The Research Group
The research group »Democratic Vistas. Reflections on the Atlantic World« was founded in early 2020 by Johannes Voelz and Gunther Hellmann. Both are professors at Goethe University Frankfurt and are associated with the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften—the former as director, the latter as Goethe Fellow. And both are engaged in research on a topic that could not be more timely: democracy and the challenges it faces today. Johannes Voelz approaches this question from the perspective of American, Cultural, and Literary Studies, Gunther Hellmann as a scholar of International and especially Transatlantic Relations. Guided by an awareness that the dangers confronting democracy and democratic ways of life must be studied with a trans- and interdisciplinary approach, they began by founding the research group »Democratic vistas,« which brings together scholars from the fields of social and cultural studies and the humanities. The group’s name makes clear its points of reference, notably Walt Whitman’s essay »Democratic Vistas,« in which the poet described democracy and contingent and experimental in character, and the concept of the »Atlantic World« introduced by the writer Walter Lippmann to denote a community bound by a shared obligation to defend freedom and democracy.

Activities of »Democratic Vistas«
Annual Workshops and Book Series: »Democratic Vistas« organizes annual conferences whose proceedings are published in a series of books (also made available in Open Access). The first volume, dedicated to Whitman’s essay, is currently being prepared for publication in spring 2024. The second annual workshop, to be held in October 2023, will be placed under the heading of »Compromise,« which will also be the subject of a public lecture by the political scientist Ulrich Willems of the University of Münster.

Democratic Vistas Lecture Series: Beginning in fall 2023, a lecture series will address the question What is a »Democratic Way of Life?«. In these lectures, the scholars involved in the research group will present case studies drawing on practical experience and bring them into dialog with theoretical and philosophical positions. The first lecture will be delivered by Johannes Voelz on 4 December 2023..

Postdoc Program: »Democratic Vistas« will launch its postdoc program in fall 2023, giving two young scholars the opportunity to spend a year working at the Forschungskolleg and to contribute to its thematic focus by their own research. The Slovenian philosopher Alenka Ambrož studies the pathologies that manifest themselves in democratic societies, while the American historian Gregory Jones-Katz will examine the influence of philosophical theories in the transatlantic space, particularly with a view to the origin and development of contemporary discourses of identity and diversity..

The Forum
Academia and society reflect and enrich one another, and this is particularly true when democratic ways of life and their future are at stake. With this in mind, Gunther Hellmann and Johannes Voelz, the co-chairs of »Democratic Vistas,« and Matthias Lutz-Bachmann and Iris Koban, their counterparts at the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften, initiated the founding of the John McCloy Transatlantic Forum together with Bernd von Maltzan, former divisional board member of Deutsche Bank. The Forum was inaugurated at the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften on November 4, 2022. In the ceremony, the son of US High Commissioner John J. McCloy recalled the period immediately following World War II, when his parents, based in Bad Homburg, had encouraged the growth of a democratic society in Germany.

The John McCloy Transatlantic Forum aims to strengthen societal societies within the democracies that have grown in the context of transatlantic relations. To this end, it promotes the dialog between academia and the public sphere as well as research on democracy. Its activities are funded by private contributions gathered by the Forum. The Forum is advised by a Board of Trustees, which provides support at the intersection with civil society.

Activities of the JohnMcCloy Transatlantic Forum
In the annual John McCloy Lectures, notable figures are invited to share their perspectives on current developments and put them to public discussion. In 2022 Charles A. Kupchan, political scientist and European adviser to the Obama administration, spoke on the strengths and weaknesses of western-style democracies today. In 2023 Sigmar Gabriel, former German foreign minister and chair of Atlantik-Brücke, delivered a lecture on »Germany, the EU, and transatlantic relations after the ›Zeitenwende‹«. The third John McCloy lecture is scheduled for 2024.

In addition, with the »Democratic Vistas Postdoc Program« the Forum supports young scholars whose research addresses current perspectives in the study of democracy.

The Board of Trustees: front row. from the left: Matthias Lutz-Bachmann, Christian Lammert, Gunther Hellmann, Iris Helene Koban; back row, from the left: Felix Hufeld, Cameron Abadi, Johannes Voelz, Bernd von Maltzan. Missing: Shalini Randeria and Jay McCloy, who bothe participated in the founding meeting online, and Werner Brandt (photo: Stefanie Wetzel)

The Board of Trustees
The Board of Trustees was established in April 2023. Its members are: Cameron Abadi (deputy editor, Foreign Policy), Dr. Werner Brandt (chairman of the supervisory board, RWE AG), Prof. Dr. Gunther Hellmann (Frankfurt University), Felix Hufeld (former president, Federal Financial Supervisory Authority), Iris Helene Koban (managing director, Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften), Prof. Dr. Christian Lammert (Free University Berlin), Jay McCloy (grandson of John J. McCloy), Prof. Dr. Shalini Randeria (president, Central European University, Vienna), Prof. Dr. Johannes Voelz (Frankfurt University). The chairman of the Board of Trustees is the director of the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften, Prof. Dr. Dr. Matthias Lutz-Bachmann, his deputy is the former divisional board member and advisor of Deutsche Bank AG, Dr. Bernd von Maltzan.

Contact
Prof. Dr. Gunther Hellmann (Head of Program »Democratic Vistas. Reflections on the Atlantic World«)
g.hellmann@soz.uni-frankfurt.de

Iris Helene Koban (Managing Director Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften)
i.koban@forschungskolleg-humanwissenschaften.de

Prof. Dr. Dr. Matthias Lutz-Bachmann (Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the John McCloy Transatlantic Forum)
lutz-bachmann@em.uni-frankfurt.de

Dr. Bernd von Maltzan (Deputy Chairman of the John McCloy Transatlantic Forum)
bernd-a@vonmaltzan.org

Prof. Dr. Johannes Voelz (Head of Program »Democratic Vistas. Reflections on the Atlantic World«)
voelz@em.uni-frankfurt.de