What is the state of democracy today—and what conflicts have shaped and continue to shape it?
The conference in Erfurt on November 20-21, 2026, focuses on democracy as a practice that has evolved historically and is, at the same time, contested. It explores how democratic systems emerged, what conflicts have shaped them—and how these conflicts continue to play out today.
Through a dialogue between history and related disciplines, the conference will examine key areas of tension: inequality and property, the public sphere and the media, migration and the politics of memory, the environment, the body, gender, and social participation. The presentations will demonstrate that democracy has always been—and continues to be—the result of negotiation processes, struggles, and social transformations.
The conference, held in German, is a collaboration between SFB 294: “Structural Change of Property,”, FOR 2983: “Voluntariness,” and “Historians for a Democratic Society” and co-organized by Jürgen Martschukat (University of Erfurt), Norbert Finzsch (University of Cologne) and Leonie Werle (Dokumentationszentrum Nationalsozialismus Freiburg). We will discuss how democracy has developed historically, the challenges it faces today, and how it can be shaped in the future.
CONFERENCE PROGRAM
Download the conference program here. For participation we ask to register via email to tagung.demokratie@uni-erfurt.de until November 6, 2026, at the latest.
FRIDAY | 20 NOVEMBER 2026
12.30 | Welcome Coffee
13.00 – 13.30 | Welcome and Introduction
13.30 – 14.45 | Demokratie, Körper und Geschlecht: Demokratische Sorge und autoritäre Austerität in Krisenzeiten der sozialen Reproduktion | Jule Govrin (Bergische Universität Wuppertal)
15.00 – 16.15 | Demokratie, Erinnerungspolitik und Migration: Was sagen uns die Debatten um Migration, Flucht und Asyl über die politische Kultur der Berliner Republik? | Patrice G. Poutrus (Amadeu Antonio Stiftung, Berlin)
Coffee Break
16.45 – 18.00 | Demokratie, Partizipation und Engagement: (Wie) Funktionieren Bürgerdialoge in Stadtteilen mit extrem rechten Dominanzbestrebungen? | Heike Radvan (Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen)
18.15 – 19.30 | Demokratie, Medien und Öffentlichkeit: Zu den Voraussetzungen einer freien Meinungsbildung | Ulrike Weckel (Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen)
20.00 | Dinner
SATURDAY | 21 NOVEMBER 2026
09.00 – 10.15 | Demokratie, Eigentum und Ungleichheit: Braucht Demokratie Sozialismus? | Silke van Dyk (Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena)
10.30 – 11.45 | Demokratie, Umwelt und Natur: Braucht Freiheit Überfluss? | Dirk Schuck (Universität Erfurt)
12.00 – 12.30 | Wrap-up
13.30 – 15.00 | Hist4Dem-Meeting
