Progressive Movement and Progressive Policies in the US
Always on the Defensive?
Progressive
Movement and Progressive Policies in the US
Annual Conference of Political Scientists in the
German Association for American Studies
November 12 and 13, 2010
Organizer:
Atlantic Academy Rhineland-Palatinate, Lauterstr. 2, 67657 Kaiserslautern
Location:
PfalzAkademie Lambrecht, Franz-Hartmann-Straße 9, 67466 Lambrecht
When President Obama took office in January 2009, progressivism in the US seemed to be on the rise. After eight years of President Bush not just Americans but also many people in other parts of the world expected political change in all major areas such as economic, social, health care and environmental policies. Moreover, observers expected a new beginning in the relationship towards Russia and Europe as well as a renewal of the nuclear disarmament negotiations. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq would also end responsibly. These expectations were heightened by Obama being awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize barely six months after his inauguration.
A year later, the realization of these expectations has become problematic. The health care reform could only be passed after long political struggles. The ongoing crisis of the American economy led to a slide in the president’s popularity. The newly founded “Tea Party Movement” is a conservative-populist movement to which the Democratic President and his followers have not yet found an adequate response. The Republicans, too, are confronted with new challenges due to this new movement. It seems that promoting progressive political concepts during the campaign was easier than implementing them after the election. Why is it so difficult for the President to put together majorities to support his progressive political concepts? Are those difficulties caused by his agenda itself or by the way it is communicated to the electorate?
These observations are a good reason to take a closer look at the Progressive movement and progressive policies in the US - both from a historical and from a present-day perspective.
Our conference aims at discussing as many aspects of the Progressive movement and its policies as possible. What are the philosophical and theoretical principles “Progressivism” is based on? How has it changed during the past 100 years? How “progressive” are the attitudes of the American people?
How does Progressivism compare to other social and populist movements? What are its goals and how is it organized? Who supports progressive ideas in the media, in think tanks, political parties or among intellectuals? How broad is its scope and what are its limitations? How do progressive policies manifest themselves in specific areas such as economic, social, foreign and security policies?
What is the core of Obama’s allegedly progressive policies? To what extent does Obama differentiate himself from more successful politicians of the progressive tradition, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt? What parallels and differences can be drawn to the Progressive Era when ambitious reform projects had greater success? How can progressive governing be defined after Obama’s first two years in office?
Finally, in a panel discussion, we would like to deal with the question of how distinctive American Progressivism actually is and whether it can be defined as a transnational phenomenon or not.
For this convention the organizers invite representatives of all fields and branches of American Studies - political scientists, historians, economists, sociologists, students of law and of liberal arts as well practitioners interested in the subject - to look for answers to these questions The outcome of this convention will be published in the series “Atlantische Texte” of the Atlantic Academy.
Depending on the participants, the language for our discussion at the conference will be English or German.
Abstracts (one to max. two pages) should be sent to Dr. Markus Lang (m.lang(at)uni-jena.de] via email, either in English or in German no later than June 30, 2010.
Prof. Dr. Michael Dreyer, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
Sebastian Huhnholz, M.A., Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Dr. Markus Lang, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
PD Dr. Martin Thunert, Heidelberg Center for American Studies
Wolfgang Tönnesmann, Direktor, Atlantische Akademie Rheinland-Pfalz e.V.
