After the transition from an authoritarian regime, new democratic governments often face the challenge of dealing with people who served the former regime. In this context, the question often arises whether former collaborators in official functions support the new democratic polity or rather undermine it?
This event will discuss the question with reference to principles of transitional justice and the rule of law. The focus will be on the legacy of judges with links to the Nazi regime in the West German judiciary. Do incriminated judges systematically judge differently than judges who had no Nazi connections? Do accused Nazi criminals who were tried by tainted judges have a much higher chance of escaping conviction? What are the implications for the new democratic system?
Join us for the fifth event of the series Understanding the politics and policies of exclusion as Georg Vanberg, Ernestine Friedl Professor of Political Science in the Department of Political Science and Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Development at Duke University, delivers a keynote lecture addressing transitional justice and the rule of law by focusing on the legacy of judges with ties to the Nazi regime in the West German judiciary. Professor of Public Management and Political Economy at the Hertie School Mark Hallerberg will moderate the discussion.
Speakers
Keynote speaker
Georg Vanberg is the Ernestine Friedl Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Duke University. He is the author of Parliaments and Coalitions, and The Politics of Constitutional Review in Germany, as well as editor of Constitutionalism in Times of Financial Crisis. His work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, and was awarded the 2012 Richard F. Fenno Prize of the American Political Science Association for the Best Book in Legislative Studies, the 2013 Award for the Best Paper published in The Journal of Politics, and the 2015 Elinor Ostrom Prize for the Best Paper published in the Journal of Theoretical Politics. He served as editor of the journal Public Choice (2011-2016) and as President of the Public Choice Society (2016-18). From 2016 to 2021, he was Chair of the Department of Political Science at Duke.
Moderator
Mark Hallerberg is Professor of Public Management and Political Economy at the Hertie School. From 2013 to 2018 Prof. Hallerberg served as MPP Director, from 2015 to 2018 as MIA Director, from 2017 to 2018 as Dean, and from 2018 to 2022 as Dean of Research and Faculty. From September 2020 to March 2022 he was first Deputy President, then Acting President of the Hertie School. He previously held academic positions at Emory University, the University of Pittsburgh and Georgia Institute of Technology. He received his PhD from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1995.
About the event series
Understanding today also means learning from our past. The rise of right wing movements across the globe, increasing polarisation and an alarming increase in anti-Semitism across Europe require us to look at the past and understand the politics and policies of exclusion we continue to witness today – and what we can do as stewards of good governance to combat against them.
In November 2020, the Hertie Foundation commissioned the Gesellschaft für Unternehmensgeschichte to conduct a comprehensive study on the history of its assets. The independent study will be conducted Dr. Johannes Bähr and PD Dr. Ingo Köhler with a focus on the period from 1933 and will be published as a book-length project by the end of 2022.
As the work of Dr. Bähr and Dr. Köhler progresses, we would like to invite members of our community to explore the politics and policies of exclusion both in a historical and contemporary context.
Find more information on the event series here.
