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.