Uncertain States - DISKURSE Rita Süssmuth: Die deutsche Zuwanderungspolitik: Hilfe oder Hemmnis?

Rita Süssmuth, former President of the German Parliament Bundestag and Federal Minister of Family Affairs, will focus on the complexity of German immigration policy. Is the immigration policy a support or barriere in terms of providing effective and timely help sought by migrants?

Rita Süssmuth is a German politician and academic. From 1988 to 1998, she was President of the German Federal Parliament and from 1985 to 1988 Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Women, Youth and Health. Previously a professor of education at the universities of Bochum and Dortmund, she was also the director of the “Woman and Society” research institute in Hanover. In 2000, as an expert on migration, Rita Süssmuth chaired the independent Migration Committee set up under then Minister of the Interior, Otto Schily. Today, she is President of the Consortium of German Universities (K-DTU) which coordinates the German contribution to the newly founded Turkish-German University in Istanbul.

DISKURSE, a series of lectures and discussions, addresses today's key issues. Europe is facing challenges such as xenophobia, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. What are the causes of this new fundamentalism? How can the growth of right-wing populism and racism be curbed and overcome? How can immigration policies be improved? And what role does art have to play in coping with the crisis?

The 12 lectures by prominent representatives of migration studies, political science, sociology, philosophy, and art scholarship will be accompanied and commented on by the young team from Polis180, the grassroots think tank for foreign and European policy. The series will be available online at www.adk.de/uncertain-states.

In cooperation with the German Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb) and Polis180. All dates of the series can be found here.