On 16 May 2018, the Dahrendorf Forum and LSE’s European Institute co-hosted Jan Zielonka, Professor of European Politics and Ralf Dahrendorf Fellow at St Antony’s College, University of Oxford.
The focus of the lecture was Professor Zielonka’s latest book Counter Revolution: Liberal Europe in Retreat, which analyses the current political climate in Europe, from populist movements to the demise of liberalism. The book takes the form of a series of letters to Lord Dahrendorf. Several months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Dahrendorf wrote a book fashioned on Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France. Like Burke, he chose to put his analysis in the form of a letter, reflecting on the implications of the turbulent period around 1989. Thirty years later, and faced with an equally turbulent period, Professor Zielonka posed the question, what next?
In his presentation, Professor Zielonka explored the ‘anti-liberalist revolution’ spreading through Europe, and looked into its historical roots and future implications. Points of discussion included the question whether the European model of open societies can survive, whether Europe is integrating or disintegrating, and how Europe can increase the feeling of security amongst its citizens.
The event was chaired by Waltraud Schelkle, Associate Professor of Political Economy at the LSE European Institute.
This event is available as a podcast: http://www.lse.ac.uk/ideas/podcasts/liberal-europe