In a moment of profound political polarization in the United States, questions about how to effectively challenge Donald Trump, and Trumpism more broadly, remain central to the strategic debates within the Democratic Party. This panel brings together leading voices from journalism and politics to examine the range of approaches currently under discussion, from electoral strategy and coalition-building to messaging and institutional reform. Beyond domestic political dynamics, the discussion also sheds light on the often underexamined role of foreign policy in shaping electoral narratives and voter perceptions. In an increasingly interconnected world, U.S. domestic politics cannot be disentangled from global developments, as international conflicts, economic interdependence, and shifting geopolitical alignments feed directly into national debates. At the same time, perceptions of the United States abroad and thus the expectations of allies and rivals may subtly influence how political strategies are formulated at home. This brings up questions of how international crises, alliances, and global leadership factor into the Democratic Party’s positioning and whether foreign policy can serve as a point of confronting Trump
Bringing together transatlantic perspectives, this panel offers a timely and nuanced analysis of the political, institutional, and global stakes surrounding the future of American democracy.
Eric Frey, Senior Editor Der Standard
Rieke Havartz, international correspondent Die Zeit
Beto O’Rourke, American Democratic politician from Texas. He served as a U.S. Representative (2013–2019).
Ishaan Tharoor, global affairs journalist, media leader at the World Economic Forum, teaches an occasional seminar at Georgetown University on global politics, and appears as a commentator on global affairs regularly on radio and television
Moderation:
Raimund Löw, Journalist, author, and historian, head of Falter Radio.
Mikhail Viktorovich Zygar is a journalist, historian, and bestselling author, known for his work on Russian politics, propaganda, and authoritarianism. He was the founding editor-in-chief of TV Rain (Dozhd), Russia’s only independent news television channel, which became a critical voice against state censorship before he was forced into exile.
Zygar is the author of several internationally acclaimed books, including All the Kremlin’s Men, a bestseller that provides an insider’s account of Vladimir Putin’s inner circle; The Empire Must Die, a deeply researched narrative on the fall of the Russian Empire and the revolutionary forces of the early 20th century; and War and Punishment, which was named one of The New Yorker’s best nonfiction books of 2023. His books have been translated into multiple languages and are widely used in academic and journalistic discussions on Russia.
His latest book, Die Zukunft, die nie kam. Wie der Zerfall der Sowjetunion bis heute nachwirkt (The Future That Never Came: How the Collapse of the Soviet Union Continues to Resonate Today), will be published by Aufbau Verlag in mid-May. Zygar explains why the Soviet Union did not simply disappear, why the Cold War never truly ended, and how imperial myths and nationalist ideas from the Soviet era continue to influence the war against Ukraine today. Above all, he reveals how these ideologies paved the way for today’s authoritarian system.
Since relocating to the United States, Zygar has become a leading commentator on Russian affairs, regularly contributing op-eds to The New York Times, Time Magazine, Vanity Fair, Foreign Affairs, and The Washington Post. He is also a frequent guest on CNN, providing expert analysis on Russia and global politics. In 2018, he was a TED Fellow and delivered a TED Talk on history, propaganda and disinformation.
Zygar holds a PhD in Media Studies from the University of Portsmouth and degrees from MGIMO and Cairo University. He has lectured at leading universities, including Harvard, MIT, Columbia, Georgetown, and Stanford. In 2024, he taught at Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs.
He has lectured at different universities, including Harvard, MIT, Georgetown, and Stanford. In 2024, he taught at Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs in the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY; Zygar was a participant in the 2025 Yale World Fellows Program, a global leadership initiative at Yale.
Philipp Blom Philipp Blom (born in 1970 in Hamburg, Germany) is a historian and the author of several novels, as well as journalistic, political, and philosophical works. He also works as a radio host, documentary filmmaker, and public lecturer.
MQ Talks
Curated and moderated by Philipp Blom, historian and journalist, we bring internationally renowned intellectuals, academics and cultural figures to the stage of the “Libelle”, the roof-top of the MuseumsQuartier.
The cooperation between MQ and the RD Foundation enables us to do so.
The events take place in the MQ Libelle at MuseumsQuartier, Museumsplatz 1, 1070 Vienna.
Eine Veranstaltung im Rahmen unseres Schwerpunktes FALSCHE PATRIOTEN – DIE OFFENE GESELLSCHAFT UND IHRE FEINDE
„Eine gleichermaßen fundierte wie nüchterne Analyse – präzise, zugänglich und ohne jeden Alarmismus. Der Autor strukturiert komplexe Zusammenhänge übersichtlich und bietet damit eine wertvolle Grundlage, um rechte Bewegungen – national wie international – einzuordnen.“
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Laura Gabler
Alles, was rechts ist: „Was Populisten wollen“ hat Marcel Lewandowsky in seinem schon „klassischen“ Buch aus dem Jahr 2024 genau kartographiert. Die Sprache und die propagandistischen Kniffe der Ultrarechten, die sich heute nicht mehr als Fürsprecher des Autoritären geben, sondern als Stimme des Volkes und Prediger einer unbestimmten Art „echter Demokratie“. Nun analysiert der Forscher die „globale Rechte“, was sie eint, was sie trennt, wie sich die heterogenen Verkörperungen von Ressentiment und Groll unterscheiden.
Parteien und Bewegungen der radikalen und extremen Rechten sind auf Erfolgskurs. Sie gewinnen Wahlen bilden Regierungen und beeinflussen öffentliche Debatten. Rechtspopulistische Parteien, die vordergründig die Demokratie bejahen, ebnen Themen und Akteuren der äußersten Rechten den Weg in Institutionen und Diskurse. Dort, wo sie an der Macht sind, werden die Demokratie und der Rechtsstaat in Mitleidenschaft gezogen. Der Politikwissenschaftler Marcel Lewandowsky zeichnet die Geschichte der Rechten nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg nach, erläutert die Ursachen für ihre neuerlichen Erfolge und erörtert ihre Auswirkungen auf die Demokratie.
Marcel Lewandowsky, geboren 1982, ist Politikwissenschaftler und Autor. Er arbeitete u.a. an der Universität der Bundeswehr Hamburg, der Universität Greifswald und der University of Florida und forscht zu den Themen Populismus, Demokratie und Parteien.
Moderation:
Robert Misik, Autor und Journalist
Marcel Lewandowsky:
DIE GLOBALE RECHTE. Geschichte, Erfolgsbedingungen, Auswirkungen
C.H. Beck Verlag, 2025, 12,00 €
Marcel Lewandowsky:
WAS POPULISTEN WOLLEN. Wie sie die Gesellschaft herausfordern - und wie man ihnen begegnen sollte
Kiepenheuer und Witsch Verlag, Köln 2024. 336 Seiten, 20,00 EUR
Plädoyer für Völkerrecht und Menschenrechte
"Kalecks neues Sachbuch zeigt, dass Internationales Recht Macht hat. "taz
Der Angriff Russlands auf die Ukraine, die Eskalation des Nahostkonflikts nach dem 7. Oktober, der Angriff Israels auf den Iran – das sind nur einige, wenn auch entscheidende Entwicklungen der letzten Jahre, die zeigen, wie die »alte« internationale Ordnung erodiert und das Völkerrecht und die Menschenrechte zunehmend missachtet werden. In dieser viel beschworenen Zeitenwende stellt sich die fundamentale Frage, ob das internationale Recht stark genug ist diesem Sturm zu widerstehen, oder in Zukunft einfach das Recht des Stärkeren gilt.
Wolfgang Kaleck, einer der international renommiertesten Menschenrechtsanwälte, argumentiert in dieser Streitschrift, dass Völkerrecht und Menschenrechte nicht zur Disposition stehen dürfen, gerade weil sie im Kern, trotz aller Ambivalenzen, Erschütterungen und Rückschläge, einen immensen Fortschritt auf dem Weg zu einer gerechteren Welt darstellen. Er erinnert nicht nur daran, dass der Traum »vom ewigen Frieden« aus dem Trauma des Krieges geboren wurde, sondern zeigt, wie notwendig es gerade jetzt ist, an diesem »utopischen Projekt« festzuhalten, welche Reformen des internationalen Rechts und seiner Institutionen es stärken könnten und wie und mit wem wir gemeinsam dafür streiten können.
Wolfgang Kaleck gründete 2007 die Menschenrechtsorganisation European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) in Berlin und ist seitdem deren Generalsekretär. Er ist Autor mehrerer Bücher u. a. von »Die konkrete Utopie der Menschenrechte« (2021) und »Law versus Power« (2018). Er wurde u.a. mit dem Hermann Kesten-Preis des PEN-Zentrums Deutschland und dem Max Friedländer-Preis des Bayrischen Anwaltsverband ausgezeichnet und arbeitet in zahlreichen Projekten mit der Akademie der Künste in Berlin, dem Haus der Kulturen der Welt, der Magnum Foundation, der Galerie Autograph und anderen Kulturinstitutionen zusammen.
Muna Duzdar, Rechtsanwältin, SPÖ-Abgeordnete zum Nationalrat und Bereichssprecherin für Verfassung
Moderation: Robert Misik, Autor und Journalist
Wolfgang Kaleck:
Die Stärke des Rechts vs. Das Recht des Stärkeren
Kunstmann Verlag, März 2026, 21,50 €
Will green technologies and renewable energy save us from climate change? While public policies focus increasingly on a “clean” energy transition, the discussion shies away from the vexing dilemmas of raw materials supply chains. Minerals such as coltan, lithium and others are necessary to produce the technology needed for an energy transition, from batteries to windmills. However, their extraction often has serious environmental and social consequences.
In her book “Extraction: the Frontiers of Green Capitalism”, Thea Riofrancos explores the production of lithium, a critical resource for renewable energy storage, electric transportation and many other uses. Its mining is responsible for water depletion, chemical pollution, habitat and biodiversity loss. In production countries, environmental and Indigenous movements contest the rapid expansion of extraction, defending ecosystems, livelihoods and waterways already under pressure from global warming. Thea Riofrancos’ book tells the story of how a critical mineral became the focus of a worldwide battle over the future of green energy and, by extension, capitalism. This battle has become part of geopolitics as growing energy requirements linked to transport, digitalisation, and recently AI and military technologies have unleashed an ever-increasing rush for the extraction of minerals.
Opening Remarks: Irene Horejs, Former EU Ambassador, Curator, Bruno Kreisky Forum for International Dialogue
Keynote: Thea Riofrancos is an associate professor of political science at Providence College, Rhode Island, co-director of the Climate Community Institute and a fellow at the Transnational Institute. She is the author of several books and writes for, among others, Jacobin and the Guardian.
Moderator:
Moderator: Simela Papatheophilou is a law and development researcher. She works at the Austrian Foundation for Development Research (ÖFSE), where much of her work is on raw materials policy and trade policy.
Syria is undergoing a fragile and uncertain transition at a time when the whole Middle East is being reshaped by a new war. The country’s economic and social conditions remain strained, while the new authorities struggle to deliver basic services and stabilize governance. Mounting pressure from Islamists seeking to redefine the social order is adding to tensions. In April, protests in Damascus signalled growing dissatisfaction with the new ruling elite. Internal tensions also remain unresolved. These include disputes over the forced integration of the Kurdish northeast, the continued marginalization of the Alawite community, and an ongoing crisis in the Druze-majority south. The expert panel will also examine Europe’s shifting approach to Syrian refugees, including increasing efforts to reduce their presence. It will consider whether renewed instability in Syria and the broader region could spark another wave of displacement toward Europe.
Panelists tbc
Rabie Nasser is an economist, researcher and co-founder of the Syrian Center for Policy Research(SCPR). His areas of expertise and research include macroeconomic policies, inclusive growth, poverty, and conflict socioeconomic impact assessment. (online)
Meliha Benli Altunışık is a Professor in the Department of International Relations at Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara. She has written mainly on international relations of the Middle East and Turkey’s foreign policy, including on ideology and pragmatism in foreign policy, cusp states, rentier state theory, humanitarian diplomacy, regional powers, regional rivalries and regionalism related to the Middle East and Turkey. (online)
Abdullah al-Jabassini holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of Kent, Canterbury. His main research interests include political violence and civil war, rebel governance, peacebuilding and reconciliation processes, rebel-military integration, authoritarian conflict management, and local governance in areas of limited statehood.
Moderation:
Gudrun Harrer, Lecturer in Modern History and Politics of the Near and Middle East at the University of Vienna and the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna; former Senior Editor at Der Standard (until 2025).