During the eight years of the Obama presidency, the United States' economy appears to have recovered from the economic shock induced by the financial crisis of 2008. Job numbers have increased, while key indicators for economic growth continue to gradually rise. Yet at the same time, the U.S., along with most parts of the world, faces historically unprecedented levels of economic inequality.
While social movements such as Occupy Wall Street, on the left, and the Tea Party, on the right, still seemed able to influence political discourse based on perceived injustices and economic imbalance, these debates have lost traction. Meanwhile, the manifold problems caused by inequality persist along the fault lines of wealth, gender, and race.
In November 2016, after the presidential election cycle is officially over and the barrage of campaign rhetoric has abated, we aim to revisit the pressing question of inequality, which appears to lie at the heart of so many of the economic, socio-cultural, and political problems facing the U.S. and the world outside its borders. How has the Obama administration fared in addressing these problems? How have rampant inequalities shaped electoral campaigns and promises? How, if at all, will the next administration and the next Congress address the lingering problems caused by the unequal distribution of wealth, justice, rights, and various forms of capital?
Registration deadline: November 4, 2016
Registration form (please fill out the form and send it to info@atlantische-akademie.de)
Day 1 – Thursday, November 10, 2016
Theodor-Haubach-Saal, Bundespresseamt
16:00 Opening Panel on U.S. Presidential Elections
Kent Logsdon, Deputy Chief of Mission, United States Embassy, Berlin
Prof. Dr. Andreas Falke, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität, Erlangen-Nürnberg
Prof. Irwin Collier, Ph.D., Freie Universität Berlin
Prof. Dr. Jessica Gienow-Hecht, Freie Universität Berlin
Moderation: Juliane Schäuble (Der Tagesspiegel, Berlin)
18:00 Reception
Day 2 – Friday, November 11, 2016
John F. Kennedy Insitute, Freie Universität Berlin
9:00 - 9:30 Registration
9:30 Film Screening: "Tested" (Curtis Chin)
"'Tested' looks at the important issue of racial diversity and elite public schools by following a dozen families in New York City from different racial, socio-economic and religious backgrounds as they prepare to pass a single standardized test to get into one of the city's best high schools"
11:00 Welcome
11:30 Opening Address
The idea of (in)-equality in American political thought
Prof. Michael Dreyer, PhD
12:30 Lunch Break
14:00 Panel I: Inequalities at Home
Equitable Growth, Mobility or Opportunities for All? How Progressive, Conservative, and Centrist Think Tanks and Research Groups Discuss Income Inequality in the US and Elsewhere
Martin Thunert
Tipping the Scales strategically: Promoting Inequality through a Mass Movement
Michael Oswald
15:30 Coffee Break
16:00 Panel I: Inequalities at Home (continued)
The changing discourse on social inequality in the United States under the influence of the 'sharing economy' and digitization
Nathalie Rauscher
The Wider Implications of Health Inequalities and Disparities in the United States
Betsy Leimbigler
18:00 Keynote Address I
Mortality, Incarceration, and African-American Disenfranchisement
Prof. Michael C. Herron
Day 3 – Saturday, November 12, 2016
John F. Kennedy Insitute, Freie Universität Berlin
09:00 Panel II: Reproducing and Mitigating Inequalities
Inequality and Women’s Higher Education: Wellesley College in Historical Perspective
Katharina Metz und Sophie Spieler
Is College Worth It? The Rising Costs of College Education as a Driver of Inequality
Mathias Enders
10:30 Coffee Break
11:00 Panel II: Reproducing and Mitigating Inequalities (continued)
Not all candidates are equal - they don't even have equal chances. Inequalities in political ambition and political success in the U.S.
Patrick Horst
The Translation of Economic in Political Inequality: A Campaign Finance Case Study
Jörg Hebenstreit
Voting Rights Revisited
Christoph Haas
12:30 Lunch Break
14:00 Panel III: The U.S. and Global Inequalities
Politics stops at the ports: Tracing the politicization of US trade policy
Curd Knüpfer
Built-in Inequality? – A Critical Analysis of Technical Innovation and State Actions in the U.S. Logistics Sector
Christian Güse
15:30 Coffee Break
16:00 Panel III: The U.S. and Global Inequalities (continued)
Inequality in International Organizations
Lora Viola
Can Neoliberalism really explain rising inequality? Examining the post-1980s transformation of the US economy and Financialization as a contending concept
Puneet Bhasin
18:00 Keynote Address II
Neoliberalism, Financialization and Democracy: Ten Theses
Prof. Wendy Brown, PhD
Prof. Wendy Brown, Ph.D.
Class of 1936 First Professor of Political Science
The Charles and Louise Travers Department of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley
Prof. Michael C. Herron, Ph.D.
Remsen 1943 Professor of Government
Dartmouth College
In association with Atlantische Akademie Rheinland-Pfalz
Contact: info@atlantische-akademie.de or jfkpol@zedat.fu-berlin.de
Artwork: Marina Arbenz (Creative Commons image sources: unsplash.com, photopin.com)
http://dartmouth.edu/faculty-directory/michael-c-herron