14 Days, 14 Participants: We Made the List!
by Elizabeth Hervey Stephen, Ph.D.
Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
participant of the German Studies Seminar 2009
The European Parliament Elections of 2009 concluded on June 7, which coincided with the first day of the 2009 Fulbright German Scholars Program entitled appropriately “Germany’s Future: New Parties- New Solutions?” On that rainy afternoon in Berlin fourteen US scholars gathered: 10 political scientists, a German historian, a German literature professor, a geographer, and a demographer.
- The participants of the 2009 German studies seminar in the Berlin House of Representatives, June 10, 2009
Although each participant came with a wealth of knowledge about Germany and/or the EU, the next two weeks provided a platform for everyone to interact with presenters and each other in lively discourse. Each participant arrived with a different motivation for attending. My step-father was a Fulbright Scholar in 1973 in New Zealand and had always encouraged me to apply for a Fulbright. But family and administrative obligations limited the amount of time I could be away, so I had never pursued a year- or semester-long Fulbright opportunity. Once I saw the advertisement for the German Studies seminar, I knew the timing and topic couldn’t be a better match for me: the demographer who teaches a course on the “Geopolitics of Population Issues in the EU” at Georgetown University.
As the German Studies Seminar unfolded over the following two weeks, we might have chosen to rephrase the title of the seminar to “Germany’s Future: New Solutions to New Problems.” As we learned more about the party system in Germany it became apparent that it is not new parties, but rather new coalitions that will continue to be central to Germany’s political system. The global challenges of the current economic crisis, global warming, immigration and integration cannot continue to rely on old solutions. We heard presentations on politics and the media, how the internet is changing campaigning, direct democracy, the role of the Länder in national politics, and we met with leaders of nearly every party. Although sessions lasted until evening hours at times, we were rewarded with Bavarian beer while meeting with the Bavarian Representation in Berlin, marveled at a concert of the Berlin Philharmonic, had a special tour of the Reichstag, and dined with members of the Board of the Fulbright Commission and guests at the stunning Restaurant Zollpackhof.
- Dome of the Reichstag, June 13, 2009
Although all the participants embraced the vibrancy of Berlin during a week of unusually rainy and cool weather, we were soon off to Erfurt, which allowed us to meet with local party officials of a former East German region. A side trip to Weimar for some of the participants gave us the chance to visit the cemetery where Goethe is buried and try out the famous Thuringia sausages. The tone of the presentations and conversations during the two days in Erfurt shifted to the role of local politics, especially those of a region leap-frogging into the 21st century.
The third portion of our seminar was in Frankfurt and Wiesbaden where we focused on the financial crisis and were able to see the Hesse Parliament in session. We concluded our amazing journey with a celebratory dinner with 24 U.S. teachers who had been in Germany the previous three weeks for the 2009 Teacher Spring Seminar for American teachers in Germany program. The formal program of the 2009 Fulbright German Scholars Program was well structured with each presentation building on previous speakers and with almost no overlap, which speaks volumes to the skilled organization of the Fulbright Commission staff: Ms. Charlotte Securius-Carr and Kerstin Klopp-Koch. But it was in our informal conversations in a Greek restaurant in Frankfurt and in Berlin beer gardens that we could dissect our formal presentations and laugh about any individual’s position on “the list.”
Each participant connected with various German speakers and without a doubt, informal and formal conversations and exchanges will be made in the coming years. This is the true value of the Fulbright program and it could not have been achieved without the structure of the formal program. It was the informal portion of the program, however, that will allow the US scholars to maintain a close network. There have already been informal reunions of members. Corey Johnson of the University of North Carolina-Greensboro was in Russia conducting research in August. My husband and I were also in Moscow; we overlapped with Corey for about 30 hours, allowing us to once again discuss the problems of Europe in a relaxed setting.
- Elizabeth Stephen and Corey Johnson, Moscow, August 12, 2009
Each participant of the 2009 German Studies Seminar left a changed person, grateful to the Fulbright Commission for the opportunity to experience in person the months leading up to the 2009 German elections. Now we are each in our own way ambassadors for the seminar. Fourteen scholars departed the official program on June 20, having made the critical connections with one another and with German academics and policy makers to sustain the lively conversation over the coming years.
Photo credits: Kerstin Klopp-Koch, Elizabeth Hervey Stephen, Todd Malkoff