{"id":26233,"date":"2017-11-15T11:53:09","date_gmt":"2017-11-15T10:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/libmod.de\/?p=26233"},"modified":"2020-03-28T02:48:30","modified_gmt":"2020-03-28T01:48:30","slug":"mission-statement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libmod.de\/en\/mission-statement\/","title":{"rendered":"Mission Statement \u2014 LibMod"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]\"Paris[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=\u201d.vc_custom_1508251598805{margin-top: 30px !important;}\u201d][vc_column width=\u201c2\/3\u201d css=\u201d.vc_custom_1508252250311{padding-right: 20px !important;}\u201d][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the Center for Liberal Modernity is about.<\/h2>\n

I
\nPoint of Departure
\nCrisis of liberal modernity \/\u200b Crisis of the West<\/h2>\n

The years ahead are crucial for our societies. Things that previ\u00adously seemed a given are now in doubt: European unity, the transat\u00adlantic alliance and liberal, open societies. This is the time to become actively engaged.<\/p>\n

Liberal democracy is under pressure. It is challenged from both, within and from outside. In the United States, Donald Trump rode to victory on a wave of rage against the political estab\u00adlishment. There is reason to fear that America is changing from being a longstanding, central a pillar of  liberal inter\u00adna\u00adtional order towards becoming its gravedigger: trade wars instead of open markets, narrow-minded nation\u00adalism instead of multi\u00adlateral insti\u00adtu\u00adtions, curtailment of democ\u00adratic freedoms in lieu of  the defense of liberal values. Europe has been caught up in this rollback for some time. Anti-liberal parties and populist leaders are on the rise from Scandi\u00adnavia to southern Europe. The United Kingdom is breaking away from the European Union. And in Germany, the Alter\u00adnative for Germany (AfD) is on the verge of succeeding as a force challenging the system from the right.<\/p>\n

Diverse as they are, these phenomena have some striking common\u00adal\u00adities: They contrast a retreat into the national community to open societies; they contrast the protection of local economy to global\u00adization; and they contrast the fiction of ethnic and cultural homogeneity with the diversity of modern societies. They prey upon fears of downward social mobility, and thrive on feelings of inability to cope with the pace of economic and social change, latent among certain segments of society. At the same time, brash and self-assured author\u00adi\u00adtarian regimes confront Western Democ\u00adracies with new rival systems, rejecting the path of liberal democracy and universal human rights. Islamic funda\u00admen\u00adtalism is only one of the radical counter movements to Western modernity. The concept of \u201cilliberal democracy\u201d is finding adherents more broadly elsewhere in the European Union.<\/p>\n

The Kremlin has become the headquarters of an inter\u00adna\u00adtional anti-liber\u00adalism, with networks throughout Europe. Sowing division between the US and Europe is a long-term project of the Russian policy of hegemony, paral\u00adleled by a measure of anti-American sentiment in European societies. Moreover, Moscow calls into question the founda\u00adtions of the peaceful post WW2 order in Europe. Whether we like it or not, today Ukraine has turned into a touch\u00adstone for Europe\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

At stake is nothing less than the project of liberal modernity: the very combi\u00adnation of the rule of law, individual freedom, political pluralism and cultural diversity that has taken shape since the Enlight\u00adenment. Human rights and human dignity are both, its point of departure and its goal. They are the essence of what has been learned from the horrors of the last century, and the counter-programme to total\u00adi\u00adtar\u00adi\u00adanism and barbarity. Modernity, with its principles of separation of powers, civil rights and a critical public, can be seen as the unfolding of these values. It has gone hand-in-hand with the tremendous devel\u00adopment of productive forces through the conjunction of science and entre\u00adpre\u00adneurship, through the social advancement of broad sections of the population, and through the incre\u00admental expansion of democ\u00adratic self-deter\u00admi\u00adnation to include ever more segments of society.<\/p>\n

As it stands, this triad of economic growth, social progress and democracy has broken apart. Confi\u00addence in a better future seems to be waning. Polar\u00adi\u00adsation between the winners and losers of global\u00adi\u00adsation and fear of social decline are facil\u00adi\u00adtating the rise of anti-democ\u00adratic forces.  In the face of the simul\u00adtaneity of funda\u00admental changes, feelings of uncer\u00adtainty are taking hold: global compe\u00adtition and the digital revolution, the immigration of millions of people from other conti\u00adnents, the ongoing European debt crisis and the armed conflicts on the European periphery are gener\u00adating a sense of loss of control and anxiety about the future.<\/p>\n

Defending liberal modernity is more than a conceptual challenge. It demands political answers to the great challenges of our time: global\u00adi\u00adsation, migration, climate change, social partic\u00adi\u00adpation and the techno\u00adlogical revolution. We need a new concept of progress as a counter-project to the politics of fear.<\/p>\n

II
\nWhat is to be done?<\/h2>\n

The first challenge:<\/em> The rise of anti-liberal forces in Europe and the electoral victory of Donald Trump call into question the future of the West. They signal that the transat\u00adlantic community of shared values has eroded inter\u00adnally. European unifi\u00adcation took place under the protection of the United States. Now it is up to Europe to take on more respon\u00adsi\u00adbility for its own security and to defend its shared values. We need to form a transat\u00adlantic alliance of democrats against the interplay of anti-liberal forces on both sides of the Atlantic. At the same time, we must do every\u00adthing possible to strengthen European cohesion. We do not want a European central state, but we want common policy in the areas where it matters most: security, the European neigh\u00adbourhood, economy and finances, and coordi\u00adnated refugee and immigration policy.<\/p>\n

The Federal Republic of Germany\u2019s close ties with the West must remain a pillar of European security and democracy. Those who wish to replace them with a Berlin-Moscow axis are abandoning the normative foundation of German foreign policy. The re-estab\u00adlishment of cooper\u00adative relations with Russia is in Germany\u2019s and Europe\u2019s interest, but it cannot take place at the expense of the sover\u00adeignty of the countries of East Central Europe. We categor\u00adi\u00adcally reject a New Yalta, a fresh parti\u00adtioning of Europe along the lines of power politics. Cooper\u00adation with Russia must build on the principles of the European peaceful order that was agreed in the Helsinki Protocol and the Charter of Paris.<\/p>\n

The second Challenge:<\/em> Conveying a sense of security in a changing world<\/em> is key to the defense of an open society. Freedom and security must not be played off against each other; rather, they are inter\u00adde\u00adpendent. This includes a minimum level of social security (protection from poverty), but it also and especially includes empow\u00adering people to cope with change confi\u00addently. Citizens must become active players in change, rather than feeling merely at its mercy. The educa\u00adtional system plays a key role in this. Investing in education and profes\u00adsional quali\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtions, from nursery to university, is an investment not only in the future of the economy, but also in democracy. Analytical capabil\u00adities and orien\u00adtation must be imparted to counter the flood of conspiracy theories, half-truths and full-blown lies that circulate through social networks daily. At a broader level, education and science are becoming the most important productive force of the digital age.<\/p>\n

The third challenge:<\/em> Social issues<\/em> are a linchpin in the struggle for an open society. In large parts of the world, social inequality has been on the rise since the 1990s. Most of the gains in wealth have been concen\u00adtrated at the top of the social ladder. Companies operating globally minimise their tax payments while the fiscal burden on SMEs grows. Pressure on the middle classes is growing, and at the same time the number of the working poor has increased. Fear of social decline provides grist to the mills of populists. The social market economy, with its promise of prosperity for all, was one of the great achieve\u00adments after the World War II catastrophe. It made upward mobility possible for broad sections of the population, and it provided for political stability. Today we urgently need a renewal of this model, a third way between laissez-faire capitalism and a state-run economy. This includes strong public insti\u00adtu\u00adtions and a sustainable regulatory framework for markets, a fair distri\u00adb\u00adution of the costs of funding public services, and a deeper under\u00adstanding of companies\u2019 social and environ\u00admental responsibilities.<\/p>\n

The fourth challenge:<\/em> The ecological moderni\u00adsation of indus\u00adtrial society<\/em> is a key to reclaiming economic dynamism and confi\u00addence within our society. It connects the protection of the planetary ecosystem with a new phase of scien\u00adtific and techno\u00adlogical innovation. We must address climate change, the overex\u00adploitation of natural resources, endan\u00adgering our oceans and fertile farmland. However, \u201czero growth\u201d is neither desirable nor realistic in light of the needs of billions of people. The answer to the environ\u00admental challenge is to decouple value creation from consumption of natural resources. This demands nothing less than a new indus\u00adtrial revolution, leading to a long wave of innova\u00adtions, invest\u00adments and work.<\/p>\n

We are in the midst of a serious struggle over the future of liberal modernity. The new central axis of political conflict runs not between left and right, but between anti-liberal forces and the defenders of an open society, between withdrawal into the enclosed nation and global inter\u00adcon\u00adnection, between cultural diversity and author\u00adi\u00adtarian prescrip\u00adtions for how we are to live and what we are to believe. It is time to take on this broader challenge and to fight for the renewal of democracy and the market economy.<\/p>\n

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Verwandte Themen<\/h2>\n

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[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=\u201d.vc_custom_1508166779270{margin-top: \u201110px !important;}\u201d]Mit dem LibMod-Newsletter erhalten Sie regelm\u00e4\u00dfig Neuigkeiten zu unseren Themen in Ihr Postfach.<\/p>\n