Resilience and Resistance in Fragile Democracies

Historical Perspectives from Germany, Hungary, and Poland

Organized by the German Historical Institute Washington, DC; Cosponsored by the American Historical Association and the American-German Institute

Speakers
Michael Brenner, American University
Christina Morina, University of Bielefeld/Germany and New School for Social Research New York
Karolina Wigura, University of Warsaw and European Council on Foreign Relations
Robert Nemes, Colgate University

Moderators
Ken Pomeranz, University of Chicago
Eric Langenbacher, American-German Institute

“Civil society, acting through independent initiatives, provides the best guarantee that we will not return to the past.” This statement by Václav Havel, the last president of communist Czechoslovakia and the first democratically elected president of the Czech Republic, highlights the crucial role of civic engagement in safeguarding modern democracies.

Historians have long examined the factors contributing to the survival or demise of democracies, whether through gradual erosion or abrupt upheaval. Our panel discussion delves into this scholarship, focusing on Germany, Hungary, and Poland during the 20th and 21st centuries – nations where a significant portion of the electorate empowered illiberal leaders, thereby undermining key democratic institutions.

The panel will explore what room civil society actors possessed to maintain resilience: How did they utilize—or fail to utilize—opportunities to resist the erosion of democratic structures? What critical junctures were missed in forming a robust democratic opposition to repressive regimes? What forms of resistance emerged from the grassroots, and what were the key tipping points that ultimately undermined societal and political resistance? By placing current global challenges within a strictly historical context, our distinguished panel will provide nuanced insights.

Doors open at 5:30pm; panel discussion will begin at 6pm. This event will be streamed.