Lecture by René Cuperus (Wiardi Beckman Foundation): All Politics is Domestic Politics!?

René Cuperus will discuss the fundamental incompatibility between hyper-globalisation on the one hand, and nation state democracy on the other. The tension between the state and its citizens versus the global world order will be addressed, as well as the new polarisation between so-called globalisation winning elites and globalisation losing ‘localists’. Big parts of the electorates increasingly consider the nation state as the defender of the national interest against globalising 'threats' (migration, energy-scarcity). Is the state squeezed between the expectations of their citizens and their national perspective, and the reality of a globalising world where national control is less and less effective? And is the disrupting revolt of nationalistic populism a result of this mismatch?  How to arrive at a sane and leaner globalisation which is not undermining national democracies?

Speaker: René Cuperus is Director for International Relations and Senior Research Fellow at the Wiardi Beckman Foundation, think-tank for Dutch social democracy. Cuperus is author of 'De Wereldburger bestaat niet', published in 2009, columnist of Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant and regularly contributes to the online Social-Europe Journal, which is affiliated with the London School of Economics.

Discussant: Hans Bruning is Executive Director of the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD) since December 2011. Before that he built an extensive track record in development cooperation, civil society and politics; in positions such as Director of Dutch Development Organisation ICCO and Director for International Programmes of the labour union CNV.

Logistical details: Date: Monday 12 March 2012/ Location: Auditorium, VU University, De Boelelaan 1105, Amsterdam / Time: 18:15-19:45 (drinks at 19:45) / Language: English / Admission: Free / Please register through registration@sidnl.org / Website: http://www.sid-nl.org

This lecture is organised in cooperation with NCDO and VU University.