Historical antecedents and current effects of the North-South conflict in the EU.
Wednesday, 07. March 2012, 18:15 – 20:00 h
At the University of Zurich, Rämistrasse 71, 8006 Zurich, KOL-G-201 (Aula)
The Union for the Mediterranean (Union pour la Méditerranée), which was founded with great expectations and promises, has not lived up to them.
The main reason for this is a new geopolitical competition between Germany and France. It has profound historical causes. The Franco-German competition is indicative of a policy of hesitation and small steps that is currently paralysing Europe. In Europe, however, and certainly in the European Union, we need the courage to tell the "grand narrative" again, to pursue a policy that sets itself far-reaching goals. One example of this could be a Marshall Plan for the Mediterranean.
Wolf Lepenies, born in 1941, is a sociologist by profession and a historian by inclination. After several years at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, he was Rector of the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin from 1986 to 2001. During his rectorate, he founded various research institutes in Central and Eastern Europe (Budapest, Bucharest, St. Petersburg, Sofia) that are linked to the Wissenschaftskolleg, as well as establishing a large research network on "Modernity and Islam". Lepenies feels particularly connected to the French academic scene: He held the Chaire Européenne at the Collège de France, is an honorary doctor of the Sorbonne and an officer of the French Legion of Honour.