Professor of International Politics and Transatlantic Relations
Prof. Dr. Stephan Bierling is Head of International Politics at the University of Regensburg. He regularly analyzes the global security and economic order as well as US domestic and foreign policy for TV, radio and the press and advises politicians, banks, investment houses and companies. Bierling has been a visiting professor in the USA (three times), Israel, South Africa and Australia. In 2003, he received the Bavarian State Prize for Good Teaching, and in 2013 he was voted “Professor of the Year” in a Germany-wide competition.
Bierling has published 13 books, including the 2020 SPIEGEL bestseller "America First. Donald Trump im Weissen Haus" (America First. Donald Trump in the White House). In fall 2024, a new book was published entitled "Die Unvereinigten Staaten. Das politische System der USA und die Zukunft der Demokratie" (The Ununited States. The US political system and the future of democracy), now in its 3rd edition, including a chapter on the causes and consequences of Trump's election victory.
Wednesday, 22. October 2025, 18:30 – 20:00 h
At the University of Zurich, Rämistrasse 71, 8006 Zurich, KOL-G-201 (Aula)
Donald Trump has been back in power for almost a year – even more radical, determined and unscrupulous than in his first term of office. He wants to undermine the checks and balances established by the fathers of the constitution and align the US system of government entirely to himself. And he is ending the international liberal order established by Washington since 1945 and replacing it with the law of the jungle.
How endangered is democracy in America really? Why is Trump pursuing such a brutal foreign policy? And what must Europe do to play a stabilizing role in this new evil world?