White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders’ Post

Today marks the 30th anniversary for the start of the 1993 Vienna World Conference on Human Rights. In his excellent opening speech the UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali stated the following about the nature of human rights: ”Human rights should be viewed not only as the absolute yardstick which they are, but also as a synthesis resulting from a long historical process. As an absolute yardstick, human rights constitute the common language of humanity. Adopting this language allows all peoples to understand others and to be the authors of their own history. Human rights, by definition, are the ultimate norm of all politics. As an historical synthesis, human rights are in their essence, in constant movement. By that I mean that human rights have a dual nature. They should express absolute, timeless injunctions, yet simultaneously reflect a moment in the development of history. Human rights are both absolute and historically defined.” Absolute and timeless yet historically defined and in constant movement. It may seem paradoxical but these words are still worth remembering 30 years later when we have moved from the aspirations of the Post-Cold War moment to a new era of protracted and expanding crisis. We still have Vienna but we now need something new, something more. #humanrights

✨ I really enjoyed presenting our book, Depleting Democracies: Radical right impact on parties, policies, and polities in Eastern Europe, at European-University Viadrina last week along with my PhD supervisor and co-author Michael Minkenberg, and Oliver Kossack, who discussed his own book, Pariahs or Partners? Patterns of Government Formation with Radical Right Parties in Central and Eastern Europe, 1990-2020. 💡 In Depleting Democracies, we ultimately argue that not only do electorally strong radical right parties push mainstream parties to shift their positions to the right, their impact also shows up in the passing of restrictive legislation, e.g. in minority and asylum issues. Through this process, they challenge liberal principles of democracy, among others inclusiveness, and ultimately contribute to a process we refer to as the depletion of democracy. 📖 If you are interested in an extensive study covering radical right impact in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia since 2000, check out our book: https://lnkd.in/ey-RVN3V 💷 Thanks to Manchester University Press, with the code ➡ ODER30 ⬅ you can order it 30% off until August 31. ❗ Don't miss out on Oliver's book either! It's open access via transcript Verlag: https://lnkd.in/eSmmWape 🙏 Many thanks to Michaela Grün (EUV) for her kind summary of our launch: https://lnkd.in/ewEsXQEH

As the big election year continues its March, expect a lot of advocacy around moderating #socialmedia platforms, as if the medium solely is to blame (re: https://lnkd.in/dYVVit4n). True, it isn't perfect, and a lot of information passes through it. But it doesn't control wisdom, which is conditioned into people across years and decades. And history is replete with 'disruptive' media - be it the printing press or the television upending governments and causing chaos. But there again, the medium isn't to blame. The French Revolution is a good example. The period between 1748 and 1789 saw a barrage of information across media - cafe words-of-mouth to plays to poetry to letters and books. What was truly disruptive was the opening up of the secret corridors of power into the common man's imagination - finance, scandal, politics, diplomacy...and this fervour gained momentum as the years went by, exposing the real culprit behind the chaos - poor leadership! On a tactical level, it does offer some nice takeaways - how mass sentiment works, the impact of opening up to the public hitherto 'secret' affairs of the state (genie out of a bottle), at what points of the movement is wit or rhetoric effective, how multiple media forms drive impact of an idea, why political messaging gels well with any medium of comms...and so on! Happy reading! This book may interest lay readers and social scientists alike: https://lnkd.in/dj4H_FJF #socialmedia #elections #politicalscience #media

The nsdoku (The Munich Documentation Centre) I was privileged to spend over five intensive hours at The Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism. This Centre conveys the history of National Socialism with a view to the present and the future and considers the historical experience of the Nazi dictatorship in a current and global context. The new Munich Documentation is on the site of the former “Brown House,” the headquarters of the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP), as the Nazi Party was officially called. Between 1933 and 1945, the area around Königsplatz became a showcase for Nazi aesthetics and the regime’s seat of power where many branches of the Nazi administration had their central offices. 
The museum undertakes a critical examination of the history of this location and address, Munich’s historical significance as the former capital and birthplace of the Nazi movement and Adolf Hitler. There is a comprehensive account of the historical events leading up to and during the Nazi dictatorship and on the impact these events have had since then—right up to the present day. I like these questions asked: What characterizes a strong democracy? What can weaken it? Where are minorities experiencing exclusion and persecution today? What values and what modes of behavior can sustain an open society based on a sense of solidarity? How do we want to remember the past?

Where to now for the conservative movement? Across Britain, Australia and like-minded nations, the centre-right of politics is in a state of flux. Thought leaders are at odds over how to deal with a societal shift towards big government and reliance on the state, epitomised by the uniformly illiberal responses to the pandemic – which were often implemented by supposedly centre-right governments. Likewise, there is much debate over the necessity and methodology of fighting the culture wars; and how to stand up for principles of equality and free speech now under direct assault. One thing seems certain: that one epoch has ended, and out of the current state of confusion, a new one will rise. Joining us to unpack these issues is The Spectator UK editor Fraser Nelson, who is delivering the 2023 Menzies Oration at our Gala Dinner tomorrow night. https://zurl.co/7Ngu

On all the tyrannical countries that ban opposition parties & restrict freedom of expression, which would never ever happen here. I’ve written before (Eugyppius), about what a wonderful privilege it is to dwell within the extremely liberal and forward-thinking polity known as the Federal Republic of Germany. Here citizens like myself enjoy unusual and expansive freedoms. Our politicians positively welcome criticism, which is a good thing for me, or I might have to be an anonymous poster on the internet. As we saw yesterday, undemocratic hellholes like the DDR used to persecute their own people for the completely alien crime of “defaming the state.” It is hard to imagine such repression occurring anywhere in the hyperdemocratic West, which makes it all the more important to remember the recent authoritarian past. In Germany, we are positively drowning in liberal democracy. We have entire august foundations, like the Bertelsmann Stiftung, which exist entirely to further liberal principles and dream up new ways to enhance all things democratic. In their enthusiasm for human rights, popular sovereignty and equality before the law, the Bertelsmannians are wont to measure how democratic the rest of the world is, which is obviously a very important matter and a topic of deep concern. After all, we’ve done such a great job of perfecting democracy here at home, that it is our duty to further democrify the unenlightened cretins who inhabit the rest of the world. https://lnkd.in/eKVP2g4r

I have started a new position as Editor in Chief (together with Martyna Czarnowska) of the new magazine "European Voices". You can subscribe to it here: https://lnkd.in/dcvEBAA3  Our mission-statement: European Voices shall be an open arena for political discussions. It aims to be a platform for experts, scholars, writers, political thinkers, and observers who reflect on Europe’s state of affairs and who share visions that might shape Europe’s future. It addresses an audience that wants to be part of these debates. While being aware of transatlantic ties in various aspects, European Voices focuses on the region of Central, Eastern, and South-Eastern Europe: Authors from Estonia to Hungary, from Poland to Romania, from Austria to Albania will draw a wide picture of Europe’s different points of view in politics, economy, and society. European Voices is guided by pro-European and democratic principles. We are committed to the ideas of social market economy, rule of law, and human rights. We believe that an open debate is not only necessary in democratic societies but will make them fairer and stronger.

“Opinion: How Democracies Die and How The U.S. Democracy Is No Exception” by DaQuan Lawrence via The Hilltop ft #NoamChomsky Political scientist and Harvard University professor, Dr. Steven Levitsky, recently presented his research on international cases of eroding democracy at the opening of the Center for Journalism and Democracy (CJD) at Howard University, arguing that American democracy is wavering. The Democracy Summit, which took place on Nov. 15, was a day-long event where attendees deliberated over the future of democracy in America and the world at large and issues such as freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and other civil and human rights liberties. At the summit, Levitsky discussed how, in the past, the fall of democratic societies was triggered by militaries and acts of warfare. However, in modern-day society, the demise of democracies is initiated via political decisions by international politicians and policymakers. Considering the international rise in authoritarian regimes, some believe the current juncture of U.S. and international politics and world affairs is critical. Although many media narratives indict the Republican party for threatening democracy in the U.S., Dr. Noam Chomsky, a political activist, laureate professor of linguistics at the University of Arizona and Institute Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, echoed how important it is to hold the Democratic party accountable for the status quo and other threats to democracy such as fascism. “The Republican Party, to its credit, has been frank and open about its plans to turn the U.S. into an ‘illiberal democracy’ – that is, a formal but not functioning democracy – in the style of its current hero, Viktor Orban, who has substantially achieved that goal in Hungary. The Democrats have contributed by lack of meaningful opposition and often cooperation in the project,” Dr. Chomsky said. Read more at: https://lnkd.in/eEE6uQsa #Democracy #PublicPolicy #UnitedStates #HumanRights #LawrenceInternational

I have a new article out in the Journal of Cold War Studies: "The Committee for the Free World and the Defense of Democracy". This one has been a long time coming. This article provides the first comprehensive examination of the U.S.-based advocacy group the Committee for the Free World. Founded by Midge Decter in 1981, the CFW constituted a key foreign policy branch of the neoconservative movement in the late Cold War. The article traces the motivations for the CFW's establishment, activities, position within the neoconservative movement, and relations with the Reagan administration. It offers new insights into the history of neoconservatism, anti-communism, democracy promotion, and Ronald Reagan's foreign policy. The CFW was launched simultaneously in New York and London with roughly 400 members from the US, the UK, Canada, West Germany, France, Italy, Israel, Argentina, and Australia. Its members hailed from the worlds of politics, journalism, art, academia, and think tanks. The group sought to make the defense of democracy a core component of U.S. foreign policy. To the CFW, this was mainly about the defense of Western democracies against communism rather than democracy promotion in authoritarian states. Announcing the CFW to the world, Decter stated: "We are persuaded that the struggle for freedom may in the end be won or lost not on battlefields but in books, newspapers, broadcasts, classrooms, and in all public institutions where the determination to remain free is enhanced or undermined." By tracing the CFW's vision for defending democracy, the article unearths a key intellectual lineage for the more active democracy promotion agenda that would become a key guiding principle for U.S. foreign policy in the post–Cold War world. The article is a product of my postdoc at Georgetown University funded by Carlsberg Foundation. I conducted most of the research at the wonderful archives at The Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and presented a draft version at a SHAFR conference several years ago. Thanks to everyone involved! https://lnkd.in/dCVamUdG

I'm so pleased to be able to share my new essay on radical art history - "How Poster Art of the 'Long 1960s' Fueled International Solidarity," published in the Brown Journal of World Affairs. https://lnkd.in/gTDB6YUK I look at the dynamic artistic interchange between official Cuban agencies and scrappy independent solidarity groups in the US, and explore some of the pre-digital mechanisms by which these images traveled back and forth. Shout outs to US artists, activists, and archivists - Malaquias Montoya, Jane Norling, Karen Wald, Carol Wells, Sandra Levinson, Juan Fuentes, Emory Douglas, Angela Davis, Lisbet Tellefsen, Josh MacPhee, Nancy Hom, David Kunzle, and more. I conclude with hope for the future. "As more awkward formats and marginalized historical documents (like underground newspapers and movement flyers) become digitized and searchable, researchers can more easily connect the dots. This, in turn, helps artists find more relevant works. Just like in the 1960s, political poster images fly across borders and inspire solidarity."