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.
