Dear all,

(apologies for cross-posting)

the Japan-Center at LMU Munich and the Japanese-German Center Berlin (JDZB) cordially invite you to join two special public events of the symposium "Liberal Democracies under Demographic pressure: Insights from Germany and Japan" as part of the JDZB series "The Future of Democracy".

The symposium will take place on site at the JDZB in Berlin. The opening evening on May 14, 2024 (on-site participation only) and a hybrid panel discussion with Japanese and German politicians and activists on May 16, 2024 (online participation via Zoom) will be open to the public. Both events will be held in German and Japanese languages with simultaneous interpretation.

Abstract:

Liberal democracies are under demographic pressure: not only does the share of the elderly population segment rise numerically, but also the elderly more likely turn out on election day and find themselves represented broadly among office holders. This can result in a bias that political parties may increasingly display toward the elderly electorate and on a substantial share of the decision-making power for this population segment. But what does this mean for the younger generations? How can their interests be represented in the democratic system, even if their numbers are declining significantly?

May 14, 2024, 16:00-18:30 CET Kick-off event (on-site)

16:00 - 16:15   Begrüßung / 開会の挨拶

16:15-17:00      Keynote "Die falschen Mythen über Politik in alternden Demokratien" / 基調講演「シルバー民主主義における政治に関する誤った神話」(Prof. Dr. Achim Goerres, Universität Duisburg-Essen)

17:00 - 18:30   Podiumsdiskussion "Die demografische Herausforderung für die deutsche und japanische Demokratie" / パネルディスカッション「ドイツと日本の民主主義における人口課題」

Language: German and Japanese with simultaneous interpretation/ 会議言語：日本語およびドイツ語（同時通訳付）

Please note that for this event participation is on-site only at the JDZB in Berlin. To attend, please register via the following link (Deutsch/日本語) or by contacting Carolin Weidmann (cweidmann@jdzb.de).

 

May 16, 2024, 9:30-11:00 CET // 16:30-18:00 JST (hybrid)

Öffentliche Podiumsdiskussion "Stimmen aus der Praxis" / 公開パネルディスカッション「現場の声」

Moderators:

Prof. Naoko Taniguchi, PhD (Keio University) and Dr. Norma Osterberg-Kaufmann (Humboldt Universität)

Panelists:

Maren Busch (Mayor of Diez City, Germany)

Momi Sakô (Member of Musashino City Assembly)

Tobias B. Bacherle (Member of German Bundestag, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)

Momoko Nôjô (No Youth No Japan, Executive Director)

Language: German and Japanese with simultaneous interpretation/ 会議言語：日本語およびドイツ語（同時通訳付）

Please note that for this event only online participation is possible. To attend, please register via the following link (Deutsch/日本語) or by contacting Carolin Weidmann (cweidmann@jdzb.de).

For further information please refer to the JDZB event website: German / Japanese

The event is partially funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) from the project "Demography and Democracy: How Population Aging Alters Democracy - The Case of Japan" (Project number 510553228) and the JDZB.

We look forward to your participation!

Gabriele Vogt, Anne-Sophie König, Stefanie Schwarte and Antonia Vesting

---------

Many thanks,
Stefanie Schwarte

-- Stefanie Schwarte, M.A. ステファニー・シュヴァーテ (she/her/hers) Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München Seminargebäude am Englischen Garten Japan-Zentrum Oettingenstr. 67 D-80538 München https://www.japan.uni-muenchen.de/personal/mitarbeiter/schwarte/index.html