Can the revitalisation of democracy succeed in a transnational guise?
Tuesday, 18. November 2014, 18:30 – 20:00 h
At the University of Zurich, Rämistrasse 71, 8006 Zurich, KOL-G-201
Democracy is under stress. Unbounded markets, internet giants, the transfer of powers to international organisations, but also climate change - they all elude democracy in its national form. As a result, trust in the ability of democratic communities to act is eroding - and worse still, a growing number of citizens are withdrawing from the political arena. Can the revitalisation of democracy succeed in a transnational guise?
Peer Steinbrück, born in Hamburg in 1947, is married and has three children. He joined the SPD in 1969. In 1974, Steinbrück graduated from Christian Albrechts University in Kiel with a degree in economics. Between 1976 and 1986 he held various posts in federal and state ministries, the Federal Chancellery in Bonn and the Permanent Mission of the Federal Republic of Germany in East Berlin. Until 1990, Steinbrück headed the office of the Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia, Johannes Rau. After three years as State Secretary, he took over the Ministry of Economics in Schleswig-Holstein, moving to NRW in 1998, where he became Finance Minister in 2000 and Minister President in 2002. In 2005, Steinbrück took office as Federal Minister of Finance and has been a member of the German Bundestag since 2009.