Symposium Dürnstein 2019 – Follow-up report

Press Review

Last weekend, Dürnstein Abbey was once again the venue for the top-class Symposium Dürnstein, which brought national and international experts from politics, business, religion and philosophy to the Wachau for the eighth time. Under the title "Democracy! Disgrace or Opportunity", the highly topical subject of democracy and its untapped potential was the focus of the discussions.

With the renowned political scientist Ulrike Guérot and the President of the Forum Alpbach Franz Fischler, the symposium started under the moderation of Claudia Reiterer (ORF) on Thursday evening in front of the sold-out Prelate Hall of the monastery. Franz Fischler stressed that the problems of our time could no longer be solved at the level of nation states and pleaded for upgrading democratic instruments at the European level. Ulrike Guérot spoke out in favor of a European republic, because unlike the internal market or monetary union, there was no institutionalized European democracy.

Hans Vorländer from the Center for Constitutional and Democracy Studies at the TU Dresden dealt with the promises and fragility of democracy. He emphasized how essential functioning institutions are for democracy in order to secure its legitimacy and legality. Furthermore, cooperation, trust and reliability are important foundations for collective action and for the participation of citizens.

Ingolfur Blühdorn from the Institute for Social Sciences and Sustainability at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration explained that democracy is being called into question from very different sides. On the one hand, the restructuring of the democratic system can be observed from the right-wing populist side – also in Austria. On the other hand, the demands and expectations for freedom and self-determination are very high, but the modern understandings of freedom are not always compatible with climate protection and democracy. "Democracy is defended by the elites, right-wing populists as well as by the social center as an instrument to organize and legitimize increasing injustices," he concludes.

In her lecture, political scientist Irene Etzersdorfer from Danube University Krems addressed different forms of democracy and their defects, pointing out that many states cannot be clearly described as democracies, which is why political science has to find terms for hybrid forms of government.

Maximilian Stern from Staatslabor Schweiz explained how democracy could be carried into the future with the help of digital possibilities. Nowhere is politics as complex as in the digital realm, he said. The constant creation of new terms and tools leads to excessive demands and makes it difficult to look into the future. However, digital means hold great potential that has not been sufficiently exploited by politics to date, for example in administration and in participation processes.

The Islamic theologian Hamideh Mohagheghi from the University of Paderborn titled her lecture "Islam versus Democracy or Islamic Democracy." According to the Koran, man must take responsibility for the world and for good coexistence. Many passages in the Koran show that joint deliberation among equals was already a matter of course in the early days of Islam. Neither would the Koranic sources legitimize an absolute monarchy as in Saudi Arabia nor a rule of theologians as in Iran.

Modern democracies are characterized by pluralistic opinions and religions. For Maria Anna Heimbach-Steins of the Institute for Christian Social Sciences at the University of Münster, the protection and implementation of religious practice is a yardstick for the democratic state of a country.

Representatives of a wide variety of religions and agnostic positions gathered for the final discussion on Friday evening, in which religion was pointed out as a vital cultural resource. Using the example of the discussion about Good Friday as a holiday for Protestant Christians, it became clear that religions can be an alternative orientation to the prevailing economization of all areas of life.

The second day of the symposium was opened by the renowned British sociologist Colin Crouch, whose publication "Post-Democracy" (2005) was a significant source of discussion. We are still moving in the direction of post-democratic societies. The most significant forces in our politics today, he said, are neoliberalism and populism – but both are dangers to our democracies. Crouch cited as critical the influence of corporations on politics and the dominance of the market economy by large financial corporations. He said it is also critical to see that there are repeated personnel rifts between politics and the big banks. He pointed out how important institutions and the separation of powers are for democracy. At present, he said, some countries are having problems with the institutions of the judiciary because they were "interfering" with the claims to power of populist politicians in particular.

Speaking about efforts to advance the democratic process in Afghanistan was Suraya Pakzad, founder of Voice of Women of Afghanistan. Pakzad, who inspired the audience with her commitment to women's involvement and rights in advancing the democratic project in Afghanistan, pointed to progress, but at the same time warned that Taliban influence is once again on the rise – currently about 60% of the country is controlled by the Taliban. Also, negotiations between the U.S. and the Taliban do not include Afghanistan's elected government or representatives of Afghanistan's women.

Using examples from practice, Nonno Breuss (Schäfer&Breuss Organizational Development) and Barbara Strauch from the Center for Sociocracy demonstrated the ways in which citizens can be involved in decision-making processes. Nonno Breuss mentioned the trust in the "wisdom of the group" as an essential success factor, and Barbara Strauch mentioned as examples for the successful application of the method of sociocracy for finding jointly accepted solutions Viennese co-housing projects as well as schools, companies or also medium-sized cities (such as Utrecht).

Ueli Mäder, emeritus university professor at the University of Basel, and René Rhinow, emeritus professor of constitutional law and politician, who was President of the Council of States in Switzerland in 1998/1999, discussed experiences with direct democracy in Switzerland. The initiative and the referendum are two central elements of direct democracy in Switzerland, Mäder said. In the recent past, initiative proposals from the right-wing conservative or national populist camp have increased, he said: Initiatives such as "We don't want foreign judges" pose a challenge to democracy and attack human rights and thus the foundation of democracy.

For René Rhinow, a strong representative democracy is needed alongside direct democracy. He considers the people's rights to be important because they enable a permanent dialogue between the authorities and society. As an example, he cited the vote on Brexit: in Switzerland, the population would be asked about it once again, without the foundations of democracy becoming called into question.

The philosopher Isolde Charim asked whether we could still speak of a society today, since according to her diagnosis, this society is deeply divided. The question is how to deal with different communities in democracy: we need an idea of how solidarity between very different individuals can be promoted. Charim pleaded for places of mixing, for shared practice and for a good culture of conflict.

"The contributions to the symposium have shown that democracy is not a soft pillow to rest on. It cannot be taken for granted, it needs active participation and must be filled with life again and again," said curator Ursula Baatz, summing up the event.

Barbara Schwarz, Managing Director of NÖ Forschungs- und Bildungsges.m.b.H. (NFB): "We are delighted with the great success of this year's Symposium Dürnstein and hope that our guests were able to take away ideas and suggestions for actively helping to shape democracy."

The Symposium Dürnstein 2020 will take the 20th anniversary of the Wachau World Heritage Site as an opportunity to focus from March 5–7 2020 on "Heritages: Culture Nature Identity."

Press contact and Information

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More information:
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Tel: 02742 275 70-0,
email: duernstein@nfb.at

Symposion Dürnstein online:
www.symposionduernstein.at
https://facebook.com/noe.forschung.bildung

Visuals of the Symposion Dürnstein 2020:
http://www.nfb.at/tertiaere-bildung/weiterentwicklung/symposion-duernstein/2019/fotos/