Beyond the Nation-State? Borders, Boundaries, and the Future of Democratic Pluralism

Democracy in the US and across the world faces complex challenges. Social, economic, and racial divisions are driving political and cultural polarization. Gaps are widening between people and power, and internal and external authoritarian movements are directly challenging the nature of pluralist democratic societies and cultures.

Within that context, the geopolitical borders and boundaries of pluralist democracies are being contested, redrawn and remade. At the same time political and cultural changes around questions of race, class, ethnicity, and gender are transforming the landscape of borders within different democratic societies, and are redefining our understanding of democratic identity and resilience.

The 2023 Salzburg Global Seminar American Studies Program focused on the contestations and renegotiations of boundaries beyond the nation-state, and how they are changing the representation of democratic pluralism. The program also looked at the ways in which American Studies as a discipline has engaged with borders, boundaries and lines of demarcation as tools of disenfranchisement and exclusion, and what that engagement might suggest for other contexts and societies.

Date

Sep 19 - Sep 23, 2023

Session no.

S806-01

Location

Schloss Leopoldskron, Salzburg, Austria

Contact

Charles Ehrlich

Director, Peace and Justice

Antonio Riolino

Senior Program Manager

Content overview

Topics and Questions Program Structure and Goals VIDEOS Participants

Topics and Questions

During this years´ program our participants debated crucial questions:

A border reassessment: How do borders contribute to the reinforcement of national identities, us versus them? Why are borders comforting? What do they provide? Why was “Build the wall” so catchy?
What do the changing boundaries within pluralist democracies tell us about the nature of "borders", be them physical, spatial, religious, historical, cultural, social, and otherwise? How do populations move in and out of these figurative spaces that are delineated for them?
Before and after the Border: Indigenous communities and the tracing of national borders
Shifting borders: How and where are new borders and boundaries being created to reduce pluralism and representation? What are the consequences for democratic and civic identities?
Spaces of containment and detention versus hope-spaces: Identifying spaces of inclusion, civic engagement, and representation for marginalized and racialized communities, including people without documents or authorization, migrants, and refugees
How do contemporary literature, theatre, and other cultural works contribute to our understanding of boundaries? How do these cultural forces shape the current changing conversation of outer and interior borders?
What does a reassessment of borders and boundaries mean for the future of American Studies? How does it resonate with national identities and transnational cultures across the globe?

Program Structure and Goals

The program, from 19-23 September 2023, included an intergenerational, international, and inclusive group of approximately 50 academics, policy makers, journalists, artists, and activists.

The program was designed around speakers, round tables, and discussion groups, and included diverse and intersectional representation. The program aimed to:

Catalyze new approaches by American Studies scholars and practitioners on democratic principles and practice, informed by arts and culture, social commentary, and historical analysis;
Activate interdisciplinary networks of scholars, innovators, and practitioners working at the frontiers of democracy, pluralism, and inclusion in the United States and around the world; and
Incubate new ideas, research collaborations and cultural projects for dissemination through American Studies associations and other networks.

As Salzburg Global Seminar celebrates our 75th anniversary and the internationalization of the field of American Studies, we seek to contribute to a better understanding of what the next 75 years of American Studies should be, what it needs to focus on to remain relevant in a changing world, and how American Studies can best uphold and support democratic systems and their evolution toward ever greater pluralism, inclusion, and representation.

VIDEOS

We invite you to watch the 2023 Ron Clifton Lecture in American Studies. This lecture was inaugurated in 2018 to recognize the long service of the late Ron Clifton to the field of American studies at Salzburg Global Seminar.

This year marked the 76th edition of the Salzburg Global American Studies program, and the 2023 edition of the Ron Clifton lecture was given by Tracey Meares, the Walton Hale Hamilton professor and a founding director of the Justice Collaboratory at Yale Law School.

Watch the full lecture below:

During this program, we also held the 2023 edition of the Ithiel de Sola Pool Lectureship on the Impact of Communications Technology on Society and Politics, which was established in 2003 through the generosity of Dr. Pool’s wife, Jean Mackenzie Pool. Ithiel de Sola Pool, born in 1917, was a pioneer in the development of social science and network theory. Dr. Pool served on three faculties of Salzburg Global Seminar sessions: Session 45, American Society, in 1956; Session 77, American Foreign Policy, in 1962; and Session 203, Development, Communication and Social Change, in 1981.

This year's Ithiel de Sola Pool Lectureship on the Impact of Communications Technology on Society and Politics was delivered by Robert Putnam, the Malkin Research Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University.

Watch the full lecture below: