2025 Berlin Lecture

The 2025 Berlin Lecture will be delivered by Dr Amy Gutmann, Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science, School of Arts and Sciences, and Professor of Communication, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania.

The Lecture’s title is ‘Democracy in Distress’.

Abstract:

From the perspective of a life-long academic who became U.S. Ambassador to Germany, I offer reflections on my diplomatic experience and how it illuminates major threats to American democracy and our allies today. As the only survivor of a generation of German Jews, I also reflect personally on how my own family’s trajectory is a story of the destructive weight of autocracy, the redeeming power of democracy, and the urgency of this perilous moment in history. In conclusion, I offer three broad strategies—requiring civic courage, sooner not later—to reverse the potential demise of democracy and to protect the people democracy must serve to survive.

The Berlin Lecture is made possible thanks to an endowment gift from the Rothschild Foundation.