On 23 May, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier – in cooperation with the Bertelsmann Foundation – hosted a panel discussion at Schloss Bellevue as part of the series Forum Bellevue on the Future of Democracy. The fourth forum examined the question of Society without politics? Liberal democracies put to the test.

The Federal President discussed the anti-politics and anti-establishment movements and indifference towards the political sphere with Donatella della Porta (Professor for Political and Social Sciences, Scuola Normale Superiore, Florence), Christoph Möllers (Professor of Public Law and Jurisprudence, Humboldt University, Berlin) and David Van Reybrouck (author, archaeologist and founder of G1000, a platform for democratic renewal in Belgium).

Declining confidence in political institutions, and even disdain for political elites, along with the current weakness of mainstream parties and the rise of populist right-wing movements, are putting representative democracy to the test. The Federal President used the discussion with his guests to talk about and analyse the challenges that liberal democracy is facing due to the spread of anti-political views.

How can politics and commitment to the common good be made more attractive again? Is it accurate that indifference towards the political sphere is growing? Are there also examples in Germany and in Europe of a return of the political? What role do new forms of citizen involvement and social movements play in this regard? Do we need new forms of political debate in order to reinvigorate liberal democracy? The Federal President’s discussion with his guests centred on these and other questions.