CRISIS DEMOCRACY

YOUTUBE Premiere
„FROM KREISKY'S LIVING ROOM“

Robert Misik in conversation with TAMARA EHS
CRISIS DEMOCRACY

Democracy is systemically relevant! Like a magnifying glass, the acute phase of the coronavirus crisis allowed us to take a look at the strengths and weaknesses of Austrian democracy. Those areas in which the political system was already bumpy in normal times became a stumbling block during the crisis. If parties and politicians, who are not averse to authoritarian temptation anyway, also dominate events, there is a danger to democratic coexistence that goes beyond the event itself.

In her essay, Tamara Ehs discusses in seven lessons what we need to do better next time. Because the next time is bound to come. Be it another virus-induced pandemic, a terrorist attack or - most likely - a climate emergency. This makes it all the more important to establish a crisis-proof democracy and to ensure that its social foundations are even more important than before as a public service.

Tamara Ehs, political scientist and democracy consultant
Moderation Robert Misik, Author and journalist

Tamara Ehs is a democracy consultant for cities and municipalities and a political educator. She is currently undertaking research assignments at the Sigmund Freud University in Vienna and the iac of the Robert Bosch Foundation and teaches at the University of Vienna. She has lectured at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Comenius University Bratislava, Freie Universität Berlin, among others, and has also been a visiting researcher at Harvard Law School and the New York Public Library. Her research and teaching focus on the social issues of democracy and the constitution. She has been awarded the Science Prize of the Austrian Parliament and the Ludo Hartmann Prize of the Association of Austrian Adult Education Centres.

Tamara Ehs
CRISIS DEMOCRACY. Seven lessons from the coronavirus crisis
108 pages; ISBN: 978385476-893-7; 12.00 €; Mandelbaum Publishing House 2020