European Book Club: Book presen­tation and discussion with Jan Zielonka

The Lost Future: And How to Reclaim It

Date: Wednesday, April 09, 2025
Time: 19:00 – 20:30
Location: Zentrum Liberale Moderne, Reinhardt­straße 15, 10117 Berlin

The future seems more uncertain than ever. Democ­racies struggle to prevent financial crises, energy shortages, climate change, and war—so how can we look ahead with confidence?

In his latest book, The Lost Future: And How to Reclaim It (Yale University Press, 2023), Jan Zielonka argues that democracy’s short-sight­edness is a key reason for political insta­bility in our increas­ingly inter­con­nected world. Govern­ments remain confined within national borders and focused on the short-term interests of today’s voters—often with devas­tating conse­quences for future gener­a­tions. Zielonka calls for a new approach to politics that redefines time and space. How should democracy adapt to a high-speed world? We will explore this and other pressing questions with our guests.

Speakers

Jan Zielonka
Professor of Politics and Inter­na­tional Relations at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and Emeritus Professor at St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford. He is the author of 18 books, including Counter-Revolution: Liberal Europe in Retreat (Oxford University Press, 2018) and The Lost Future: And How to Reclaim It (Yale University Press, 2023).

Commen­tator
Michael Zürn
Director at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center and Professor of Inter­na­tional Relations at the Freie Univer­sität Berlin. His work focuses on global gover­nance, inter­na­tional insti­tu­tions and their legit­imacy, and contes­ta­tions of liberal-democ­ratic orders. From 2019–2023, he was co-spokesperson of the Cluster of Excel­lence “Contes­ta­tions of the Liberal Script” (SCRIPTS) that was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Moder­ation

Jarosław Kuisz
Senior Fellow and Program Director for Liberal Democracy at Zentrum Liberale Moderne, Editor-in-Chief of the Polish online weekly Kultura Liberalna, and Assistant Professor at the University of Warsaw

The project is funded by Polish Institute Berlin.