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Why Europe Needs a Constitution

Germany’s leading philosopher argues that further development of the European Union requires both a mobilizing political project—positively differentiating the Old World from the New—and a formal Constitution, submitted to a popular referendum.

The European Nation-State and the Pressures of Globalization

“This article originally appeared in Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik, April 1999, pp. 425–436.” read more

There are Alternatives

“For the first time in the history of the Federal Republic, a Chancellor has been voted out of office in a national election. Can we conclude that German democracy has gained in self-confidence?” read more

National Unification and Popular Sovereignty

“Since the collapse of the Soviet empire, new states have been emerging in fast-moving sequence—whether through the secession of formerly ‘autonomous’ territories, or through the reunification of national states that had fallen into dependence and partition. These would appear to be only the clearest symptoms that a phenomenon . . .” read more

Overcoming the Past

“I would like your very different biographies and your experiences with the European Left to encounter each other as it were in a discussion on Germany, on ‘overcoming the past’, on the legacy of socialism, on Europe and the lack of synchrony between Germany and Poland. The . . .” read more

The Second Life-Fiction of the Federal Republic: We Have Become 'Normal' Again

“Since the fiftieth anniversary of the Kristallnacht pogrom in 1938 a commemorative event has been held every 9th of November in the Paulskirche in Frankfurt. This year Ignatz Bubis reported on some of his experiences during a visit to Rostock, and this provided the theme for the main . . .” read more

What Does Socialism Mean Today? The Rectifying Revolution and the Need for New Thinking on the Left

“There has recently been a spate of articles about the end of the socialist illusion, about the failure of an idea, and even about West European or German intellectuals finally coming to terms with the past. In them, rhetorical questions always prepare the way for the refrain that . . .” read more

A Philosophico-Political Profile

“Could you tell us something of the sequence of the principal intellectual influences on your work? You are often represented as an heir of the Frankfurt School who gave its legacy a ‘linguistic turn’, with a move from a philosophy of consciousness to one of language. Is this . . .” read more

Conservatism and Capitalist Crisis

“There is much discussion today of the nature and causes of the crisis racking the advanced capitalist countries. How should we define its structural characteristics and draw up an initial balance sheet?” read more