How much nervousness can democracy tolerate? Where do these tensions come from? How is our concept of democracy currently changing? What forms of democracy do we need to preserve, which do we need to unlearn and relearn? And where will we be in five years' time? 

On three evenings journalist Georg Diez will be interviewing SCRIPTS researchers on the state and future of ‘nervous democracy’ - in short talks on the transformation shock of democracy after 1989, the tension between hysteria and reason using the example of the USA and on the politics of unrest, protest and revolt as essential elements of a living democracy.

Democracy is the political form of rationality - is that true? What happens when irrationality gains the upper hand? Is it then enough to pit reason against hysteria? In times of hyper-nervousness, democracy must reinvent itself. We look back at the US election and at the historical and current contradictions of American democracy - as a pars pro toto of democratic theory and lived practice.

In conversation with journalist Georg Diez, US political scientist Lora Anne Viola answers questions about the fine line between political reason and hysteria using the USA as a case study.

In German language. Admission is free, registration is required. Click here for further information & registration.