that all of them currently rely on mediapower and a strong bodily representation. Following are analyses from Olga Wysocka, Elisabetta Ambrosi and
Boyan Manchev. Participating in the discussion were also Juraj Buzalka and Slavenka Drakulic.
Against the devil: Poland
The 2005 elections in Poland resulted in a
spectacular victory of populist parties: the
conservative “Law and Justice”, the radical
right “League of Polish Families” and the left
agrarian “Self-defence” established a coalition, which was supported by the ultra Catholic movement “Radio Maryja”. What does
this victory of populism mean?
“Populism” is about the relation between
the people and those in power. It considers
society to be ultimately separated into two
antagonistic groups: the common people and
the establishment. Populists argue that politics should be an expression of the general
will of the people. They use emotions and
fears in order to win support. Populism is
often considered as “a threat to democracy.”
However, it exposes important political,
social and economic problems that have been
so far swept under the political carpet, but
it does so only by accusations against sitting
governments and by proposing solutions that
are often unrealistic.
The framework of populist rhetoric in
Poland was built around two vaguely defined
issues. The first was European integration,
which was understood as a threat to the sovereignty of the Polish state, the unity of the
nation, and its traditions. The EU was presented by populists as the “devil,” a “centralised super state” promoting liberalism considered as a threat to Catholic values and the
Polish national tradition. The second issue
was the side effects of social, political, and
economic transformation: unemployment,
controversial privatisations, corruption, deepening social divisions, etc. The Populists
accused the establishment for all failures. The
anti-establishment rhetoric was intensified by
the belief that behind the 1989 Round Table
Agreement, an additional and secret agreement was consummated. As a consequence,
the concept of “the network” was introduced
into the public discourse. This vague term
connotes secret connections between institu-
24
No. 99
September – December 2008
tions, politics, business and other
informal groups, which allegedly dominated the transition period. The populist coalition
embraced the project of building a new, “Fourth” Republic of
Poland in which “everybody will
be equal.” Moreover, the Polish
populists were against everyone
and anyone who opposed them.
This left little room for minority
values and lifestyles. Populists
aimed not only to end corruption, social divisions and other
pathologies, but also to embrace the ideal of
a Polish nation virtually uniformly religious,
with a strong strain of xenophobia, anti-semitism and homophobia.
Eventually, the populist coalition collapsed
in 2007. The empty promises of the populists
and their permanent political fights proved to
be ineffective in ruling the country. Populism
is powerful only when it stands contrary to
the ruling government. Nonetheless, and as
in other democracies, it does not mean that
populism is over in Poland. As long as democracy also means the power of the people, populism will be of great importance.
Olga Wysocka,
Ph.D. Candidate in Political and Social Sciences, European University Institute, Florence;
Tischner Junior Visiting Fellow at the IWM
Silvio,
the «perfect mediatic populist»: Italy
Italy’s three-time prime minister Silvio Berlusconi can be defined as a “perfect mediatic populist,” not only because he was the first European leader who strategically employed television to win elections, but also because, in
Italy, he is television, owning three of the four
private channels and controlling all the public ones (RAI).
Still, even if some left intellectuals and
journalists are constantly comparing him to
Mussolini, he remains radically different
from an autocrat. In fact, he not only keeps
institutions open, even if only to instrumentalize them, but he also needs electoral campaigns (he ran five of them) and elections in
order to be constantly legitimated by the
people.
The first populist in Italy after the war,
Berlusconi entered public life in a political
void (1993-94) nevertheless full of social
changes. After building his TV-football-publishing empire, thanks to the help of the
socialist party and to the absence of any
antitrust law, he entered politics already with
a populistic curriculum vitae and an electorate-public: spectators and fans.
Forza Italia, his party – now “Popolo delle
libertà” – refers to no political doctrine, but
only to (popular) sentiments; the party has
no political and historical roots and above
all no territory: it’s not a political subject, but
only the instrument Berlusconi uses to
accomplish his tasks.
Berlusconi’s message is anti-political: he
presents himself as the one-outside-the-Parliament-and-with-the-people, and he is constantly bypassing institutions, which represent for him only obstacles and bureaucracy. His (non)political language is borrowed
from commercial TV and football – he never uses strange concepts such as “social justice” or even “poverty.” In fact, apart from
| FROM THE FELLOWS
words like “dream” or “miracle,” he has no
specific political message; or, better, his message is himself and his biography: “You can
(have my success).”
For the same reason, he’s always mixing
private and public, using institutions as his
private tools and his private spaces as institutions. Also, his idea of “freedom,” another of Berlusconi’s key words, is not civil and
public but, on the contrary, radically nonpolitical: it’s the triumph of the private.
Three bodies of “truth”: Bulgaria
As with all populist leaders, normally never able to fulfil their promises, he has to face
- and fight - disaffection. And as of today his
strategy has been quite successful. How? He
is able to give Italians a common narrative
even if it is a commercial fake. He has created a political model in which he is never
judged on his political results, nor on the
coherence of his political acts, but only as an
actor staging a show: always the same, in an
eternal present, where he plays different roles
without changing - also physically, thanks to
his hair transplant and plastic surgery – like
a mask in Greek theatre.
His political party is also a kind of “format,” which must remain strictly self-identical in order to reassure people. Actually, this
idea of the party as a “format” and Belusconi-like media use may be found in any
of the populistic political realities in Europe
or elsewhere; and, if combined with other
xenophobic, nationalistic and anti-EU
aspects, more linked to the growing fears
of globalization and immigration processes.
ical model and, more generally, beyond ideology (left or right), and certainly beyond the
current political status quo and establishment,
expressed in discourses of a radical break and
fundamental change.
Two hypothetical poles of contemporary
populism were already present in Bulgaria:
on the one hand, the Berlusconi-type of neoliberal populism (the National Movement Simeon II) and on the other, the antiliberal version,
represented by the movement Attack (Ataka).
The pioneer of populist discourses and political practices was undoubtedly the former Bulgarian King Simeon II, forced to abdicate at
the age of nine in 1946 (since then, the citizen
Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha), who re-emerged
in 2001 with the support of young technocrats.
The “dream factory” discourse he articulated
proved to be the recipe for an astonishing success: A few months after being formed, the
National Movement won the majority of the
parliamentary vote and governed between 2001
- 2005, with Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha as
prime minister. At the end of its mandate,
marked by a radical neoliberal transformation that only reinforced economic and social
problems of the country, a new political actor
appeared on stage: Wolen Nikolow Siderov and
his movement Attack (Ataka), which introduced – after a significant delay compared to
many other former communist countries but
with spectacular and terrifying success – a xeno-
Elisabetta Ambrosi,
Chief editor „Reset“, Rome , Milena Jesenska Fellow at the IWM
With all uncertainties about the definition of
populism kept in mind, it could be said that
in the last decade the Bulgarian political scene
gave spectacular examples of populist discourses and practices. They exemplify the complex
and atypical character of contemporary forms
of populism. However, they all comprise a
number of distinctive features, which allow
identification of the phenomenon: the declared
ambition to step beyond a conventional polit-
phobic, ultra-nationalistic discourse – antiminority, in particular, anti-Turk and antiRoma. In fact, Siderov’s “program” and political rhetoric were introduced as offering a radical break and change of direction for Bulgaria. It wouldn’t be wrong to suppose that the
movement’s success (around 20 percent on the
presidential elections in 2006) was mostly due
to a rhetoric of re-establishing social justice and
punishing all responsible for the economic and
social crisis of the country. Now, the populist
tendency or at least discourse
became the dominant feature of
Bulgarian political life. For example, President Parvanov (socialist,
former communist, elected in
2001), who was re-elected for a
second mandate in 2006 after a
second run against Siderov, progressively started adopting and
appropriating the rhetoric of
nationalistic populism, combined
with flirtation with the Orthodox
Church. The newborn star of populism and the main star (the term
is correct) of the current Bulgarian political life is the (independent) mayor of
Sofia, Bojko Borisov – a former bodyguard
of Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, appointed by
the latter Secretary General of Police, but who
unexpectedly gave up Simeon’s Movement and
became a radical critic of its politics.
What the political phenomena in question
have in common, is the establishment of a form
of “charismatic” leadership. They can be seen
as exemplary symptoms of the new type of
“charismatic” populism following Berlusconi’s
example. Their discourses of radical change
appeared as “languages of truth” which, furthermore, belong to a singular “body of truth”
or a “body-in-truth.” Simeon Saxe-CoburgGotha, Siderov, and Borisov were experimenting with different mechanisms of creating the
media reality of a language and “body-intruth.”
Populisms should be considered not as
epiphenomenon but as one of the symptoms
of a larger transformation of the political sphere:
a crisis of political representation (i.e. self-representation of community), a crisis of political
projects, a crisis of political models. This compreheisive crisis demands an urgent critical
reflection and political imagination—the only
way to prove that populism is not a universal
solution, and not a solution at all.
Boyan Manchev,
Associate Professor of Philosophy, New Bulgarian University, Sofia
September – December 2008
No. 99
25
FROM THE FELLOWS |
Imagining Cool
Wrestling between the rock of
the “urbanities” and the neofolk of
“peasant urbanities”: Belgrade’s club
culture is an ongoing identity crisis
By Vuksa Velickoviç
„Belgrade rocks!“ states a New York Times
article from 2005, just one in a series of many,
describing the buzzing atmosphere of Serbia’s
capital. Almost a decade after it was bombed
by NATO, the recent Western military target
is now labeled the new Eastern European
„capital of cool“, as stories are written about
its vibrant nightlife, „the electric energy of
youth and a nonstop music scene.“
However, despite the occasional odd journalist impression that every once in a while
rear from this corner of Europe, things get a
little more complex. Underneath the casual
hipness seen by Westerners, there are teeming and contested social forces that are not
new, but have expressed themselves over
decades of Serbia’s cultural life. As any protagonist of the local scene would acknowledge, the case of Serbia’s pop-culture is as
problematic as it were during the 90’s authoritarian regime of Slobodan Milosevic. Only halfway between a fantasized, metropolitan
the circumstances have changed. Alongside underground culture and the prevailing social
various political and economic strains that realities of local mass entertainment.
have grasped the country since the October
Ever since the early 70’s, Belgrade had been
2000 „democratic revolution“, the issue of its wrestling between the predominantly rock cul„non stop music scene“ remains somewhat ture of the ‘urbanities’ and the neofolk culture
unresolved.
of ‘peasant urbanities’. In such a climate, music
Music has a special place in the history taste became a key indicator in defining social
of late 20th century Serbia - from the liberat- identity. The social importance of music paved
ing sounds of rock and
the way for generating an
new wave in Tito’s
urban rock and roll culture
club cultures
Yugoslavia in the 70’s
that, at least in the minds of
are taste cultures,
and 80’s, all the way to
local fans, was on a par with
operating on the same
criminally infused turthe pop scenes of Western
bo folk and the decline
Europe. Local rock bands
hierarchical lines as
of Serbian urban culrecorded their albums in
„high cultures“ do
ture in the turbulent
studios of London, Paris
90’s. The long lasting
and Amsterdam with topconflict of modern and traditional Serbia, notch producers, backed with high recordurban and rural, cosmopolitan and national- ing and promotion budgets. There was a staist, can be followed through its music devel- ble music market, along with specialized music
opment. The social practices of electronic press and a palette of subcultural styles: the
dance music in Belgrade nightclubs today, punks, the rockers, the new wavers, the
reflect the city’s ongoing „identity crisis“, „sminkeri“ (‘makeupers’)... This was some-
26
No. 99
September – December 2008
thing that never existed in other East European countries, part of the Soviet bloc. There
was no pop culture in Bulgaria, Romania or
Poland before 1989. At the same time in Belgrade, as journalist Dragan Ambrozic put it,
it was not only important which group you
liked, but which particular records by that
group.
Soon, the bloody break up of Yugoslav Federation was about to change everything. The
emergence of nationalist-authoritarian regimes
in Belgrade, Zagreb and Sarajevo brought a
significant cultural shift throughout the region.
In 90’s Serbia, war and culture became inseparably intermingled. Backed by state controlled
media, turbo folk culture promoted the ideology and lifestyle of the new criminal elite,
consisting of nationalist politicians, wartime
businessmen and gangsters supporting the
regime. Stylistically, it was a hybrid of Serbian
neofolk musical idioms and the emerging
dance culture of MTV, combined with symbols of western consumerism and glamour, as
imagined by the “peasant urbanities“.
| FROM THE FELLOWS
Vuksa Velickoviç
Turbo folk’s rise to prominence in the 90’s
is a Serbian jourshowed the degree of social and cultural renalist, and also
composition that would change the Serbian
author of the
culture landscape for years to come. By the
science fiction
time its rock scene got utterly marginalized,
novel GuÏva
harmless and depressive, the streets and clubs
(The Crowd)
of Belgrade were occupied by the newly estabpublished in 2003.
lished “Diesel“ subculture, made of vicious
He graduated in
looking men with cropped hair, gold chains
International
on their bare chest, and a preference for trainRelations at the
er sweat shirts tucked in a certain model of
‘Diesel’ jeans. Embodying the regime’s mili- Faculty of Political Sciences, Belgrade, and
tant nationalist ideology, the Dieselers’ taste is currently at postgrade in Culture Theory.
From July to October 2008, he was Milena
in music was obviously, turbo folk.
Yet, the wartime 90’s saw the rise of anoth- Jesenská Fellow at the IWM.
er subculture in Belgrade. First clubs were
opened that featured only electronic dance
music: „Soul Food“ and „Industria“, the lat- without its subversive edge, the Belgrade techter being immortalized in local club culture no scene fell in the hands of an unstable local
mythology.
market economy, depending on mass, corpo„In those early days, there was a strange rate-sponsored entertainment.
chemistry between completely apart social
Years of authoritarian regime have left their
groups“ recalls Gordan Paunovic, one of the undistinguishable cultural marks in Serbia’s
pioneer Belgrade DJ’s and former Industria capital. The present case of „Silicone Valley“
resident. During its glorious heydays, the club (an ironic reference to a fashionable club area
was frequented by an
in downtown Belgrade,
odd mixture of people:
known by its clientele
…turbo folk culture
alongside the Dieselers
tough looking guys and
promoted the ideology
were young fashionable
women with enlarged
and lifestyle of the new
kids, flamboyant men
breasts) points to a spedressed in stockings and
cific subcultural practice
criminal elite, consisting
high heels, a congregaevolved directly from
of nationalist politition pretty much
turbo folk, retaining
cians, wartime businessunimaginable today.
some of it’s core style
men and gangsters supIndustria also witnessed
elements, but more suitthe birthplace for Belable to new sociopolitporting the regime.
grade’s first superstar DJ
ical realities. As media
outfit - Teenage Techno
theorist Ivana Kronja
Punks, a trio of 18 year olds playing music for observes, Silicone Valley is „the dominant
18 year olds. Alongside turbo folk, the hard youth culture in Serbia today“. Though rid
pumping techno of TTP became the sound- of open displays of criminal preferences, it has
track of a generation shaped in isolation, nevertheless fully integrated turbo folk’s idepoverty and violence.
ology of national-patriotism, mass conBy the mid 90’s, the political potentials sumerism and gender stereotypes.
of club cultures were already recognized in othYet, both the techno and Silicone Valley
er countries. In the UK during the Acid House subcultures have come surprisingly close to
era, clubbers who stood up for their „right to each other in their signifying practices – their
party“ were challenging the dominant dis- members often frequent the same clubs, take
courses of a rigidly purist society for the sake the same drugs, use similar fashion codes and
of individual and collective pursue of pleasure. quite often enjoy matching music tastes. This
On the other side, in an internationally isolat- paradoxical “symbiotic bipolarization” of
ed Belgrade, club culture represented not that youth cultural space corresponds to the bipomuch of a jouissance-type escapism, as much lar shrinking of Serbian media landscape after
as a gateway to normality. Going to certain 2000, currently split between two commerclubs, alone, was a political act. Under a repres- cial enterprises – the populistic, ex-regime TV
sive regime, the people were dancing for their Pink, and the ex-revolutionary B92, both
right to live. But after the October 2000 rev- competing for the same mass audience. With
olution, once the „evil Babylon“ was ousted, most of the independent radio stations such
as Venus, SKC and 94.9 well off the air, with
no specialized press aside from one website
(Popboks) and one low circulation magazine (Huper), little room is left for developing a competitive local music scene. Instead,
this kind of media overlapping breeds new
conflicts within the subcultures.
Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s sociology of
“distinctions”, Sarah Thornton states that club
cultures are taste cultures, operating on the
same hierarchical lines as “high cultures” do.
In such a hierarchy, one’s social status depends
on the amount of “right taste”, that is - subcultural capital, gained through complex relationships including knowledge, information
and various media-communication channels.
This way, taste in music reveals itself ideological by its very nature, becoming the means
by which clubbers „imagine their own and
other social groups“.
The bearers of Thornton’s subcultural capital in Belgrade are the so called „influential
minorities“, or the city’s self-perceived underground elite, „cool people“ who share discriminate music tastes, while considering the majority of clubbing population a mass of “urban
peasants”. However substantial it may or not
be, this capital fails in its own self-legimitisation: with no proper media to articulate, its
“authenticity“ seems provisional, or in the eyes
of the “mass”, downright fake. In such an
atmosphere, violent conflicts are often the outcome, as with the case of a recent VIP (but nevertheless, all-entry) event in club „Plastic“, when
the resident female DJ from the local „underground elite“ was physically attacked and entire
portions of the club demolished in a violent
outburst from the “Silicones”.
This kind of events are usually left out of
the official Western stories, apparently not fit
for the “Capital of cool“ narratives. What the
Western media representations of Belgrade’s
“vibrant nightlife“ really signify today is the
global ubiquity of an overcommodified pop
culture. Drained of meaning, searching for it’s
long lost soul, the raw, “uncorrupted“ subcultural experience, this time in remote corners
of its backyard – the gloomy Balkans. However, the Western reflexive quest for authenticity doesn’t do much justice to the subculture in question, leaving the unpleasant reality intact behind media images.
In the eyes of Western passersby Belgrade
may appear as the “Balkan Berlin“, but in
reality, it is still waiting on the true winds of
change. By the time they arrive, the “Capital of cool“ may have cooled down completely ...
September – December 2008
No. 99
27
FELLOWS & GUESTS |
Fellows
Elisabetta
Ambrosi
Chief Editor
„Reset“, Rome
Milena Jesenská
Fellow (October December 2008)
Family: Between Tradition
and Emancipation
Acknowledging profound
changes that have affected
sentimental relationships in
European societies over the
last fifty years, and comparing cultural/ethical family
notions in different European countries, this essay
claims the need to oppose an
instrumental and distorted
approach to “family values”
by religions and politicians,
and to promote a new sensibility toward individuals and
their choices. In my project
I’m favouring a liberal welfare as well as a cultural shift,
by which highly emotional
relationships between different people become as socially
and legislatively important as
family ties.
Clemens Apprich
Ph.D. candidate in
Cultural Studies,
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin;
ÖAW DOC stipendiary
Junior Visiting Fellow (August
2008 - January 2009)
DIY or Die:
Historical Genealogy of
the Network Society
Talking about as well as
investigating networks has
become a determining morphology of our society in
recent years. The aim of my
28
No. 99
research will be to reveal new
forms of subjectivation,
which produce specific concepts of subjectivity (as in the
arts, business or communications) within the digital context. „Do it yourself or die“ is
therefore a credo committed
to a certain type of knowledge production in which
the collective intelligence of
the users becomes the central
resource of individual and
community life.
Juraj Buzalka
Lecturer in Social
Anthropology,
Comenius University, Bratislava
Andrew W. Mellon Fellow
(October - December 2008)
Populism, Neo-fascism
and Europeanization in
Central and Eastern
Europe
Having a common basis consisting of rural social structures, traditionalist narratives
and agrarian imaginary, the
patterns of mobilization that
materialize in East European
politics could be described as
“post-peasant populism”. A
particularly intolerant form
of this populism metamorphoses into neo-fascist
activism that is gaining popularity outside of party politics in Central and Eastern
Europe (CEE). Combining
class analysis and the politics
of memory after state socialism, this project intends to
conceptualize ‘integrist’
political movements in CEE.
September – December 2008
Krassimira Daskalova
Associate Professor of History, St.
Kliment Ohridski
University, Sofia
Körber Visiting
Fellow (May October 2008)
Why History Matters:
Women’s Road to Citizenship in South Eastern
Europe (1840s-2006)
and the Construction of
Historical Memory
The aim of my project is to
uncover and trace the path
leading to women’s citizenship in the Balkans. My book
also addresses forces that foster inclusiveness in developing civil societies in South
Eastern Europe by filling the
gap between long-neglected
feminist traditions and the
reproduction of historical
memory, and in doing so,
rewriting the contemporary
gender contract in the
region. It builds bridges
between the past, present
and future, between history
and memory.
Vytautas Deksnys
Freelance
translator, Vilnius
Paul Celan
Visiting Fellow
(October 2008 March 2009)
Józef Tischner:
„Filozofia Dramatu”
(Polish > Lithuanian)
„Philosophy of drama“ (Filozofia dramatu) is the famous
work, in which Józef Tischner constructs a philosophical anthropology permiting
the most essential questions
to be asked: Where is God?
Why evil? What are beauty,
truth and goodness? Tischner
links the phenomenology of
Husserl with the dialogical
thought of Levinas and a
philosophy of history
inspired by Hegel and Heidegger. This book will be
important for the Lithuanian
audience, since it discusses
problems of universal sounding. Secondly there is still a
considerable lack of publications of Central-Eastern
European philosophical
thought in Lithuanian.
Slavenka
Drakulic
Contributing
Editor, „The
Nation“ (USA);
freelance author
and journalist, Zagreb/Stockholm/Vienna
Visiting Fellow
(October - December 2008)
“New Europe”
Strikes Back
Just when everybody believed
that the situation in former
communist states was finally
normalizing, they suddenly
resurfaced in the news. In
Budapest, people were
protesting in the streets; in
Prague, it took almost a year
to form a government; leading Polish politicians turned
out to be aggressive populists. A coalition government in Bratislava raised
concerns… Why is this turn
to populism happening after
these states joined the EU? Is
it really unexpected for the
“New Europe” to strike back
in such a way? And what are
the possible consequences of
such a turn to the right?
| FELLOWS & GUESTS
Ph.D. candidate
in Philosophy,
Boston University
Junior Visiting
Fellow
(July - December 2008)
Heike
Flemming
number of contemporary
issues, such as ecological
and direct perception, marginal awareness, and the
transformation of non-conceptual to conceptual content.
Attention and Judgment
in Perception
I am interested in investigating the relationship
between memory and perception through a comparative examination of the
development of early modern and phenomenological
accounts of attention and
concept formation. I aim to
provide a historically
informed contribution to a
Doktorandin
(Philosophie, Literatur), Universität
Wien; ÖAW DOCStipendiatin
Junior Visiting Fellow
(September 2008 - March 2009)
Parallele Geschichten –
Unbeschreiblicher Blick.
Darstellungen der
Geschichte im literarischen Bewusstsein
Ungarns nach 1970 am
Beispiel von Péter Nádas
und László Márton
eigenen jüngeren Vergangenheit – konkret anhand des
Werkes zweier zeitgenössischer ungarischer Autoren,
Péter Nádas (*1942) und
László Márton (*1959) –
dem alten Problem des Verhältnisses von Geschichtsschreibung und Geschichtserzählung, Historie und Fiktion nachgehen. Wie stellt
sich dieses Verhältnis unter
den Bedingungen der
Moderne und der totalitären
Erfahrungen des zwanzigsten
Jahrhunderts dar?
Das Dissertationsprojekt
wird am Beispiel der ungarischen Gegenwartsliteratur
und ihrer Darstellung der
Hirnnahrung
Ihr Wissen wächst. Ihre Ideen gedeihen.
Der Grund: Journalismus, der sich kein Blatt
vor den Mund nimmt.
3 Wochen gratis lesen: derStandard.at/Abo oder 0810/20 30 40
HIMMER, BUCHHEIM & PARTNER
Andreas
Elpidorou
FELLOWS & GUESTS |
Navid
Fozi-Abivard
Ph.D. candidate
in Cultural
Anthropology,
Boston University
Junior Visiting
Fellow (July - December 2008)
Cultural Survival:
The Transmission of
Knowledge and Identity
among the Zoroastrian
Community of Tehran, Iran
This is an anthropological
study investigating the
Zoroastrian tradition’s survival
over a millennium of Islamicization in Iran. Focusing on
religious rituals, I examine
how images of the past are
understood, established as
social reality and used by different social actors in contemporary Iran. The theoretical
framework of the study
merges historicity with social
theories concerning the distribution of knowledge.
I hypothesize that the Zoroastrian tradition’s resilience is
due to a configuration of religious knowledge that provides
members with an enduring
identification despite
unprecedented challenges.
Lauren Freeman
Ph.D. candidate
in Philosophy,
Boston University
ethical questions of recognition and responsibility.
Moreover, his phenomenological investigation is
fraught with ethical dimensions that call into question
the normative-descriptive
distinction. My interpretation provides a unique entry
point into current debates in
ethics and metaethics via
Heidegger’s phenomenologico-ethical description of lived
experience.
Magdalena
Freudenschuß
Doktorandin
(Soziologie),
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin;
ÖAW DOCStipendiatin
Junior Visiting Fellow
(July - December 2008)
Prekarisierung als
Feld diskursiver Herrschafts(re)produktion
Meine Dissertation verortet
sich an der Schnittstelle
feministischer Arbeitsforschung, Intersektionalitätstheorie und sozialwissenschaftlicher Diskursforschung. Sie fragt herrschaftskritisch nach diskursiven
Konstruktionsprozessen von
Subjekten und Gesellschaft
im deutschsprachigen printmedialen Diskurs zu Prekarisierung.
Junior Visiting
Fellow (July December 2008)
Ethical Dimensions in
Martin Heidegger’s Early
Thinking
My philosophical interests
concern the relation between
ethics and ontology in Martin Heidegger’s thinking.
I argue that his unique conception of selfhood makes
important contributions to
30
No. 99
September – December 2008
Justyna Górny
Übersetzerin und
Doktorandin an
der Fakultät für
Moderne Sprachen in Warschau
Paul Celan Visiting Fellow
(Dezember 2008 - Februar 2009)
Ausgewählte Texte
von Karin Hausen
(Deutsch > Polnisch)
Karin Hausen gehört zu den
international anerkannten
Begründerinnen der historischen Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung; sie lehrte bis
2003 als Professorin an der
TU Berlin. Die Übersetzung
ihrer Arbeiten ist für einen
wachsenden Kreis von HistorikerInnen interessant, die
sich in Polen mit Familienund Frauengeschichte befassen. Zudem bereichern sie
die sich in Polen entwickelnden Gender Studies um neue
Impulse: Hausens Texte werden der „Frauengeschichte“,
als Zweig der Geschichtswissenschaft, festere methodologische Grundlagen geben,
und sie werden den Wissenstransfer zwischen Ostund Westeuropa fördern,
denn bislang rezipieren die
polnischen Gender Studies
vornehmlich Texte aus dem
angloamerikanischen Raum.
Maruˇsa Krese
Freelance journalist, writer,
poet, Graz
Milena Jesenská
Fellow (November 2008 - January 2009)
Do not Despair, You Asked
Us not to Live. Comparing
the Position of Women in
the »East« and »West«
(Slovenia, Austria, Italy,
Croatia and Romania)
“Do women in Slovenia feel
relieved, now that they live
in democracy and since
Slovenia has become a EUmember?” This cliché question most often doesn’t even
sound like a question, but a
solid fact. My answer:
Slovene women have lost
much in democracy, and
they lost it before they even
noticed. Before 1990, the
struggle for equality in Western societies seemed to us an
unnecessary affair. But today
we’re hearing from our
friends in Western Europe
how hard it is to fight for
equality. These women are
breaking those same taboos
that we’re barely beginning
to know. We’ll need a very
long time to go back to
reclaiming positions that our
mothers and many among us
once already had.
Sandra Lehmann
Habilitandin
(Philosophie),
Franz Rosenzweig
Minerva Research
Center Jerusalem;
ÖAW APARTStipendiatin
Visiting Fellow
(September 2008 - July 2009)
Grundlagen einer Ontologie aus dem Glauben
Ich befasse mich in meiner
Arbeit zunächst mit dem
Wirklichkeitsbegriff im Kontext der philosophischen
Moderne. Dabei liegt mein
Augenmerk auf dem, was
man den „Prozess moderner
kritischer Selbsterschöpfung“
nennen könnte. In seinem
Verlauf schlägt der dem
modernen Wirklichkeitsbegriff eigene emanzipatorische
Impuls, der auf „Verwirklichung“ im Sinne einer
humanen Gestaltung von
Welt zielt, in diverse Diskurse des Wirklichkeitsverlusts
um. Gegen diese Diskurse
versuche ich zu einer neuen
Fundierung der Rede von
Wirklichkeit zu kommen.
Ich setze hierzu bei der vorprädikativen Relation des
Menschen zur Welt, beim so
genannten „Wirklichkeitsglauben“ an, den ich systematisch auslege, wobei ich
einen utopischen Fluchtpunkt für ihn annehme.
Susanne
Lettow
Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Paderborn;
FWF-Stipendiary
Visiting Fellow (March 2008 February 2011)
The Symbolic Power of
Biology: Articulations of
Biological Knowledge in
“Naturphilosophie”
around 1800
Biology, established around
1800 as the “science of life,”
has developed in modernity
as not only a specific scientific discipline but has also continually served as a kind of
social knowledge. The proposed research project will
start from and explore the
thesis that the re-configuration of philosophy at the
beginning of modernity is
crucial for the status that biological knowledge gained in
the modern order of knowledge. The research project
focuses on the writings in
Naturphilosophie by Kant,
Schelling, and Schopenhauer.
Boyan
Manchev
Associate Professor of Philosophy,
New Bulgarian
University, Sofia;
Director of
Program and
Vice-president of the International College of Philosophy,
Paris
Robert Bosch
Junior Visiting Fellow
(August 2008 - January 2009)
Alexandre Kojève,
the Paradox of the End
of Politics and the Philosophy of Political Action.
European Project and
European Praxis
Is the European project
becoming a paradigmatic
post-political project? The
aim of the proposed research
is to contribute to the analysis of the philosophical and
political premises of the
European project and at the
same time to foster the critical reflection on its future. A
departure point will be the
analysis of the political
visions of the Russian born
French philosopher Alexandre Kojève who was also
practically engaged in the
construction of Europe. My
working hypothesis: according to the logic of Kojève’s
philosophy of history, the
European Union is the
embodiment of the Hegelian
“end of history”.
Charles Taylor
IWM Vorlesungen zu den Wissenschaften vom Menschen:
Charles Taylor verfolgt die
Verschiebungen im Verhältnis von Religion, Individuum und Gesellschaft, von
Spirituellem und Politischem bis in die Gegenwart.
Der Rückzug des Religiösen
aus der öffentlichen Sphäre
hat die Religion nicht ins
Private eingeschlossen, vielmehr verbirgt sich hinter
diesem Prozess eine Kulturrevolution: Der moderne
„expressive“ Individualismus hat eine Vielfalt neuer
Religionsformen und gemeinschaften hervorgebracht, die auf die traditionellen zurückwirken und
die Gesellschaft verändern.
Die Formen des Religiösen in
der Gegenwart
Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp, 2002
The Varieties of Religion Today
Harvard University Press, 2002
2008 erhielt
Charles Taylor den KyotoPreis in der Kategorie
Kunst & Philosophie.
Der Kyoto-Preis ist neben
dem Nobelpreis eine der
weltweit höchsten Auszeichnungen für das
Lebenswerk herausragender Persönlichkeiten in
Wissenschaft und Kultur
Anzeige
| FELLOWS & GUESTS
Oblicza religii dzisiaj
Cracow: Znak, 2002
September – December 2008
No. 99
31
FELLOWS & GUESTS |
Leonhard Plank
Ph.D. candidate
in Business
Administration,
University of
Graz; ÖAW DOCTeam stipendiary
Junior Visiting Fellow
(July - December 2008)
Accountability of States
and Transnational Corporations for Labour Rights in
Global Production Networks: An Analysis of the
Apparel, Electronics and
Oil and Gas Sectors in Central and Eastern Europe
The research project analyzes
production networks and
labour rights in Central and
Eastern Europe, concentrating on the apparel, electronics
and oil & gas sectors, particularly in Romania. The main
focus is on mapping the production networks and their
key actors as well as respective
labour rights issues, analyzing
the socio-economic effects of
the incorporation in these
predominantly Western European production networks
and analyzing who is and
who can be made responsible
and accountable for labour
rights violations.
Artan Puto
Lecturer at the
Tirana Catholic
University
Paul Celan
Visiting Fellow (October 2008 March 2009)
Nathalie Clayer:
«Aux origines du nationalisme albanais. La naissance d’une nation majoritairement musulmane
en Europe»
(French > Albanian)
ment of Albanian nationalism during the second half of
the 19th and beginning of
the 20th century. It was a
very complex “national“
identity building process in
Albania, which overlapped
and intertwined with other
collective identity-patterns,
such as religious, regional,
social and generational ones.
The book will be a point of
reference not only for the
foreign and local scholars of
the period of the Albanian
National Movement (18781912), but also a guiding
methodological work for students of history.
Dirk Rupnow
Lecturer at the
Institute for
Contemporary
History, University
of Vienna
Visiting Fellow
(April 2007 - February 2009)
„Judenforschung“ im
„Dritten Reich“: Wissenschaft – Propaganda –
Ideologie – Politik
Antisemitic research on Jewish history and culture
(“Judenforschung”) established itself in the Nazi state
as a transdisciplinary but distinct scholarly field. This
project will examine antiJewish scholarship in the
Third Reich, its institutions
and actors, as well as its
goals, themes, and methods
in a concentrated and
exhaustive manner. It will
also analyze its function and
practices within the coordinates of scholarship, propaganda, ideology and politics,
and consider both, the beginning of “Judenforschung” as
well as its repercussions and
reception after 1945.
Nathalie Clayer’s book is a
deep analysis of the develop-
32
No. 99
September – December 2008
Merlijn
Schoonenboom
Art journalist,
„De Volkskrant“,
Amsterdam
Milena Jesenská
Fellow (October - December
2008)
Money, Art, Identity:
European Art History
Museums in a Changing
Society
The ambitions of European
art history museums seem
bigger than ever before.
National institutes such as
the Louvre in Paris and the
Staatliche Museen in Berlin
are being called ‘the cathedrals of the 21st century’;
they are being rennovated for
hundreds of millions of euros
and tourists are waiting in
line. On the other hand,
these traditional institutes are
confronted with new social
questions, such as multiculturalism, and public increasingly lacking in cultural education. I would like to map
these problems and challenges. How do the national
art history museums in
Europe try to ‘pilot’ traditional culture into the 21st
century?
Ruth M. Sonderegger
Associate Professor of Philosophy,
University of
Amsterdam
Visiting Fellow
(October December 2008)
Geschichte und Zukunft
der Kritik
Ausgangspunkt meines Projekts sind die gegenwärtigen
konfusen bis widersprüchlichen Erwartungen an die
Kritik: Sie wird mit Stolz als
Kind der europäischen Aufklärung betrachtet und damit
als Eigentum, zu dem andere
Kulturen (noch) keinen
Zugang haben. In dosiertem
Maß ist sie bis zur Normalisierung Pflicht geworden,
doch radikalere Formen der
Kritik werden schnell als
autoritär, selbstwidersprüchlich oder utopistisch abgetan.
Dieses komplizierte Gemisch
möchte ich durch eine
Genealogie Kritischer Theorien von Kant bis Rancière
und Butler erhellen und
damit alternative Verständnisse und Praktiken der Kritik ermöglichen.
Michael Staudigl
Lecturer, University of Vienna;
FWF stipendiary
Visiting Fellow
(November 2007 October 2010)
The Many
Faces of
Violence: Toward an
Integrative Phenomenological Conception
Events of extreme violence
(suicideattacks, the return of
a new archaic violence, etc.)
have renewed attention
about physical violence. Also
there has been a reappearance of interest in social, cultural and structural violence.
However, while all these
forms have been widely
investigated, interdisciplinary
research still lacks a unifying
approach. We miss a paradigm to address these forms
as aspects of one phenomenon. My project uses the
phenomenological method
to resolve this deficit and
elaborate an integrative conception of violence.
| FELLOWS & GUESTS
Vuksa
Velickoviç
Freelance
journalist and
writer, contributor to „B 92“
culture web portal, Belgrade
Pristina to Barcelona, the
project emphasizes the role
of ‘techno-culture’ as not
only today’s signifier of global youth, but also a field of
new social and political conflicts.
Milena Jesenská Fellow
(July - October 2008)
Mixed Realities:
Mapping the Balkan
Alternative
My project explores alternative cultural practices in
urban centers of former
Yugoslavia. It focuses on electronic music and new media
art forms as potential forces
for shaping new identities
and laying ground for a more
dynamic intercultural dialogue among countries that
once shared a unique political and cultural space. Comparing experiences in several
Balkan and EU cities, from
Olga Wysocka
Ph.D. candidate
in Political and
Social Sciences,
European University Institute,
Florence
Józef Tischner Fellow (September 2008 - February 2009)
What does populism in
Poland actually mean? What
are the reasons for its emergence and growth? Should
we describe Polish populism
in general terms, or rather as
a country-specific phenomenon? The second part of my
project is to compile texts for
an anthology on populism.
My intent is to fill gaps in
the relevant literature that
has been published in
Poland.
Search
for housing
For their fellows,
the IWM always needs
apartments in Vienna.
In case you have an
apartment to rent for
a period from 3 to 6
months, please contact
Katharina
Coudenhove-Kalergi
Populism
e-mail [email protected]
The aim of my research is to
analyse populism using
Poland as an empirical example. The study attempts to
clarify this phenomenon by
answering specific questions:
phone +43 1 31358 104
kratky
Michael Fleischhacker, Chefredakteur
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ABHEBEN. A
diepresse.com
FREI SEIT 1848
FR
TRAVELS AND TALKS |
Travels and Talks
Clemens Apprich
Junior Visiting Fellow
Vortrag: “Interventionen im
Datenraum: Public Netbase
(1994-2006)“, Beitrag zum
Internationalen Symposion
zu den Kontrollgesellschaften
Kontrolle und Virtualität,
Hamburger Hochschule für
bildende Künste
(7. November)
Slavenka Drakulic
Visiting Fellow
Participation: Coming to
Terms with Europe’s Traumatic
Past(s), Bruno Kreisky Forum,
Vienna (November 20)
Interview: On Populism,
Radio FM4
Lecture: “New Europe Strikes Back”, Bratislava
(December 3)
Presentation: „Leben spenden. Was Menschen dazu
bewegt, Gutes zu tun“, book
presentation at the Hauptbücherei Wien (December 9)
Lauren Freeman
Junior Visiting Fellow
Lecture: “Reconsidering
Hegel’s Legacy: Recognition
in the Thinking of Martin
Heidegger”, at the conference Reconocimiento y diferencia Idealismo alemán y hermenéutica: un retorno a las
fuentes del debate contemporáneo, Universidad de los
Andes, Bogotá, Colombia
(October 12)
the annual conference of the
Society of Phenomenological
and Existential Philosophy
(SPEP), Duquesne University, Pittsburgh
(October 16-18)
Lecture: “Moods, Mattering,
and Ethics”, at the Interdisziplinäres Forum, UND.,
Vienna (November 27)
Seminar: „A Re-Reading of
‘Being and Time’, §58“, in
the Philosophy Department
at the University of Vienna
(November 28)
Cornelia Klinger
Permanent Fellow
Eröffnungsvortrag:
„Zwischen Haus und Garten. Weiblichkeitskonzepte
und Naturästhetik im 18.
Jahrhundert“, auf der Jahrestagung Frauen im Garten –
Weiblichkeit und Naturästhetik im 18. Jahrhundert
der Dessau-Wörlitz-Kommission in Kooperation mit
dem Interdisziplinären Zentrum für die Erforschung der
Europäischen Aufklärung
Martin-Luther-Universität
Halle-Wittenberg
(30. August)
Vortrag: „’The Sublime – A
Discourse of Crisis and
Power’ – Or: ‘A Gamble on
Transcendence’“, Atelier
Penser le Sublime au XXIe
siècle an der Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, Paris (16. September)
Lecture: “Redefining Recognition: A Heideggerian Response to Axel Honneth”, at
34
No. 99
September – December 2008
Susanne Lettow
Klaus Nellen
Visiting Fellow
Permanent Fellow
Vortrag: “Technik und Körper. Elemente einer praxeologischen Technikphilosophie“,
auf dem XXI. Deutschen
Kongress für Philosophie:
Lebenswelt und Wissenschaft, Universität DuisburgEssen (15./19. September)
Participation: „crosswords X
mots croisés“, 21st European
Meeting of Cultural Journals,
Paris, organized by Eurozine,
Sens Public and Esprit
(September 26-29)
Krzysztof Michalski
Permanent Fellow
Conference: “Discussion
Forum: Germany and Poland
in Europe. Education and
Labour Market – towards a
Knowledge-Based Society in
Europe”, organized by the
Robert Bosch Stiftung and
the IWM, Berlin
(December 5-6)
Seminar: “Topics in the
Philosophy of Religion” the relation between morality
and religion, to be discussed
mostly on the basis of
Immanuel Kant´s Religion
within the Limits of Reason
Alone. At Boston University,
winter 2008
Seminar: “Political Philosophy” - examination of three
of the classic and most influential texts of modern political philosophy, from the
XVII, XIX and XX centuries:
Thomas Hobbes´ Leviathan,
Karl Marx and Friedrich
Engels The Communist
Manifesto and Carl
Schmitt´s The Concept of
the Political. At Boston
University, winter 2008
Presentation: Representation of IWM’s journal “Transit
– Europäische Revue” at the
exhibition stand of Verlag
Neue Kritik at the Frankfurt
Bookfair (October 16-18)
Dirk Rupnow
Visiting Fellow
Lecture: “Annihilating – Preserving – Remembering. The
‘Aryanization’ of Jewish
History and Memory during
the Holocaust”, at the conference Dynamics of
Memories, Lancaster University (November 28-29)
Vortrag: “Aporien des
Gedenkens”, at the conference Zeitschaften. Sozial- und
kulturwissenschaftliche
Zugänge zu Repräsentationen ehemaliger NS-Konzentrationslager, Evangelisches
Studienwerk Villigst
(14-16. December)
Birgit Sauer
QUING-Project
Präsentation: Kommentar
zum Vortrag von Sighard
Neckel „Emotion by design.
Das Selbstmanagement der
Gefühle als kulturelles Programm“ auf der Tagung Die
Ordnung der Gefühle. Emotionsregulation als bio-kultureller Prozess, Universität
Wien (13. Oktober)
| VARIA
Varia
Presentation: “Re-Negotiating ‚European Values’: Framing Strategies of Headscarf
Debates”, with Ilker Ataç
and Sieglinde Rosenberger
auf der 38th Annual
UACES Conference,
Edinburgh (September 1-3)
Vortrag: „Den Staat ver/handeln. Zum Zusammenhang
von Staat, Demokratie und
Herrschaft“, Vortrag im Rahmen der Ring-Vorlesung Zur
Aktualität der Kritischen
Theorie, Universität Wien
(5. November)
Ruth Sonderegger
Visiting Fellow
Vortrag: „Institutionskritik?“, am VII. Kongress der
Deutschen Gesellschaft für
Ästhetik Ästhetik und Alltag
an der Friedrich Schiller Universität Jena (2. Oktober)
Diskussion: Statement im
Rahmen des Symposiums
Utopolis, Chemnitz (21. Juni)
Vortrag: „Affirmative Kritik“, beim Workshop Jacques
Rancière und die Geschichtlichkeit des Films, Institut
für Wissenschaft und Kunst,
Wien (12. April)
Presentation: “Gender and
Equality in the European
Union. Policy Developments
and Contestations” (with
Emanuela Lombardo), at the
Conference on the European
Union of the ECPR (European Consortium for Political Research), Riga (September 26-28)
Some awards and promotions: The Czech philosopher Ivan Chvatik, Director of the Prague Patocka Archives, was awarded an honorary doctorate by Charles University,
Prague.
Eventually a good payoff for all his research in Albanism, Egin
Ceka, Bosch Junior Visiting Fellow at the IWM in 2007/8
(see also his interview in IWMpost 97), recently became the
First Secretary of the Albanian Embassy in Vienna. Congratulations!
Lecture: “Understanding the
Dynamics of Equality Policy
Framing: Stretching, Bending and Policy Making”,
at the Ph.D Course on The
Role of Ideas in Policy Analysis’ under the auspices of
the Graduate School on
Welfare States and Diversity,
Aalborg University
(September 29-October 3)
Some celebrations: Not the aftermath of the Euro 2008
in Austria but rather a commemoration of the famous “Shame
of Cordoba” (1978, when Germany for the first and only
time was defeated by an Austrian soccer team), served as pretext for “misusing” the lunch-room during a carnival-party at
the IWM on 11.11. Scoring: a broken toe (Barbara Abraham),
an injured knee (Karin Oberer), no broken glassware.
Discussion: “Promoting
Gender Equality and Eliminating Gender Stereotypes:
Strategic Choices, Role of
Civil Society”, at the Seminar
on Gender Equality, European Commission, Ankara
(October 7-8)
Lecture: “Gender Equality
Projects in Public Administration“, at the Gender
Mainstreaming Seminar
Programme, Athens
(November 24-25)
We couldn’t list it under “recent publications”, but it shouldn’t
be concealed that Luise Wascher, Event Manager and Assistant to the Managing Director at the IWM, gave birth to little Leonhard. While Ms Wascher is on maternity leave, MarieThérèse Porzer is in charge of her duties at the IWM.
Olga Wysocka
Mieke Verloo
QUING-Project
Lecture: “Gender Equality
Policies, Intimate Citizenship
and Demographic Change”,
at the international conference Demographic Change,
Restructuring of the Welfare
State and Gender Relations
in European Comparison,
Hildesheim
(September 25-26)
Junior Visiting Fellow
Participation in the
conference Die Europäische
Nachbarschaftspolitik
zwischen Mittelmeerunion
und östlicher Dimension:
Herausforderungen für das
Weimarer Dreieck at Schloss
Genshagen, Germany
(November 13-14)
Barbara Abraham, Luise Wascher
Marie-Thérèse Porzer
September – December 2008
No. 99
35
PUBLICATIONS |
Publications
of Fellows and Guests
Clemens Apprich
Lauren Freeman
Maruˇsa Krese
Dirk Rupnow
Junior Visiting Fellow
Junior Visiting Fellow
Visiting Fellow
Visiting Fellow
Prekär wählen, Protest
leben. Ein Aufruf zu
Neu-Verkettungen (mit
Magdalena Freudenschuß),
in: Kulturrisse, 4 (2008)
Recognition Reconsidered:
A Re-Reading of Heidegger’s Being and Time §26,
in: Philosophy Today (Spring
2009)
Ohne Angst verschieden zu
sein (Hg. mit Meta Krese
und Robert Reithofer), Graz:
Leykam Verlag, 2008
Pseudowissenschaft.
Konzeptionen von Nichtwissenschaftlichkeit in der
Wissenschaftsgeschichte
(Hg. mit Veronika Lipphardt, Jens Thiel, Christina
Wessely), Frankfurt a. M.:
Suhrkamp, 2008
Anselm Böhmer
Guest (February 2007)
Fragliche Freiheiten. Zur
politischen Theorie kontroverser Solidarität nach
Jan Patocka, in: Philosophisches Jahrbuch, 116 (2008)
Reconsidering Hegel’s
Legacy: Recognition in the
Thinking of Martin Heidegger, in: Maria Acosta
(Ed.), Reconocimiento y diferencia. Una reapropiación
desde el Idealismo alemán y
la hermenéutica, Bogotá:
Universidad de los Andes,
forthcoming 2009
Slavenka Drakulic
Visiting Fellow
Frida’s Bed, New York: Penguin Books, 2008
Frida ili o Bole`cini, Ljubljana: VBZ, 2008
Magdalena Freudenschuß
Junior Visiting Fellow
Prekär wählen, Protest
leben. Ein Aufruf zu NeuVerkettungen (mit Clemens
Apprich), in: Kulturrisse, 4
(2008)
Til sängs med Frida, Stockholm: Natur&Kultur, 2008
Cialo z jej ciala, Warszawa:
W.A.B., 2008
Jörg Haider’s Legacy, in:
The Nation (October 20,
2008)
Crime in the Circles of
Power, in: The Guardian
(October 29, 2008)
Das „neue“ Europa schlägt
zurück, in: Die Presse
(November 18, 2008)
36
No. 99
Tim Haughton
Junior Visiting Fellow
(January-April 2008)
Parties, Patronage and the
Post-Communist State,
Review Article, in: Comparative European Politics, 6
(2008)
Cornelia Klinger
Permanent Fellow
Über-Kreuzungen.
Fremdheit, Ungleichheit,
Differenz (Hg. mit GudrunAxeli Knapp), Münster:
Westfälisches Dampfboot,
2008
September – December 2008
Welche Türkei?, in: Falter,
27 (2008)
Susanne Lettow
Visiting Fellow
Meisterdenker Agamben?
Stellungnahmen von
Gerald Hartung, Susanne
Lettow und Petra Gehring,
in: Information Philosophie,
5 (2008)
Flexibilität und Determinismus. Neurowissenschaften und die Naturalisierung von Subjektivität, in:
Forum Wissenschaft, 4
(2008)
Susanne Schultz, Hegemonie – Gouvernementalität –
Biomacht. Reproduktive
Risiken und die Transformation internationaler Bevölkerungspolitik, Münster:
Westfälisches Dampfboot,
2006, Rezension in: Feministische Studien, 2 (2008)
Sachunterricht. Fundstücke
aus der Wissenschaftsgeschichte (Hg. mit Thomas
Brandstetter, Christina Wessely), Wien: Löcker, 2008
Transformationen des
Holocaust. Anmerkungen
nach dem Beginn des 21.
Jahrhunderts, in: Transit –
Europäische Revue, 35 (2008)
Birgit Sauer
QUING-Project
Neuliberale Verhältnisse.
Staatlichkeit und Geschlecht,
in: Christoph Butterwegge et
al. (Hg.), Neoliberalismus.
Analysen und Alternativen,
Wiesbaden: VS Verlag, 2008
Gewalt, Geschlecht, Kultur.
Fallstricke aktueller Debatten um „traditionsbedingte“ Gewalt, in: Birgit Sauer,
Sabine Strasser (Hg.),
Zwangsfreiheiten. Multikulturalität und Feminismus,
Wien: ProMedia, 2008
An der Front des westlichen
Patriarchats. Sexarbeit,
Frauenhandel und politische Regulierung in Wien,
in: Jürgen Nautz, Birgit Sauer
(Hg.), Frauenhandel.
Diskurse und Praktiken,
Göttingen: Vandenhoeck &
Ruprecht, 2008
| PUBLICATIONS
IWM
Publications
Frauenhandel. Diskurse
und Praktiken: eine Einleitung (zusammen mit Jürgen
Nautz), in: Jürgen Nautz,
Birgit Sauer (Hg.), Frauenhandel. Diskurse und Praktiken, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck
& Ruprecht, 2008
Zwangsfreiheiten. Wege
zwischen Autonomie und
Anpassung in multikulturellen Gesellschaften
(gemeinsam mit Sabine Strasser), in: Birgit Sauer, Sabine
Strasser (Hg.), Zwangsfreiheiten. Multikulturalität
und Feminismus, Wien:
ProMedia, 2008
Freiheit – Gleichheit – Ausschluss. Werte und Prinzipien in Debatten um muslimische Kopftücher (gemeinsam mit Sieglinde Rosenberger), in: Heike Brabandt, Bettina Roß, Susanne Zwingel
(Hg.), Mehrheit am Rand?
Geschlechterverhältnisse, globale Ungleichheit und transnationale Lösungsansätze,
Wiesbaden: VS Verlag, 2008
Mediales Indexieren. Die
Reduktion von Frauen- auf
Familienpolitik im bundesdeutschen Wahlkampf 2002
(gemeinsam mit Sabine
Lang), in: Johanna Dorer,
Brigitte Geiger, Regina Köpl
(Hg.), Medien – Politik –
Geschlecht. Feministische
Befunde zur politischen
Kommunikationsforschung,
Wiesbaden: VS Verlag, 2008
Governing Intersectionality.
Ein kritischer Ansatz zur
Analyse von Diversitätspolitiken (gemeinsam mit
Stefanie Wöhl), in: Cornelia
Klinger, Gudrun-Axeli Knapp
(Hg.), ÜberKreuzungen.
Fremdheit, Ungleichheit,
Differenz, Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot, 2008
Bringing the State Back In.
Civil Society, Women’s Movements, and the State, in:
Karen Hagemann, Sonya
Michel, Gunilla Budde (Hg.),
Civil Society and Gender Justice.
Historical and Comparative
Perspectives, Oxford/New York:
Berghahn Publishers, 2008
Möglichkeitsstrukturen,
Ressourcen und Frames.
Die Erringung des Frauenwahlrechts in Österreich,
in: Johanna Laakso (Hg.),
Frau und Nation,
Wien/Münster: LIT, 2008
Ruth Sonderegger
Visiting Fellow
Affirmative Kritik. Warum
und wie Jacques Rancière
Streit sammelt, in: Drehli
Robnik, Siegi Mattl (Hg.),
Das Streit-Bild. Jacques
Rancière und die Geschichtlichkeit des Films, Wien:
Turia+Kant, erscheint 2009
What One Does (not) Hear.
Approaching Canned Voices
through Rancière, in: Anette
Hoffmann (ed.), What We
See. Reconsidering an Anthropometric Collection and its
Representational Claims by
Means of Listening to its
Recorded Voices, Basel: Basler
Afrika Bibliografien, 2008
Praktische Theorien /
Practical Theories, in: Ulf
Wuggenigg, Beatrice von Bismarck (Hg.), Representation
of the ‚Other‘. The Visual
Anthropology of Pierre Bourdieu, Wien: Turia+Kant, 2008
Wie diszipliniert ist (Ideologie-)Kritik? Zwischen Philosophie, Soziologie und
Kunst, in: Rahel Jäggi, Tilo
Wesche (Hg.), Immanenz und
Transzendenz: Konstellationen
philosophischer Kritik, Frankfurt a. M.: Suhrkamp, 2008
Grenzübergang geboten.
Ein Kommentar zu Jacques
Rancière, in: Texte zur
Kunst, 72 (2008)
Kritik, in: Stefan Gosepath,
Wilfried Hinsch, Beate Rössler (Hg.), Handbuch der politischen Philosophie und
Sozialphilosophie, Berlin/New
York: de Gruyter, 2008
Rancières Konzept von Arbeit
unter der Perspektive der
Aufteilung des Sinnlichen, in:
Die Bildende, 4 (2008)
Critical Wishes and Affirmatiave Critique. On Maeve
Cooke „Re-presenting the
Good Society“, in: International Journal of Philosophical Studies, 16/4 (2008)
Transit 35 (Sommer 2008),
Europäische Gedächtnispolitik, Mai 1968 – Ost/West,
Russland.
Mit Beiträgen von Ivan
Krastev, Alexander Motyl,
Burkhard Olschowsky,
Mykola Riabchuk, Jacques
Rupnik, Dirk Rupnow,
Henrike Schmidt, Aleksander Smolar, Timothy Snyder
und Heidemarie Uhl.
Photographien von Vera
Koubová.
IWM Vorlesungen zu
den Wissenschaften
vom Menschen:
Zygmunt Bauman, Does
Ethics Have a Chance in a
World of Consumers?,
Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 2008
Ryszard Kapuscinski,
Der Andere, Frankfurt a.M.:
Suhrkamp, 2008
Mieke Verloo
QUING-Project
Missing Opportunities? A
Critical Perspective on the
European Union’s Initiatives
to Address Multiple Inequalities, in: Berteke Waaldijk,
Misha Peters and Else van der
Tuin (eds.), The Making of
Women’s Studies, Vol. VIII,
Utrecht: Athena, 2008
Olga Wysocka
Junior Visiting Fellow
Populizm i Radio Maryja
(Populism and Radio Maria),
in: Znak, 640, no. 9, 2008
September – December 2008
No. 99
37
GUEST CONTRIBUTION |
Abyssal Love
Patocka, Rosenzweig, and the Problem of History
By James Dodd
38
No. 99
September – December 2008
| GUEST CONTRIBUTION
Jan Patocka claims obscurely in his Heretical Essays,
On one level, knowing what we know of the
that the core of Christianity is “an openness to the scene, the tension I am pointing to has no real claim;
abyss.” What can this mean? I would like to use Car- it is effectively nothing. If we nevertheless take it up,
avaggio’s The Taking of Christ to illuminate this claim. reflect on what it suggests, then it is not as if anothThe first thing to emphasize is that the paint- er field of alternatives somehow opens up for us.
ing captures a moment. The kiss has just fallen, Jesus There are simply no alternatives; Jesus is taken,
is betrayed, the arms of the soldiers are fast upon becomes Christ. The tension is absurd. But to say
him. The moment falls at the height of the drama “absurd” here is not to effect a simple exclusion.
in which the betrayal of Judas has become clear, pub- Rather, to take such absurdities seriously is, I would
lic for all to see; and it represents a decisive cata- suggest, precisely what it means to be open to the
lyst, a first clear step towards the cross.
abyss.
This moment, as Caravaggio depicts it, is shot
To explain what I mean, let us consider a thesis
through with a series of tensions. These tensions serve from Rosenzweig’s Star of Redemption concerning
to undermine the tenor of inevitability that would the nature of divine love. Love, for Rosenzweig, is
otherwise determine our conthe inauguration of a new
templation of this scene. We all
priority of the temporal over
Christ is pulling away …
know, of course, what is going
that of Creation, and it
this is the source of tento happen; the whole story
specifically takes the form of
sion …Christ is leaning
stands there in front of our
the present moment. That
eyes. What is depicted here is
is, love enables the present
towards the possibility of
something that has the sense of
moment to break the
the negation of history
a lockstep, a necessity, and with
monotony and indifference
that a kind of end.
of an already established
But at the same time it is also a beginning, and world; as love of the now, it rejects the mere repetimore specifically the beginning of history. This, too, tion of being in the form of the “has been.” Or, to
bears the weight of the inevitable, of all that must be, employ Rosenzweig’s idiom, it rejects the ground of
because this has been. The weight of history bearing the divine creativity of God in the form of a “decree
on the moment of its own beginning constitutes the of fate,” the power of the “let it be so.”
simple force of this painting. Christ is, accordingly,
If we are to speak of a permanence of love, then
passive; his eyes are closed, his face remains composed, it is not as a fidelity to the same but to the new, and
if pained; his hands are outstretched and clasped with that a fidelity to precisely the moment as radtogether in an apparent acceptance of the inevitable ically non-permanent. This is what Rosenzweig refers
that is rushing in to seize him from the right side of to as the “fatal violence” of love, and this in turn
the canvas.
yields a conception of what it means to speak of the
Perhaps this already points to the sense of an shaking of the primordial world: it means precisely
“openness to the abyss”. Perhaps it is the openness to do divine violence to the mythical monotony of
to a radically new beginning, one that is able to being. Love is, as it were, God’s rebellion against the
embrace the new out of an acceptance of the utter necessity of the Yes that made possible his own prieradication of one’s own being. The death of Jesus mordial revelation, and in the violence of love there
would then mean his openness to life, or the open- is set the condition for the possibility of a different
ing of the possibility of a life in Christ. This is for revelation.
sure not far off the mark, but it risks ignoring the
Something else goes with this. Love, its violence,
simple fact that Christ is pulling away.
its fidelity to the impermanence of the moment, its
This is the source of tension. He is pulling, or essential character as an exception, all point to the
leaning, away from the embrace of Judas, from the fact that the terminus of love, the beloved human
grasping hands of the soldiers. If this painting is about being, is no longer something that is to the extent of
origins, origins of history, then we need to ask its having-been-created. The love of God does not
whether Christ is leaning towards the possibility of “make” the soul. Instead, the soul is what faces the
the negation of history. Perhaps this is a painting onslaught of love; the soul is the opening of a drama
about a closure of possibility just as much as it is in which the question of love is to be decided, the
about the opening of possibility, or about something question of how love is to be received, or how a
that must be shut down in order for the opening of response or relation to the violence of the moment
the possible to itself be possible. One could argue that of God’s love is to be determined.
this possibility of closure is captured by the figure to
It is important here to understand that there is no
the left: fleeing, his face is turned up towards a light economy here, no opportunity for choosing a distriother than the one from the lantern being held by a bution of values. One either yields or resists, falls in
figure at the right of the canvas, which is often tak- or flees from love. There is no traction of the real here
en to be a self-portrait of Caravaggio.
for calculation, there are no sides – there cannot be
September – December 2008
No. 99
39
GUEST CONTRIBUTION |
any partisans of love –
if the moment of love, tive of the religious soul are mapped out in this
there is only the arbiof the gift of love, opens image of the moment: the peace of Christ, the
trary eruption of a
the soul, then it is only serenity of faith, the weight of the future that
moment that seems to
as an event that at the must be because this was, is in distinct tension
have inexplicably set
same time inaugurates with the potential for flight harbored in the
itself apart from the
the possibility of a cer- abyssal light of love itself, a flight towards a
decree of a world of
tain kind of closure closure that belongs both to God and to the
moments locked in
from the world, a sud- soul. Christ leans, in other words, towards the
dull repetition. And
den release from the very impulse of love and beloved to be closed
again the soul faces
muteness of natural, off, encapsulated in an escape that forms the
this love, receives it or
primordial life. This abyssal depth of the moment itself.
not, holds fast to it or
means that the abyss is
But at the same time, as Rosenzweig would
lets it go, not from out
not an orientation “for” put it, the soul is pulled back from this abyss
of a capacity to choose,
life; it harbors no direc- of self-enclosure, back from the abyss of the
but rather out of a
tion, no figure or pat- light—but now a question: towards what? We
James Dodd is Associate Professor in
capacity for defiance.
tern for life. Here free- have to say “history”. But now things seem to
Philosophy at The New School for
In Rosenzweig’s
dom does not take be more complicated. This image suddenly
Social Research in New York. He has
account, the defiance
form. One could say seems to be expressive of a very different notion
been a Visiting Fellow and a researof the soul takes not
that the abyss is just the of history than the one that was operative when
cher at the IWM several times.
only the form of the
possibility of freedom we emphasized a sense of inevitability or necespotential to hold
not taking form. In sity. “History” cannot mean the progression of
divine love in check,
divine love the soul can events in accordance with the unity of an order,
but it also takes the form of a tendency of the “be” as pure illumination and openness in the a providence or a plan; to be sure, such a consoul to close itself around divine love, around form of a moment that asserts itself at the ception might still have some validity, but in
its moment, and in this sense closing itself off expense of everything else, in that it does not an important way it is just this sense of histofrom its own appearance in the world. For the need to be anything but what it is, now. That ry that is effectively suspended by a focus on
religious soul is awakened specifically to a God is precisely the power of divine Love: it “is,” as the figure of the moment. The reference of the
that awakens only as the exception, which Rosenzweig emphasizes, wholly for the “historical” here is not to the inscription of this
means that originally it is not something that moment.
moment in a series, but rather to the tension
belongs anywhere. This love is at its inner core
Is this new? Is not Plato’s idea of insight also or conflict that inwardly defines the moment
invisible; the truth that the soul finds in it does that of a kind of light? To be sure, it also erupts, as such. If the tension thus lies within the
not translate back into a world of relations in that it has an erotic, even violent character; dynamic of an inner opening, a light that does
or meanings that are what they are only to the but it is not that love in which the subject is not retreat into itself even as it discovers the
extent that they can anticipate how something invited to close itself
inner possibility of doing
is going to be. From the point of view of the around itself before its
so, then this yields a disPlato’s is a light
world, it is as if the soul has put on the ring of God. Plato’s is a light that
tinct conception of historthat transforms us,
Gyges, but one that not only erases the tracks transforms us, hardens us
ical existence. It is one
hardens us to what we
of the soul as it navigates through the world, to what we continually see;
that rediscovers in the
but also effects a more radical invisibility that it does not embrace us, disdepth of the exception of
continually see; it does
breaks all ties with the visible as such. Faithful solving our very being as
the moment the very posnot embrace us …
to the invisible mystery, the Christian can creatures of insight, taking
sibility of historical probThere are no devobecome invisible not only as a seer who is not us beyond knowledge.
lematicity itself. It is not,
tions in Plato, only
seen, but as a being, a soul, released from the There are no devotions in
in other words, the shakconfines of seeing itself as a determination of Plato, only learning.
ing of an order of the
learning.
its existence.
Looking again at Carworld, of the series of
For Rosenzweig, this points us to the prob- avaggio’s painting, perhaps
temporal manifestation,
lem of redemption, or the question of how a it is now more comprehensible why Christ is but a uniquely inner shaking, an inner violence
love-opened soul can be awoken to existence leaning away. The moment captured here rep- of love and resistance. That is, as Patocka would
in the world. Redemption is only possible if resents the condition of a soul that is opened put it, what is operative here is the experience
this possibility of invisibility, of “enclosed by love; this opening is an opening to a dra- of the self as an historical existence through and
man”, is overcome in a new figuration that ma of tensions that emerge out of the violence through, without remainder.
“pulls the soul back”.
of divine love and the defiance of selfhood.
Perhaps that is an idea, or a challenge, that
Now we can perhaps return to Caravaggio, It is a drama played out within the fold of an we can take from Patocka, and illustrate with
and complete our interpretation of the paint- exception that sets God and soul against the this painting: a conception of the completeing. We can answer our question about the order of the world. There are no set futures ness of historical being, of historical meaning,
abyss in the following way. Perhaps the abyss here, no locksteps in the order of moments; if that does not rely on the concepts of “necessiis a distinct possibility of the kind of openness there is still a destiny, it is only one of love. The
ty” and “totality,” but instead on “inwardness”
that is constitutive of the religious soul. For coordinates of this peculiar destiny constitu- and the “abyss.”
40
No. 99
September – December 2008
| GUEST CONTRIBUTION
Lange nach
Tocqueville und
kurz nach
Obama
Die amerikanischen Demokratie und ihr Wahlrecht sind
in mancher Hinsicht bis heute
in der Welt der bürgerlichen
Teildemokratien des 18. und
frühen 19. Jahrhunderts
stehen geblieben
Der Ausgang der jüngsten amerikanischen Präsidentschaftswahlen hat viele europäische Kritiker der USA wieder mit dem Land versöhnt.
Nicht nur unverbrüchliche Atlantiker wie etwa
die Journalisten des britischen Economist sahen
sich zu mindestens „two cheers for American
democracy“ veranlasst. Auch in Frankreich und
Deutschland zeigten sich die Kommentatoren
zutiefst von der gelebten Demokratie des Landes
beeindruckt.
In der Tat: Fast zwei Jahre lang war das Land
vom Wahlkampf gekennzeichnet, bereisten die
Kandidaten Staat für Staat, um sich den Wählern
erst in Primaries, dann in der eigentlichen Wahl
zu stellen, übernahmen hunderttausende freiwilliger Wahlhelfer organisatorische Aufgaben, spendeten Millionen von Bürgern - erstmals auch
massenhaft über das Internet - kleinere Beträge,
so dass knapp die Hälfte (48 %) aller Einnahmen
Obamas, die sich auf insgesamt 742 Millionen
Dollar beliefen, aus Kleinspenden von unter 200
Dollar stammte. Kaum ein anderes Land der
Welt setzt seine Bewerber um das höchste politische Amt einem so langen und harten Stahlbad
des Ausleseprozesses aus und gibt dabei auch
Nichtmitgliedern von Parteien ein derart hohes
Gewicht bei der Kandidatenkür. Wie intensiv die
Bürger zumindest in eng umkämpften Battleground States angesprochen werden, hat jüngst ein
Journalist der Süddeutschen Zeitung plastisch
berichtet, der für ein Wochenende als Freiwilliger der Obama Kampagne in Ohio mitwirkte.
Foto: Andrea Roedig, IWM
Von Jens Alber
September – December 2008
No. 99
41
GUEST CONTRIBUTION |
Dort hatte ein Heer von Helfern den Auf- Zuwachs für Obama war in dieser Gruppe der Mehrheit“ zu entkommen sei, als der
trag, über das Wochenende 500.000 Haus- sogar schwächer als im Bevölkerungsdurch- inklusiven und freiheitlichen Massendemohalte anzurufen und zur Wahl von Obama schnitt. Der Abstand, der Schwarze und kratie von heute, wie sie in Europa nach dem
zu überreden, um bei allen, die nicht eindeu- Weiße im Wahlverhalten trennt, ist allerdings Zweiten Weltkrieg den Siegeszug angetreten
tige Ablehnung signalisierten, wenige Tage etwas größer geworden. Überproportional hat.
später noch einmal mit einem weiteren Anruf hat Obama vor allem in der Gruppe der junDas Fortbestehen der indirekten Präsinachzuhaken.
gen Wähler gewonnen.
dentenwahl durch das Electoral College ist
Kurzum: Es ist zwar richtig, dass die
Deutlich wird überdies, dass die drei ein Relikt aus der grauen Vorzeit des 18.
Wahlbeteiligung auch bei dieser Wahl weit großen Spaltungen der amerikanischen Poli- Jahrhunderts, das weit reichende Konsequenunter dem für Europa typischen Niveau tik, nämlich die Klassenspaltung zwischen zen hat.
blieb, aber dafür werden die amerikanischen Reichen und Armen, die religiöse Spaltung
Dass Kandidaten im WahlmännergremiBürger auf vielfältige andere Art in den poli- zwischen tief gläubigen Kirchgängern und um obsiegen können, obwohl sie in der alltischen Prozess einbezogen und nehmen Kirchenfernen sowie die Spaltung zwischen gemeinen Wahl nur die Minderheit der
damit nicht selten engagierter an der Politik Weißen und Schwarzen auch diesmal wie- Stimmen erhielten, ist die bekannteste, nicht
teil als europäische Wähler. Überdies der zur Geltung kamen.
aber einmal die wichtigste
erstreckt sich ihr Wahlrecht auf eine sehr viel Am größten ist der GraKonsequenz der verstaubEine weitere
größere Breite von Ämtern, zu denen nicht ben, der Schwarze von
ten indirekten Wahl des
Besonderheit der
nur Abgeordnete oder Bürgermeister, son- Weißen trennt, ähnlich ins
Präsidenten. Viermal ist
dern auch Sheriffs, Staatsanwälte und man- Gewicht fallen der Klasdieser Fall in der amerikaamerikanischen
cherorts auch Richter zählen.
senkonflikt und die relinischen Geschichte bisher
Demokratie liegt im
Verlässliche Freunde der USA, die von giöse Spaltung. Neu war
aufgetreten, zuletzt im
Entzug des Wahlder langen und ungebrochenen Demokra- bei dieser Wahl, dass erstJahr 2000. Damals erhielt
rechts für Strafgetietradition des Landes ebenso beeindruckt mals auch der AltersunterGore mit 48.3 % der
sind wie von den Grundzügen der weltpoli- schied bzw. die GeneratioStimmen über eine halbe
fangene
tischen Rolle, die es als Hegemon im 20. nenspannung eine größeMillion mehr Stimmen als
Jahrhundert gespielt hat, werden sich weder re Rolle spielten. Der
Bush, unterlag aber denzu überschwänglichem Jubel, noch zur Ver- Abstand zwischen Bürgern mit höherer und noch mit 266 gegenüber 271 Stimmen im
dammung des Landes in Abhängigkeit von einfacher Bildung blieb ebenso wie die regio- Electoral College. Ein ähnlicher Fall war erstpolitischen Konjunkturzyklen hinreißen las- nale Spaltung im üblichen Rahmen, mals im Jahr 1824 aufgetreten, als diverse
sen, sondern sich einen Blick für die Ambi- während Geschlechterdifferenzen einmal Einzelstaaten noch gar keine allgemeine Prävalenzen der amerikanischen Demokratie mehr keine hervorgehobene Rolle spielten.
sidentschaftswahl vorsahen. Andrew Jackson
bewahren. Diese werden durch amerikaniFür Sozialwissenschaftler gelten die USA gewann damals rd. 10 Prozentpunkte mehr
sche Politiker und Sozialwissenschaftler oft gerade auch deshalb als faszinierendes Land, Wählerstimmen als sein Hauptkontrahent
sehr viel stärker und auch besorgter thema- weil hier zwar die so genannte Modernisie- John Quincy Adams. Er gewann mit 15
tisiert als von vielen europäischen Journali- rungstheorie ihren Ursprung hat, wonach Stimmen Vorsprung auch im Electoral Colsten, die sich als bekennende Atlantiker oft alle Länder der Welt einem ähnlichen Ent- lege, aber da er die absolute Mehrheit der
zum demonstrativen Schulwicklungsmuster fol- Wahlmännerstimmen verfehlte, ging die
terschluss mit den USA und
gen, das Land selbst Wahl verfassungsgemäß in das RepräsentanEs gibt hier,
zur Tabuisierung von Kritik
aber geradezu als tenhaus, wo Adams siegte.
genau genommen,
genötigt sehen.
lebendige Inkarnation
Noch gravierender als die Umkehr des
Zunächst einmal lohnt
der
Widerlegung
dieser
Wählervotums
sind wohl zwei weitere Folkeine nationale Wahl
es sich zu klären, was genau
Theorie hervorsticht. gen der indirekten Wahl durch das Electodes Präsidenten, soneigentlich Auffälligkeiten
Ausgerechnet die Ver- ral College. Die erste ist, dass es, genau
dern nur getrennte
des jüngsten Wahlergebniseinigten Staaten, die genommen, gar keine allgemeine bzw. natioWahlen in den
ses waren. Eine besonders
im 18. Jahrhundert nale Wahl des Präsidenten gibt, sondern nur
erhöhte Wahlbeteiligung
„modern geboren“ getrennte Wahlen in den Einzelstaaten.
Einzelstaaten
zählt dazu nicht; die verläswurden, weil weder Deren Zahl der Wahlmännerstimmen
slichste jüngste Schätzung
Adel noch Amtskirche bestimmt sich aus der Summe ihrer Sitze im
des „United States Elections Project“ kommt, der neuen Zeit im Weg standen, zeigen sich Repräsentantenhaus, die im Prinzip der
bezogen auf die wahlberechtigte Bevölke- mit ihrem religiösen Fundamentalismus kul- Bevölkerungsgröße folgt, sowie der Sitze im
rung, auf 62,3 %, gegenüber 60,7% bei der turell bis heute in bemerkenswert geringem Senat, die für alle Staaten gleichermaßen
Wahl von 2004. Die Auswertung der Wahl Maße von der Säkularisierung berührt, zwei beträgt. Daraus ergibt sich eine deutzeigte auch, dass Obama keineswegs, wie das während ihre staatlichen Institutionen nach liche Bevorzugung der kleinen Staaten des
oft zu lesen war, in der schwarzen Bevölke- wie vor stärker der Welt ähneln, in der sich ländlichen Amerika (und damit auch der in
rung überproportional hoch gewonnen hat. europäische Intellektuelle wie John Stuart diesem „roten Teil“ Amerikas dominanten
Die Afro-Amerikaner stimmen vielmehr seit Mill oder Alexis de Tocqueville den Kopf Republikaner). Im bevölkerungsreichsten
jeher zu rund 90 % für den Präsidentschafts- darüber zerbrachen, wie der Mitbestimmung Staat der USA, Kalifornien, repräsentiert eine
kandidaten der Demokraten, und der der Massen und der gefürchteten „Tyrannei Wahlmännerstimme 664.000 Einwohner,
42
No. 99
September – December 2008
| GUEST CONTRIBUTION
während im bevölkerungsärmsten Staat,
Wyoming, 174.000 Einwohner für eine
Wahlmännerstimme reichen. Die kleinen
Staaten kommen also sehr viel stärker zur
Geltung als die großen, was seinen historischen Ursprung im Interesse der Südstaaten
hatte, in Fragen der Sklaverei nicht überstimmt werden zu können.
Noch schwerwiegender als die Verzerrung
der Repräsentation ist die mit der Mehrheitswahl zusammenhängende Tatsache, dass der
Wahlkampf in Staaten mit klaren
Mehrheitsverhältnissen de facto oft gar nicht
stattfindet, weil alle Wahlmännerstimmen
in der Regel dem Sieger zufallen und die Jens Alber ist Professor für Soziologie an
Kandidaten deshalb darauf verzichten, auf- der Freien Universität Berlin und Direktor
wändige Anzeigen oder Fernsehsendungen der Abteilung „Ungleichheit und soziale
in Staaten zu schalten, die mit großer Wahr- Integration“ am Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung. Im Oktober war er
scheinlichkeit der Gegner gewinnt.
Da auch innerhalb der Einzelstaaten etwa am IWM mit einem Vortrag zu Gast. Der
die Hälfte der Wahlkreise oft gar nicht hier abgedruckte Beitrag erscheint in einer
umkämpft ist - was mit den hohen Kosten längeren Fassung in WZB-Mitteilungen
der Wahlkämpfe ebenso zusammenhängt (März 2008). Wir danken dem WZB für die
wie mit dem so genannten gerrymandering, freundliche Genehmigung des Abdrucks.
d.h. der geschickten Ziehung von Wahlkreisgrenzen im Sinne der Vorteilssicherung für
die eigene Partei -, erfreuen sich die Amtsinhaber („incumbents“) einer hohen Wieder- zelstaaten versagen den so genannten Felons,
wahlquote, die bei den Kongresswahlen seit die sich schwerer Straftaten schuldig gemacht
dem Zweiten Weltkrieg über 90 % liegt. haben, auf die Gefängnisstrafen von über
Insofern kann es fast schon wieder überra- einem Jahr stehen, sogar lebenslänglich das
schen, dass immerhin doch fast zwei Drittel Wahlrecht. Die Schätzungen, wie viele Ameder Amerikaner den Weg zu den Wahlurnen rikaner davon betroffen sind, sind wegen der
bei den jüngsten Prägroßen Variationsbreisidentschaftswahlen
te einzelstaatlicher
Eine Welt, in der sich
fanden.
Regelungen ungenau.
europäische Intellektuelle
Die mit den hohen
Die niedrigste SchätWahlkampfkosten verzung in der häufig
wie John Stuart Mill oder
bundene Bevorzugung
genutzten Datenbank
Alexis de Tocqueville den
der Amtsinhaber und
des Wahlforschers
Kopf darüber zerbrachen,
wohlhabenden Bürger
Michael McDonald,
wie der gefürchteten
veranlasste im vergandie sich nur auf aktugenen Jahr selbst den
ell Straffällige bezieht,
„Tyrannei der Mehrheit“
an sich nicht zur USAsetzt für das Jahr 2008
zu entkommen sei
Kritik neigenden bri3,3 Millionen politisch
tischen Economist
entmündigter Mendazu, mit Hinweis auf Politikerfamilien wie schen an, die American Civil Liberties Unidie Bushs, Kennedys, Rockefellers oder Roo- on geht von über 5 Millionen aus, entspresevelts vor einer Tendenz der politischen chend 2,4% der Wahlbevölkerung.
Dynastiebildung zu warnen und in selteDerartige Schwächen und Besonderheiner Übereinstimmung mit dem Satiriker ten der amerikanischen Demokratie sind im
Michael Moore auf den Fall von Rodney Fre- Lande selbst spätestens seit dem hauchdünlinghuysen aus New Jersey zu verweisen, der nen und umstrittenen Ausgang des Präsinun schon in der sechsten Generation sei- dentschaftswahlkampfs von 2000 immer
ner Familie im Kongress sitzt.
wieder Thema öffentlicher Diskussion. Als
Eine weitere Besonderheit der amerika- der ehemalige Präsident Jimmy Carter, desnischen Demokratie liegt im Entzug des sen Carter Center immer wieder weltweit
Wahlrechts für Strafgefangene. Manche Ein- Wahlbeobachtungsaufgaben übernimmt, in
einer Radiosendung des Jahres 2004 gefragt
wurde, ob seine Gruppe auch die Beobachtung der amerikanischen Wahlen übernehmen würde, antwortete er: „No. We wouldn’t think of it.“ Als Begründung führte er an,
dass in den USA gleich mehrere Kriterien fairer Wahlen nicht erfüllt seien, nämlich der
freie Zugang der Kandidaten zu Radio und
Fernsehen, die unabhängige Überwachung
der Wahlen durch überparteiliche Gremien, die nationale Standardisierung der Prozeduren und die technische Möglichkeit der
Überprüfung der Stimmen.
Die American Political Science Association setzte im Jahr 2004 eine „Task Force on
Inequality and American Democracy“ ein,
um Gefährdungen der amerikanischen
Demokratie durch zunehmende ökonomische Ungleichheit und die damit zusammenhängende Ungleichheit politischer Beteiligung unter die Lupe zu nehmen. Der abschließende Report verwies darauf, dass in den
höheren Einkommensschichten 90%, in den
unteren aber nur die Hälfte der Bürger zur
Wahl gehen und dass die besser Situierten
von vielfältigen Beeinflussungsmöglichkeiten über den bloßen Wahlakt hinaus profitierten. Empfohlen wurden deshalb Reformen, die eine breitere politische Teilnahme
fördern.
Auf Einladung der USA entsandte auch
die Organisation für Sicherheit und Zusammenarbeit in Europa (OSZE) im Jahr 2004
erstmals eine Beobachtergruppe in die USA,
um den Präsidentschaftswahlkampf zu überwachen. Ihr Bericht bescheinigte zwar, dass
die USA den 1990 in Kopenhagen fixierten
Kriterien demokratischer Wahlen genügen,
empfahl aber auch, die Verfahren zur Ziehung der Wahlkreisgrenzen zu überprüfen
und für eine möglichst breite Wahlberechtigung aller Bürger Sorge zu tragen. Mit ähnlichem Resultat endete die erneute Beobachtungsmission im jüngsten Präsidentschaftswahlkampf.
Die amerikanische Demokratie ist also
nicht makellos, und es hieße schon, zumindest auf einem Auge politisch blind zu sein,
wollte man die Schwächen und durchaus vorhandenen plutokratischen Elemente leugnen.
Dennoch gilt wie weiland im Revolutionsgedicht von Freiligrath die Formel: Trotz alledem! Trotz alledem sind die USA bis heute
das Land geblieben, in dem der Gedanke der
Freiheit und der allgemeinen Menschenrechte erstmals verbrieft wurde, und in dem die
Demokratie bis heute ununterbrochen
Bestand hatte.
September – December 2008
No. 99
43
FUTURE |
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Mieke Verloo: Gender Equality at the Crossroads: New and Old Politics of Privilege and Exclusion
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January 27
February 24
March 17
Lecture Series:
Den Staat neu denken? Moderne konservative Politik im internationalen Vergleich
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January 20
Debate Series: Europa im Diskurs / Debating Europe
20 Years After 1989
with: Timothy Garton Ash, Kurt Biedenkopf, Adam Michnik, Viktor Orban (Burgtheater Wien)
February 22
Europe’s Borders
with: Ali Babacan, Nino Burjanadze, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Aleksander Kwasniewski (Burgtheater Wien)
March 15
Please visit our homepage for detailed information: www.iwm.at
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