Jan-Werner Müller (DE) in conversation with Rune Lykkeberg

Jan-Werner Müller is one of the closest things we have today to a superstar in the history of ideas, and in June he can be seen in a talk about the forces that twist our democracy back and forth.

We know democracy is at risk, but do we know what it is?

The message in Müller's latest book, Democracy Rules (2021), is clear: Democracy is challenged, but it is neither obsolete nor impossible. And in order to walk new paths, we must first return to the beginning. Therefore, in The Black Diamond, Müller will untangle the foundations of democracy and highlight the basic principles that must lead us forward in history.

Some of the basic principles naturally appear to our inner eye when we think of democracy - equality and freedom - but uncertainty is also essential, writes Müller. It is the uncertainty that creates dynamism, and it is the uncertainty that creates change. And then there is the uncertainty, which stands in direct opposition to the iron-clad deadlock and predictability of authoritarian regimes.

Participants

Jan-Werner Müller

Jan-Werner Müller is a German ideological history superstar and professor of political theory at Princeton University, who has spoken to a full house the previous times he has visited The Black Diamond. He is one of Europe's leading intellectuals and the author of a large number of political and ideological history books, most recently Contesting Democracy (published in Denmark 2018) and What is Populism? (2016). He writes regularly for publications such as The New York Times, Le Monde and The London Review of Books.

Rune Lykkeberg

Rune Lykkeberg is educated in literature and philosophy from the University of Copenhagen and has had a long career as a journalist. Since 2016, he has served as editor-in-chief for Dagbladet Information.