AT THE END OF THE USUAL ORDER

Helfried Carl in conversation with Sophie Pornschlegel
AT THE END OF THE USUAL ORDER

If you want to shape the world, you have to talk about power: A call for a new understanding of politics.

Theories of power abound in sociology and philosophy. However, they are rarely considered in political counselling. It is worth examining our understanding of power to see whether it is in line with our democratic values.

A privilege-based understanding of power is not compatible with the fundamental values of a democracy and leads to a weakening of our political system. We will only be able to counter the numerous crises by re-contextualising power positively as an opportunity for joint political shaping. This requires an understanding of power that is less Machiavellian.

Pornschlegel analyses how we can achieve a more democratic understanding of power that keeps options for action open.

Sophie Pornschlegel works as a political scientist in Brussels. She is a Policy Fellow at the Progressive Centre in Berlin, teaches at the Sciences Po Paris and researches European politics and the future of democracy. Her journalistic contributions appear on Deutschlandfunk Kultur, ZEIT Online, FAS and in the Tagesspiegel.

Helfried Carl, Diplomat, since 2019 partner of the company he co-founded Innovation in Politics Institute in Vienna and founder of the initiative European Capital of Democracy. From 2014-2019 he was Austria's ambassador to the Slovak Republic, before that, from 2008-2014, he was head of office and foreign policy advisor to National Council President Barbara Prammer.

Sophie Pornschlegel
At the end of the usual order. Why we need to rethink power
Droemer-Knaur publishing house, November 2023, 20,- €