Common Challenges: What Is Necessary to Protect and Defend Democracy?

Like the US, Germany has seen the rapid growth and radicalization of domestic right-wing movements. Racist, anti-semitic conspiracy theories are actively imported over the Atlantic and influence the political debate in Germany. Just this month, Germany’s intelligence services declared the youth wing of the the radical Alternative for Germany party as “definitively right-wing extremist” and “incompatible with the constitution”. National statistics show that politically motivated violence, in particular right-wing violence, has reached historic levels: since the December 2022 coup attempt by the Reichsbürger movement, police forces have continued to uncover additional plots against the German government and have regularly arrested right-wing conspirators.

In this conversation with Steven Sokol, President of the American Council on Germany (ACG), Ricarda Lang will discuss her party’s efforts to counter the rise of anti-democratic forces in Germany, Europe, and across the Atlantic, and to rebuild trust in democracy. The discussion will aim to draw out shared lessons for democratic actors on both sides of the Atlantic, as they confront this common challenge to their democracies.

Ricarda Lang is the Co-Chair of Alliance 90/The Green Party and in September 2021, she was elected as a Member of the German Bundestag, where she sits on the Committee for Family Policy and is Vice-Chair of the Committee for Labor and Social Policy. As a representative of the left wing of the party, Lang has large focuses on social justice and climate policies.

Lang joined the youth wing of the Green Party at 18. At 29, Ms. Lang is the youngest chair in the German Green Party’s history.

Steven E. Sokol became President of the American Council on Germany on May 1, 2015. He served as President and CEO of the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh from July 2010 until April 2015. Prior to that, he was the Vice President and Director of Programs at the American Council on Germany for nearly eight years.

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