AGI

Society, Culture & Politics

The AGI Society, Culture & Politics Program focuses on crucial topics within the German-American dialogue, including: demographic change, migration/integration, and aging societies; electoral politics at the national, state, and European levels, and comparative analysis of Germany and the United States; diversity within Germany, Europe, and the United States; the politics of collective memory and identity, Holocaust remembrance and reconciliation, and shifting conceptions of national identity that shape perspectives and policy responses.
Reset

Episode 38: Lessons for Dealing with Right-Wing Extremism in the United States and Germany

Right-wing extremism has been on the rise around the world. The January 6, 2021 insurrection that attached the U.S. capital and the August 2020 protest in Berlin which breached the …

The Post-Merkel CDU

Five “C”s why Germany’s Christian Democrats are in better shape than we might think The transition away from Angela Merkel, first as party leader and, in September 2021, as chancellor, …

Armin Laschet, CDU Chairman

First Victory Opens Steeplechase to Federal Election Under normal circumstances, the election of a CDU chairman shortly before a federal election would be like the sounding of a starting gun …

The CDU – Finally! – Will Choose Its New Leader

But Will the Winner Make Way for Markus Söder as Chancellor Candidate? The slow-motion departure of German Chancellor Angela Merkel enters a new phase this weekend, as her Christian Democratic …

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Germany: A Different Kind of Democratic Dysfunctionality

Much recent discussion of the crisis of liberal democracy has focused on polarization. Polarization is widely – and rightly – seen as a threat to democracy. “If one thing is …

The 2021 Bundestag Election Year

One of the most consequential German elections in memory will take place on September 26, 2021, when a new Bundestag, a new coalition government, and a new chancellor will be …

Spatial Inequality and Populist Voting in Germany and the United States

Although having lost the U.S. presidential election, the number of votes won by populist president Donald J. Trump still exceeded many expectations. Similarly, the populist German party Alternative für Deutschland …

The Albrecht Brothers and the Rise of a Global Retail Behemoth

Few supermarket chains are as ubiquitous or as popular as Aldi with 2,031 stores in the United States and over 11,000 stores worldwide. The store’s founders, the brothers Karl and …

On the Passing of a German Generation

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my “Nazi aunt” (actually a great aunt) as I called her. Born a century ago in 1920 in northern Bavaria, Leni was a …

Episode 35: The Christian Democratic Union after Merkel: The Race for CDU Chairmanship and the 2021 Federal Election

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will not stand for re-election when voters go to the polls on September 26, 2021. Her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is one of the most successful …