Rückkehr des autoritären Staates?

In the organizer's words:

Lecture & discussion with Dr. Alexander Neupert

Putin in Russia, Trump in the USA, Xi Jiping in China, Massud Peseschkian in Iran, Erdogan in Turkey and an upsurge of right-wing authoritarianism in Europe - we are going through dark times. In addition to the concept of the authoritarian character (Erich Fromm 1930), critical theory offers a second concept, the concept of the authoritarian state (Max Horkheimer 1940), which can contribute to an understanding of today's authoritarian formation.

However, it is important to differentiate precisely: Is it the authority of technocratic bureaucracies, totalitarian state capitalism (Friedrich Pollock 1941), the authority of oligarchies/rackets (Max Horkheimer 1939) or terror regimes on the way to the unstate (Franz Neumann 1942)? Instead of speaking hastily and indiscriminately of fascism, critical theory challenges us to take a closer look at forms of authoritarianism.

The significance of its considerations for the beginning of the 21st century and how the authoritarian formation can be countered today will be the subject of the lecture and the subsequent discussion. (No previous knowledge necessary.)

Dr. Alexander Neupert is currently a research associate in the DFG project 'Dialectics of the Pandemic - Between Authoritarianism and Utopia' at Karlshochschule Karlsruhe.