The Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften: Events

The lecture
The story of the British Labour Party is not a simple trajectory of decline. In 2017 the Labour vote was higher than in any election since 1997. Even in the »disastrous« 2019 election, Labour won more votes than in its last electoral victory in 2005. In the longer-term also there is no clear trend other than, perhaps, the rise and fall of the Liberal-Democrats. Recently, however, there has been a noticeable difference between the proportion of votes and the proportion of constituencies won by Labour. In part, this discrepancy results from the social realignment of the vote, represented and consolidated around the Brexit Referendum. The ideological convergence initiated by Blair’s Labour Party had three consequences: winning elections, losing a substantial body of traditional working class Labour voters, and opening up the opportunity for a switch from the politics of economic distribution to one concerning identity and values. In response, the Conservatives have successfully aligned the cultural right, whereas the cultural left remains divided between Labour and the Liberal Democrats. The prospects for Labour will in part depend on whether they can re-emphasise redistribution, on which their potential constituency is typically aligned, or whether values and identity further splinter their divided support base.

The speaker
Geoffrey Evans, FBA is Official Fellow in Politics, Nuffield College & Professor in the Sociology of Politics, University of Oxford. His interests include political and social cleavages and political representation, and the connections between voters' perceptions and values and their political choices. He has directed numerous large-scale survey research projects in Western and Eastern Europe, including the ongoing British Election Study (BES), and has published seven books and over 150 articles and chapters. His most recent books are The New Politics of Class: The Political Exclusion of the British Working Class (with James Tilley, 2017), Brexit and British Politics (with Anand Menon, 2017), and Electoral Shocks: The Volatile Voter in a Turbulent World (with other members of the BES team, 2020).

Registration and participation
Please register in advance:
anmeldung@forschungskolleg-humanwissenschaften.de.
You will receive the access dates prior to the event.

Lecture series: »Perspectives of Social Democracy in Europe«
Throughout Europe, social democratic and democratic socialist parties have suffered dramatic losses of voter support in recent years. At the same time, new political movements, often right-wing populist parties, have been able to win large numbers of votes in many countries. The historical, cultural, social and political causes for this development differ from country to country. Nevertheless, it also grows out of common or similar roots and overarching trends.

A series of lectures at the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften will focus on the »Perspectives of Social Democracy in Europe«. The series will analyse and compare the causes that have led to the current situation of social democracy in different countries. It will also examine the question of whether transnational cooperation within the European Union in particular offers social democracy the opportunity to take on a new role and gain strength. Given the current challenges of parliamentary democracy, this question is also of great importance for the other democratic parties and movements in Europe.

Program (Wednesdays, 7 p.m.)

Academic Direction

Matthias Lutz-Bachmann, Director of the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften, professor of philosophy, Goethe University

Pierre Monnet, Director of the Institut Franco-Allemand de Sciences Historiques et Sociales (IFRA), Dean of Studies at the EHESS in Paris, professor of medieval history, Goethe University

Hans-Jürgen Puhle, Professor emer. of political science with a focus on the comparative analysis of liberal democratic systems and democratic theory, Goethe University