Das Progressive Zentrum

Policy fellow Katarzyna Anna Klimowicz evaluates a new phenomenon on the political scene in Europe: network parties. This paper identifies common features of network parties by looking at best practices and characteristics, especially in the organisational structure and political programmes.

How should the European Union tackle the growing threat of cyber attacks? How can cybersecurity be effectively governed at a European level? To address these questions and advance the debate on the EU digital strategy, Das Progressive Zentrum partnered with EuropaNova and Renaissance Numérique to host an expert discussion on the topic.

Das Progressive Zentrum has scouted innovative projects by politicians in Germany. A European jury has nominated nine of those for the finals. The price will be awarded in Vienna on 17 November. Even though all nominees follow different approaches, they are united by one theme.

How can technological advancement be shaped in a more socially compatible way? This and many more pressing questions will be addressed at this year’s Revision Summit on 19-20 November in Berlin. Das Progressive Zentrum is a partner of the event.

How can we promote an equal society in current power structures? How can we set ethical standards in technology and science? As a partner of the event, Das Progressive Zentrum will join the debates on these and many more crucial questions at this year’s Q Berlin conference.

The British Council, Das Progressive Zentrum and Policy Network are interested in hearing and promoting your ideas for fostering cultural exchange between the United Kingdom, Germany and Europe.

Together with its Bulgarian, Slovak and Polish partners, Das Progressive Zentrum kicks-off with a new project focused on mobilising voters for the May 2019 European elections. The objective of this initiative is also to hear the voices of young European citizens: what European Union do they wish for in the future?

For the launch of the English and French versions of its study “Return to the politically abandoned: Conversations in right-wing populist strongholds in Germany and France,” Das Progressive Zentrum met with representatives from the European Policy Centre, the European Commission, as well as members of the media and the interested public in Brussels to discuss the study’s findings. Read the participants’ views and reactions here.

The study’s design and results have led to an overwhelmingly positive reception in Germany and created great interest in other countries. To take the debate to the European level, the study has now been translated into English and French

Three French-German think tanks join forces for the first time to reflect upon the EU digital technologies strategy. Dedicated to cybersecurity, the second conference of the “EU Digital Challenges” series will take place in Berlin on 7 November 2018.

We are looking for six young European thinkers, professionals and activists to join a workshop in Bratislava on 29-30 November 2018 to draft recommendations for the renewal of the European Union.

The Innovation in Politics Awards are presented annually to honour courageous and creative political work throughout Europe – regardless of party or country. This year, 9 political projects from Germany made it to the finals. An international jury of 1,053 European citizens selected 80 finalists from more than 600 nominations. The winners will be announced at a gala event in November in Vienna.

“Brave New Worlds?! The Future of Democracy and Citizenship Education” is the biggest international conference of its kind. It aims to re-invent democratic representation and citizenship education – both in terms of countries and disciplines.

A total of 16 outstanding progressive thinkers and practitioners will add to the intellectual life within the think-tank in our three programme areas “International Relations”, “Future of Democracy” and “Structural Change”, and elaborate on new thematic threads such as “Digital Democracy”, “Corporate Citizenship” and “Democratic Debate Culture”.

Sophie Pornschlegel and Robert Schütte explain what the coalition dispute in Germany means on a national and European level in interviews with the BBC and the Spanish newspaper “La Razón.“ Johannes Hillje discusses political ‘framing’ in three major news outlets, pointing out the dangers of expressions like “transit centres” and “asylum tourism.” And Fedor Ruhose explains how established parties should compete against their right-wing populist contestants in this year’s regional elections in an op-ed in “Frankfurter Rundschau.”

Where there is language, there is usually also subtext – especially when it gets political. The concept of “framing” in political analysis describes how such subtext is created in political language in order to carry certain messages, thereby suggesting simple solutions by playing with the associations language evokes.

On Thursday, 28 June 2018, more than 150 participants and 30 session hosts from eight countries discussed visions and models to drive politics and civil society towards “The Next Democracy” at Kalkscheune, Berlin. The keynote speech “Changing politics? We change politics!” was held by Family Minister Franziska Giffey.

Following the launch of the book “Work in the Digital Age. Challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Das Progressive Zentrum, France Stratégie (Paris) and Policy Network (London) are bringing together key thinkers and policy-makers in Paris to discuss policies to revitalise and prepare the concept of work for the challenges of digital transformation in Paris on 6 July 2018.

How can progressive public policy shape work in the digital age? In the comprehensive volume “Work in the Digital Age”, Das Progressive Zentrum’s Policy Fellows Max Neufeind and Florian Ranft as well as co-editor Jacqueline O’Reilly (University of Sussex) identify potential risks and develop an agenda to make work fit for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Their book brings together the analyses of more than 50 policy experts from across the globe.

In his discussion paper “Beyond (this) democracy — seven sketches towards a new democratic purpose”, Hanno Burmester explores the current crisis of our political system and challenges established perspectives on democracy. He argues that what it takes to both solve the crises and revitalise democracy is the re-definition of a 21st-century democratic purpose and a radical, transformative approach to politics.