Dr. Eric Langenbacher is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Society, Culture & Politics Program at AGI.
Dr. Langenbacher studied in Canada before completing his PhD in Georgetown University’s Government Department in 2002. His research interests include collective memory, political culture, and electoral politics in Germany and Europe. Recent publications include the edited volumes Twilight of the Merkel Era: Power and Politics in Germany after the 2017 Bundestag Election (2019), The Merkel Republic: The 2013 Bundestag Election and its Consequences (2015), Dynamics of Memory and Identity in Contemporary Europe (co-edited with Ruth Wittlinger and Bill Niven, 2013), Power and the Past: Collective Memory and International Relations (co-edited with Yossi Shain, 2010), and From the Bonn to the Berlin Republic: Germany at the Twentieth Anniversary of Unification (co-edited with Jeffrey J. Anderson, 2010). With David Conradt, he is also the author of The German Polity, 10th and 11th edition (2013, 2017).
Dr. Langenbacher remains affiliated with Georgetown University as Teaching Professor and Director of the Honors Program in the Department of Government. He has also taught at George Washington University, Washington College, The University of Navarre, and the Universidad Nacional de General San Martin in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and has given talks across the world. He was selected Faculty Member of the Year by the School of Foreign Service in 2009 and was awarded a Fulbright grant in 1999-2000 and the Hopper Memorial Fellowship at Georgetown in 2000-2001. Since 2005, he has also been Managing Editor of German Politics and Society, which is housed in Georgetown’s BMW Center for German and European Studies. Dr. Langenbacher has also planned and run dozens of short programs for groups from abroad, as well as for the U.S. Departments of State and Defense on a variety of topics pertaining to American and comparative politics, business, culture, and public policy.
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The 2025 Bundestag Election and Its Consequences
AGI ProjectEpisode 116: The Evolution of LGBTQ+ Rights in Germany
For thirty-five years, the LSVD+ – Queer Diversity Association has been representing the interests of LGBTQ+ people in Germany. Its managing director Klaus Jetz joins The Zeitgeist to discuss how …
Episode 114: The Transatlantic Legacy of Stonewall
In September 2024, participants in AGI’s project “Building LGBTQ+ Communities in Germany and the United States: Past, Present, and Future” traveled to New York City for site visits and discussions …
Episode 112: Eastern State Elections and Their Implications for National Politics
In state elections in Thuringia and Saxony, the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) surged to first and second place, respectively, with over 30 percent of the vote in both states. …
Episode 110: The Continued Strength of the AfD
The eastern German states of Saxony and Thuringia will vote in state elections on September 1, and Brandenburg will vote on September 22. The populist radical-right Alternative for Germany (Alternative …
Understanding the Alternative for Germany (AfD)
AGI ProjectEpisode 109: Angela Merkel’s Legacy
Germany’s longest-serving chancellor of the twenty-first century was also uniquely successful; Angela Merkel left office after sixteen years with an approval rating of over 70 percent. As Germany must now …
Episode 108: The Role of Germany’s Anti-Semitism Commissioners
In 2019, the federal states established the Joint Federal and State Commission to Fight Anti-Semitism and Protect Jewish Life. This initiative builds on Germany’s decades-long political and civil society efforts …
Episode 107: Interpreting the European Parliament Elections
From June 6 to 9, citizens across the European Union’s 27 member states voted for the 720 seats in the European Parliament. The center-right had the strongest result, with the …
Episode 106: LGBTQIA+ Inclusion and the Economy
On this episode of The Zeitgeist, guest host Dr. Eric Langenbacher speaks with two participants of the AGI exchange program, “Building LGBTQ+ Communities in Germany and the United States.” Simon …
Will A Beautiful Summer Follow Germany’s Winter of Rage?
The mood in Germany right now is as bleak as a Berlin winter. Things are indeed not going so well in this “winter of rage” (Wutwinter). The economy contracted by …
Episode 100: The Enduring Allure of Weimar Music and Culture
Max Raabe & the Palast Orchester have been playing the music of and inspired by the 1920s and 30s for almost forty years, to enormous success in Germany and internationally. …
