Event Reports - Davies Forum #6 and Iain Wilson Guest Lecture

Report on Proceedings of the 6th Davies Forum: ‘What will Germany’s new coalition government mean for Germany, Europe, and the world?’

The DDMI’s 6th Davies Forum took place on 9 December 2013 in the Main Hall of the International Politics Building. The speakers were Prof Björn Weiler from the Department of History and Welsh History, and Drs Claudia Hillebrand and Alistair Shepherd and PhD Candidate Robert Kammel from the Department of International Politics. The chair, DDMI Director Dr Jan Ruzicka, and four speakers discussed Germany's new coalition government from a variety of perspectives. This was followed by a questions and answers session with the audience of about 25 people. The presentations can be summarised as follows:

Claudia Hillebrand, who spoke first, explained ‘why we are where we are.’ The situation in German politics is peculiar at the moment, she said. If the coalition goes ahead, the official opposition will be very small and weak. Robert Kammel discussed the German party system. A key point from his talk was that the 2013 German federal election has forced party leaders to be open to all possible party combinations and coalitions in the future. This suggests that German politics will be more unpredictable in the future.

The third and fourth speakers were Björn Weiler and Alistair Shepherd. Weiler lamented the lack of popular participation in German federal elections. He also discussed the apparent disjuncture between public opinions on domestic policy and the results on election days. Shepherd noted that Germany is reluctant to lead even though it is the most important country in Europe. Germany is caught in a dilemma: when it does not try to lead, it is criticised for being self-absorbed and egocentric; when it tries to lead, it is lambasted as a hegemon. Shepherd added that he is not sure that Germany has a clear view of where Europe is or should be headed.

The questions and answers session displayed the audience’s engagement with the topic. Some of the questions were: Why has agreement on the new coalition government taken so long (three months)? Are we more nervous about Germany not leading Europe, or about an over-powerful Germany leading Europe? How can Germany be the most powerful state in Europe when the UK and France are Permanent Members of the UN Security Council with much bigger global roles? What has happened to the federal vision of Europe that used to exist in Germany? The back-and-forth of questions and answers continued until the time allocated for the event had expired.

Ruzicka closed the event by thanking those who attended, and calling attention to the upcoming DDMI guest lecture by Dr Iain Wilson, University of Edinburgh. He reminded those in attendance that this Davies Forum is but the latest, with others to follow as part of the busy DDMI event calendar.

Report on the Guest lecture by Dr Iain Wilson (University of Edinburgh)

By Désirée Poets, PhD Candidate, Department of International Politics

On Friday 7 February, the DDMI and IPRG welcomed guest lecturer Dr Iain Wilson to the Department of International Politics. Wilson, an Interpol alumnus, is the Chrystal Macmillan Fellow in Politics and International Relations, University of Edinburgh. He delivered a well-received lecture entitled “Do States Sneeze? Interpreting International Politics as a Darwinian Evolutionary Process” in the Main Hall of the International Politics Building.

In his lecture, Wilson used ‘sneezing’ as a metaphor for something politically important. A sneeze is a sign that we are infected by a virus, and it is in the interest of the virus that we should sneeze in order to foster its proliferation. As such, Wilson approached Neo-Darwinism as a meta-theory to explain how certain states’ ideas – which become institutions – proliferate in the form of ‘sneezes’ that infect other states.

Wilson defined institutions as crystallised ideas, which are selected and migrate between countries. Even if those ideas or institutions are bad for the state – here he used the example of ‘patriarchy’ – they select and are selected and if they are fit for survival, they even spread. This is what he meant by international politics being like a Darwinian evolutionary process.

In addition, Wilson identified the Darwinian model as based on three things: variation, inheritance and selection. He argued referring to Kenneth Waltz that states survive because they behave in the correct way within the system, even if at sub-optimal securitisation. How much we believe states to ‘sneeze’ is, Wilson added, a good way of gauging our theoretical assumptions and inclinations.

Wilson was a very entertaining and skilled presenter, whose approach was warmly received by the audience of roughly 25 students and staff. The questions & answers were stimulating and inter-disciplinary, and gave all who attended much to think about. DDMI Director Dr Jan Ruzicka, who chaired the event, wrapped-up the proceedings by thanking everyone for their attendance and participation.