Join us for a discussion with Tom Perez, the former United States Secretary of Labor and Chairman of the Democratic National Convention, who will share his insights and predictions about the state of US democracy.
Though the recent US midterm elections produced more balanced results than expected, with an overwhelming Republican “red wave” failing to materialise, one of the world’s oldest and most powerful democracies has diminished as a role model for democracy. Images from a rioting mob storming Capitol Hill on 6 January 2021 and a former president who undermines the public’s faith in elections resemble characteristics of illiberal regimes than of an established democracy. At the same time, reports such as the latest edition of the Berggruen Governance Index show that the state of democracy and quality of life in the US have been deteriorating for years.
How decisive will the next two years be for the future of US democracy? How has Donald Trump impacted US politics and the Republican Party and, consequently, what does this mean for rule of law and fair-play ethics in a democracy? What can Europe expect in the next two years from a divided Congress and a Biden administration still unclear about a presidential path for 2024?
We will discuss these questions and more with Tom Perez, who will be joined by Professor of Applied Methods and Comparative Politics Mark Kayser. President Cornelia Woll will give the opening remarks, and Judith Althaus of the German Federal Chancellery will moderate the event.
Speakers
Opening remarks
Cornelia Woll is President of the Hertie School and Professor of International Political Economy. Woll joined the Hertie School in 2022 from Sciences Po in Paris, where she had served in many roles since 2006, including President of the Academic Board (since 2020), Professor of Political Science, Co-Director of the Max Planck Sciences Po Center (MaxPo), and as a researcher at the Centre for European Studies and Comparative Politics (CEE). Her research focuses on the international political economy and economic sociology, in particular regulatory issues in the European Union and the United States.
Tom Perez is a US-American civil rights attorney and politician who served as the former United States Secretary of Labor from 2013-2017 under President Barack Obama. He was nominated by President Obama to the United States Department of Justice as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division in 2009. From 2017-2021, he was the former Chair of the Democratic National Committee.
Mark Kayser is Professor of Applied Methods and Comparative Politics at the Hertie School, Berlin. His core research interests address the economic underpinnings of democracy, including political accountability, the effects of electoral competition on policy-making, and economic influences on electoral preferences. He was previously an assistant professor of political science at the University of Rochester, a Postdoctoral Prize Research Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford and a fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.
Moderator
Judith Althaus is an advisor for international politics to the head of the Federal Chancellery Wolfgang Schmidt. Previously, she worked as a speechwriter for Federal Minister Franziska Giffey at the Ministry of Families, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. From 2013-2018 she worked as an advisor for European politics at the headquarters of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), after having spent several years in Turkey, the Balkans and the Middle East working for the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and the Foreign Office. She holds an MA in International Relations from the University of Durham.
