NYTimes Op-Ed on the crisis of the German Conservative Party
The German Conservatives are on the verge of breaking up over asylum and refugee policies. Here are Alex' two cent on what's happening, published in The New York Times.
Samuel Huntington revisited
For the German daily Tagesspiegel Alex looked again into "The Clash of Civilisations" by Samuel Huntington, reflecting which of his controversial predictions in the book have come true. Tune in and read his essay here.
An Evening with VOLT, the New Pan-European Party, on July 4th in Munich
On July 4th Alex will be speaking at an event by VOLT, the new pan-european party, about a new narrative for Europe. As the former founder and editor-in-chief of the debate-magazine The European Alex continues to think about the future of the continent and its people. Today Alex published the tiny outlet www.saveliberaldemocracy.com where authors and interview partners reflect on the future of the liberal democratic order.
Hosting AI Salon in Berlin by the Vodafone Institute for Communication and Society
After publishing his recent booklet on the implications AI will be having on our societies, Alex is going to host an event series dedicated to these questions. The AI Salon will take place in Berlin on July 2nd and is a private event organised by the Vodafone Institute for Communications and Society. In the first edition of the series Alex will be discussing with Professor Luciano Floridi and Dr. Nuria Oliver:
Project on Latin American identities with the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs online
Alex is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs. In this capacity he looks
"into Latin America, which he perceives as a part of the West, disagreeing with most concepts that exist today which exclude this part of the world explicitly as a component of the West. Latin America, however, is in Görlach's view an essential part of what is considered to be the Western hemisphere: a shared past, shared enlightenment, and the reception of its philosophy, languages, political system, and religious and ethical beliefs mark the many commonalities. Moreover, through its young population and due to shared urging societal questions in all parts of the Western World, Latin America should and could have a stimulating impact on Europe and the United States."
His first interview featured on the website of the Carnegie Council is with Mexican poet and diplomat Homero Aridjis.
Other interviews are, amongst others, with Henning Andres Droege, a diplomat from Guatemala, with Genaro Lozano, a Mexican academic, journalist and LGTB-activist, and with Brasilien economist Eduardo Wolf.
Honorary Professorship at Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, Germany
Alexander is honoured to announce his honorary professorship at Leuphana University in Lüneburg, Germany. He will be delivering his first lecture "Us versus them - why are we how we are?" on June 13.
Lecture at Cambridge, UK, on "The Decline of the Occident?"
Together with his friend from Harvard, Tobias Cremer, Alex will be giving a lecture on "The Decline of the Occident?" at the Cambridge University Institute on Religion and International Studies on May 17th. Here is more about the event.
New publication on AI and its implications on society is out
Alex published a booklet on the implications AI will have on society. He is especially looking into current narratives of work and how they may be challenged by the changes at hand. The publication was made possible by the Vodafone Institute for Society and Communications. For this book Alex interviewed icons of the digital age such as Vint Cerf, Martin Rees, Luciano Floridi, Andrew McAfee, and Pascal Finette. Here is the Link to download the publication for free: http://www.vodafone-institut.de/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Vodafone-Institute_-Entering_a_new_era.pdf
Lecture at the Reuters Center for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University
On May 4th Alex will be delivering a lecture on media in the age of fake news and alternative facts. Liberal societies are under threat when their media is attacked.
Invited by the NEOS in Austria: Alex delivering a speech on global affairs in Vienna
What will the role of Europe be in the world, squeezed in between the US of Donald Trump and China of Xi Jinping? Alex will be delivering a speech on that topic on April 18th in Vienna.
Lecture at National Chengchi University in Taipei on April 10th
Alex will deliver a lecture about the return of religious and nationalistic narratives to the global stage. In many countries ruling governments and new right-wing, populist groups alike emphasise a religious and/or ethnic component of their identity. By doing so they deliberately take the alienation of the minorities in their countries in account. For global affairs this assertion of one own's superiority leads in consequence to the end of a prosperous, peaceful era of collaboration that the world has seen since the end of WWII.
Op-Ed on the competition between China and the West in the 21st century, for Austrian newspaper Der Standard
The day US-president Donald Trump signed the Taiwan Travel Act issued by the Congress of the United States, this op-ed was published in the Austrian daily newspaper Der Standard. Alex argues that Western democracies have to realise they are competing with the People's Republic of China for global leadership in the 21st century. The decision by the White House to support Taiwan in its quest for preserving its autonomy needs to be backed by all democracies, Alex claims in his essay.
Speech on Media in the Age of Populism at Fair Winds Foundation in Taipei
Alex will deliver a speech on media in the age of populism in Taipei on March 10th, by invitation of the Fair Winds Foundation. As the founder and the former editor-in-chief (2009-2016) of the debate magazine The European Alex has become an astute observer of the European media scene and the debate culture it deploys. Alex will share his insights and put it into context with the rise of populist all across the Western world.
Lecture at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, on March 16
Alex will be delivering a lecture on politics and religion on the global stage on March 16 at the S. Rajarantam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. In this "Age of Identity", as Alex calls the current time, religion has re-entered the stage in all parts of the world as tool for division.
Op-ed for Neue Zürcher Zeitung on the state of affairs in Turkey
Alex published a new opinion piece for Neue Zürcher Zeitung on the state of affairs in Turkey. He argues that almost half of the population has not voted for Mr Erdogan in the last election and the constitutional referendum. This large part of the population has been silenced in the aftermath of the alleged coup in the summer of 2016. It is the responsibility of all democracies to strengthen the people of Turkey that still support democracy and the republic. Do not give up on Turkey!
Essay for Newstapa on German Reunification and the World Cup in 1990
Can sport help overcome differences? While the Winter Olympic take place in South Korea people all across the peninsula and beyond hope for a new period of rapprochement between the North and the South. Alex remembers the World Cup of 1990, which took place shortly after the Berlin Wall came down and reunited the Germans that had been separated since the end of WWII.
Screenshot from the website of Newstapa
Essay for NEWSTAPA now available in Korean and English
For the Korean outlet NEWSTAPA Alex described the unfolding refugee crisis of the year 2015 and how it influences European politics ever since.
Here is the article in Korean. Here is the article in English.
DLD panel on "reconquering democracy" online
Alex participated in the Burda Publishing House annual conference DLD, laying out his thoughts of the current "age of identity" as he frames it. The panel took place on January, 21st. You find the whole discussion here.
Alex in conversation with Jeff Jarvis (right), host of the panel on "reconquering democracy" (the photo is a screenshot taken from the clip)
Alex' Essay "Religion Creeps into Politics" for zenith magazine is now available in English, German and Arabic
An excerpt from the text:
"Through history, the stories of Christianity and Islam have drifted further and further apart, and both religions have long moved away from the geographic contours of their antique realms. The majority of Christians now live on the American continent, and the majority of Muslims are in Malaysia and Indonesia. Rome, Jerusalem and Mecca retain their importance in the globalised state of the world religions. The burden of history weighs heavy; beneath this weight, the narratives of irreconcilability have migrated and have become entrenched in the new world.
A new approach to each other from the West and the East, from the Occident and the Orient, must form the start of a new chapter, a new narrative of the cultures which live around the Mediterranean. In the era of identity, it is the equal duty of the West and East to formulate an offer that doesn’t proffer salvation by repeating the stereotypes and demonisation of the past. Only in that way can they both stand the test of time."
