Lecture & Discussion

Essen: »A House Divided. Polarization and its Effects«

with Dr. Jim Thomson, President em., RAND Corporation

Obamacare, government debt, Guantánamo – political and reform gridlock weigh on President Obama’s credibility. Where the tug war between President and Congress comes from, how this phenomenon develops and what impact it has on the legislative process were the topics of Dr. Jim Thomson’s presentation. At the Amerika Haus e.V. NRW’s invitation, the former RAND Corporation’s President gave a lecture on his study “A House Divided. Polarization and its Effects” on June 12, 2012 at the community college in Essen, addressing the polarization of political parties, its causes and impacts.

In order to explain his findings, Dr. Thomson began his presentation by discussing how the Constitution shapes American politics. Thus, not only the separation of powers but also the federal character of the American polity controls the abuse of power by a few, as intended by federalists such as Madison. However, this type of geographically-based representation and weighted voting promotes in fact a two-party system which again stimulates a polarization of political positions.

With that said the phenomenon of polarization and its effects is not a new one but developed rather gradually. To what concept then does the term polarization refer in this case? According to Dr. Thomson it is essential to first understand the effect it has on partisan loyalties in Congress. Showing diagrams, Dr. Thomson illustrated this development. In the 1970s there was still a considerable amount of congressmen constituting a so called “Zone of Bipartisanship” and did not necessarily vote in accordance with their party membership. As intended by Madison, this promoted political compromise. Looking at the 103rd Congress in the early 90s though, this kind of overlapping partisan interests has ceased significantly. From then on Democratic and Republican representatives keep diverging ideologically from one another.

Why is that? Dr. Thomson hypothesizes that polarization within Congress depends on the geographical, demographical, and cultural background of its representatives. That is, the congressmen appear to be a model of society as a whole, a development fostered by the geographically shaped election system. Therefore, Dr. Thomson assumes that ideological attitudes represented in a particular region, like a County, can be utilized to predict the vote of its congressman and the other way around.

As the legislative process is considerably tied to geographical representation, social polarization reflects along ideological edges within Congress. This is why a lack of willingness to compromise occurs further inhibiting not only the congressional but due to the separation of power also the presidential ability to act. Since this phenomenon has developed gradually, it did not have such a strong effect on the presidency of Bill Clinton, but a recognizable higher impact on George W. Bush’s scope, and currently an even stronger effect on President Obama’s agenda.

Considering policies, this process of polarization does not only shape domestic policy issues such as gun, migration, or abortion law and budget policy in general but also influences the American foreign policy and thus the transatlantic relations.

However, even though polarization and political gridlock shape American politics in general and Barack Obama’s presidency in particular, Dr. Thomson identifies social trends to be optimistic about. The electoral law reforms in California, for example, or the recognizable amount of independent and moderate voters, who decide upon content and without party affiliation or ideology, might ease the phenomenon of polarization.

Inspired by Dr. Thomson’s sophisticated yet still descriptive presentation the guests took their chance and engaged into a discussion with the speaker who enjoyed answering questions on the Tea Party’s as well as the media’s impact, President Obama’s intended reforms, and Dr. Thomson’s study and methodological approach.

Dr. Jim Thomson holds a Ph.D in physics, was member of the National Security Council as well as of the Department of Defense, and most recently President of the RAND Corporation from 1989 to 2011.

Moderation: Prof. Dr. Andreas Blätte, Juniorprofessur für Politikwissenschaft der WestLB-Stiftung NRW, Universität Duisburg-Essen

Summary by Svea Burmester, Amerika Haus e.V. NRW

Amerika Haus e.V. NRW
Telefon: 0221 – 169 26 350 │ Fax: 0221 – 169 26 308
E-Mail: info@amerikahaus-nrw.de │ www.amerikahaus-nrw.de

Amerika Haus NRW Lecture

Cologne: »A House Divided. Polarization and its Effects«

with Dr. Jim Thomson, President em., RAND Corporation

Obamacare, government debt, Guantánamo – political and reform gridlock weigh on President Obama’s credibility. Where the tug war between President and Congress comes from, how this phenomenon develops and what impact it has on the legislative process were the topics of Dr. Jim Thomson’s presentation. At the Amerika Haus e.V. NRW’s invitation in coopeartion with the Jean Monnet Chair of Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Wessels, University of Cologne, the former RAND Corporation’s President gave an Amerika Haus NRW Lecture on his study “A House Divided. Polarization and its Effects” on June 13, 2012 at the University of Cologne, addressing the polarization of political parties, its causes and impacts.

In order to explain his findings, Dr. Thomson began his presentation by discussing how the Constitution shapes American politics. Thus, not only the separation of powers but also the federal character of the American polity controls the abuse of power by a few, as intended by federalists such as Madison. However, this type of geographically-based representation and weighted voting promotes in fact a two-party system which again stimulates a polarization of political positions.

With that said the phenomenon of polarization and its effects is not a new one but developed rather gradually. To what concept then does the term polarization refer in this case? According to Dr. Thomson it is essential to first understand the effect it has on partisan loyalties in Congress. Showing diagrams, Dr. Thomson illustrated this development. In the 1970s there was still a considerable amount of congressmen constituting a so called “Zone of Bipartisanship” and did not necessarily vote in accordance with their party membership. As intended by Madison, this promoted political compromise. Looking at the 103rd Congress in the early 90s though, this kind of overlapping partisan interests has ceased significantly. From then on Democratic and Republican representatives keep diverging ideologically from one another.

Why is that? Dr. Thomson hypothesizes that polarization within Congress depends on the geographical, demographical, and cultural background of its representatives. That is, the congressmen appear to be a model of society as a whole, a development fostered by the geographically shaped election system. Therefore, Dr. Thomson assumes that ideological attitudes represented in a particular region, like a County, can be utilized to predict the vote of its congressman and the other way around.

As the legislative process is considerably tied to geographical representation, social polarization reflects along ideological edges within Congress. This is why a lack of willingness to compromise occurs further inhibiting not only the congressional but due to the separation of power also the presidential ability to act. Since this phenomenon has developed gradually, it did not have such a strong effect on the presidency of Bill Clinton, but a recognizable higher impact on George W. Bush’s scope, and currently an even stronger effect on President Obama’s agenda.

Considering policies, this process of polarization does not only shape domestic policy issues such as gun, migration, or abortion law and budget policy in general but also influences the American foreign policy and thus the transatlantic relations.

However, even though polarization and political gridlock shape American politics in general and Barack Obama’s presidency in particular, Dr. Thomson identifies social trends to be optimistic about. The electoral law reforms in California, for example, or the recognizable amount of independent and moderate voters, who decide upon content and without party affiliation or ideology, might ease the phenomenon of polarization.

Inspired by Dr. Thomson’s sophisticated yet still descriptive presentation the guests took their chance and engaged into a discussion with the speaker who enjoyed answering questions on the Tea Party’s as well as the media’s impact, President Obama’s intended reforms, and Dr. Thomson’s study and methodological approach.

Dr. Jim Thomson holds a Ph.D in physics, was member of the National Security Council as well as of the Department of Defense, and most recently President of the RAND Corporation from 1989 to 2011.

Moderation: Dr. Funda Tekin, research assistant, University of Cologne

Summary by Svea Burmester, Amerika Haus e.V. NRW

Amerika Haus e.V. NRW
Phone: 0221 – 169 26 350 │ Fax: 0221 – 169 26 308
E-Mail: info@amerikahaus-nrw.de │ www.amerikahaus-nrw.de

In Cooperation with the Jean Monnet Chair Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Wessels

Annual General Meeting

Cologne: »Annual General Meeting of the American International Women's Club of Cologne e.V.«

On June 14, 2012, Ms. Tina Höfinghoff, Managing Director of the Amerika Haus e.V. NRW, was invited to the annual general meeting of the American International Women’s Club of Cologne e.V. in order to present the work the Amerika Haus e.V. NRW provides. Giving an insight into the Amerika Haus e.V. NRW's projects Ms. Hoefinghoff also made the case for further good cooperation.

Lecture & Discussion

Bonn: »The U.S. in turmoil: what the election is actually about«

with Don Jordan, American journalist and foreign correspondent

Provocative, emotional, and vivid – this is what the numerous guests expected gathering at the Haus der Geschichte in Bonn on June 14, 2012 to see Don Jordan, American journalist and foreign correspondent for many years, and indeed he delivered.

Following the welcoming words by Angelica Maria Kappel, mayor of the Federal City of Bonn, Dr. Harald Biermann, Managing Director of the Stiftung Haus der Geschichte Bonn, Dr. Juliane Kronen, Member of the Board at Amerika Haus e.V. NRW, and Hans-Jürgen Stryk, president of the Colloquium Humanum e.V., Don Jordan discussed what this year’s elections are actually about.

With his style of humor, sarcasm, and with a wagging finger, for Germans well-known from various appearances at the Internationale Frühshoppen or Anne Will, Don Jordan outlined his hypothesis of the United States in turmoil. Being a journalist himself, he said he is ashamed of media’s polarization in the U.S., siding with one of the two competing parties. The new laws on collecting donations are scandalous and the amount of money that Republican rightists raise poses the greatest threat to the American democracy, according to Don Jordan. He furthermore accuses the American voters of deciding on short-time purposes without caring about social effects in the long run. Worrisome is the decline of the middle class and the concern about maintaining one’s standard of living. Emphasizing his resentment when looking at the role and performance of labor unions and insurance companies, Don Jordan blames failed management, corruption, as well as “ideological warfare” to having caused effectivity of these institutions.

Considering the ideological contest between an arising social spirit versus predatory capitalism, this year’s congressional and presidential elections will set the course for the next decades– as stated by Don Jordan. Thus, the elections will mainly be about how to provide job creation. Don Jordan expects the Democrats to call for more state interventionism whereas the Republicans are known for opposing such regulatory involvement. This is where Don Jordan sympathizes with President Obama, whose economic program has not been as successful as intended but still saved the U.S. from worse. The decisive factors of this year’s election are thus supposed to be the rivalry about the diverging drafts on economic policy: How to stimulate growth and how to reduce unemployment and the differences between the poor and the rich. According to Don Jordan, both candidates, Barack Obama as well as Mitt Romney, cannot be more different from each other and thus reflect the lack of willingness to compromise in American politics causing political gridlock.

Considering foreign policy issues and transatlantic relations, Don Jordan highlighted the American contribution to global stability of which in particular Germany took advantage since being an export-oriented economy, and for which the Americans not only paid for with their money but also with their blood. For the future, Don Jordan expects the United States to continue their reorientation away from Europe and towards Asia and blames the German media and their “provincialisation” for having Germans not being concerned about this fact.

To vitalize the transatlantic relations is therefore as important as ever. This was also the result of the discussion following Don Jordan’s lecture. In conversation with Dr. Johannes Bohnen and later on with the audience, Don Jordan did not grow tired to answer the audience’s questions and concluded that the German-American relationship is more complex than only founded on an economical ground. Thus, to promote transatlantic cooperation and friendship remains as important as ever.

Moderation: Dr. Johannes Bohnen, BOHNEN KALLMORGEN & PARTNER, Atlantische Initiative e.V., Berlin

Summary by Svea Burmester, Amerika Haus e.V. NRW

Amerika Haus e.V. NRW
Telefon: 0221 – 169 26 350 │ Fax: 0221 – 169 26 308
E-Mail: info@amerikahaus-nrw.de │ www.amerikahaus-nrw.de

In cooperation with Colloquium Humanum e.V.

Briefing & Concert

Siegen: »A Living Relationship - Music in the German and American Synagogue«

with Samuel Adler, Juilliard School of Music, New York

Building bridges – this is how Samuel Adler, outstanding composer of our times, has an effect worldwide. Born to the Jewish cantor and composer Hugo Chaim Adler in Germany, Samuel Adler grew up in exile in the United States. More than 400 works were penned by Samuel Adler, including operas, symphonies, as well as chamber music. Samuel Adler has been awarded many prizes for promoting musical understanding, not least considering the German-American relations. Highly appreciated is his expertise on the transatlantic impact on the 19th and 20th century’s synagogal music.

Samuel Adler is not only a prominent artist but also Professor at the Juilliard School of Music in New York since 1995. Besides this, Samuel Adler has been teaching at more than 300 universities all over the world and thus let young musicians in on his arts of composing. What impact do individual, biographic experiences have on the process of composing? And how do sociopolitical influences shape whole musical genres?

On June 30, 2012, an exclusive talk with Samuel Adler took place at Das Naschwerk, followed by a concert entitled »A Living Relationship – Music in the German and American Synagogue« at the Nikolaikirche, addressing the transatlantic character of this style of music. With works of Louis Lewandowksi, Hugo Chaim Adler, Heinrich Schalit and Samuel Adler; directed by: Ute Debus.

Moderation: Prof. Martin Herchenröder, Professor of Theory of Music at the University of Siegen

Amerika Haus e.V. NRW
Telefon: 0221 – 169 26 350 │ Fax: 0221 – 169 26 308
E-Mail: info@amerikahaus-nrw.de │ www.amerikahaus-nrw.de