Stanford University

German Universities Discover Competition

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Seminar Description:

A revolution is taking place within the German university system. For the first time in their history, universities are engaged in direct competition with one another. Under the auspices of the so-called "Excellence Initiative," they are competing for almost two billion Euros in extra research funding, and for the prestige of being designated as a "Leading University."

Dr. Kaiser's lecture provides an overview of the Initiative process and a report on the preliminary results of the competition. He also offers an initial appraisal of the Initiative from the perspective of a former university president.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Gert Kaiser is President of the Science Center, North Rhine-Westphalia, Düsseldorf, Germany and a former rector of the Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf. He is currently the Max Kade Visiting Professor in the Department of German at the University of California, Davis.

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Gert Kaiser Visiting Professor, Department of German Speaker University of California, Davis
Seminars

Save the Date: 'Ethnicity in Today's Europe' Conference - November 7-9 at Stanford University

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"Ethnicity in Today's Europe" November 7, 2007- November 9, 2007 Stanford University Sponsored by the Stanford Humanities Center and the Forum on Contemporary Europe

RELATED PRESIDENTIAL LECTURE

Partha Chatterjee - Director and Professor of Political Science, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta; Professor of Anthropology, Columbia University, New York

PANELISTS

Leslie Adelson - German Studies, Cornell University

Rogers Brubaker - Sociology, UCLA

Salvador Cardús Ros - Sociology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Carole Fink - History, Ohio State University

Alec Hargreaves - French, Florida State University

Kader Konuk - Germanic Languages and Literatures, University of Michigan

Saskia Sassen - Sociology, Columbia University

Bassam Tibi - International Relations, University of Göttingen, Germany

Zelimir Zilnik - Filmmaker

CONFERENCE STATEMENT

Headlines today blaze with stories about the fate of Europe. There is a sense, both in Europe and around the world, that a sort of "tipping point" has been reached. A recurrent theme is the question of demographics. For instance, how are European social welfare systems going to cope with an aging population? What role will immigrants from outside Europe's borders, both recent and less recent, play in European society? What will be the impact of immigration between the member states of the European Union? What place will Europe's growing population of Muslims have in twenty-first century Europe?

As the ongoing process of unification redraws Europe's borders, as the populations of major European cities become more and more diverse, the question of ethnicity is at the forefront of many of the most important debates on the continent. On the one hand the long history of European national and ethnic identities is at play, as is the legacy of colonialism. On the other, a significant recent upswing in the movement of peoples around the globe has changed the face of Europe, often literally. Movement, of course, from outside Europe's borders into European states. But also, and crucially, movement within the space between Portugal and the Urals. Such movement certainly responds to a number of economic and social needs. At the same time, European conceptions of citizenship, equity, and nationhood often exist in tension with the realities of changing ethnic populations.

The conference "Ethnicity in the New Europe" at Stanford will address this topic in an interdisciplinary manner. Participants will focus on the question: "What's new about the situation in Europe today?" Bringing together scholars from different disciplines, the conference will provide a historical perspective together with contributions addressing economic, social, cultural, and political issues. Some themes that may be discussed include: how the current situation mirrors or departs from the past; the role of the media in portraying the interaction between different groups; the different perspectives of specific populations within Europe; whether Europe's diversity is best described under the rubric of ethnicity, nationality, race, or some other term; similarities and differences between European nation-states with regard to diversity within their borders. Above all, participants will use their own disciplinary perspective to assess what is at stake in the interaction between peoples in Europe as the twenty-first century gets underway.

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The Transatlantic Agenda at the Start of the 21st Century

Conference in Honor of the 25th Anniversary of the Visiting Austrian Professorship at Stanford

Thursday, October 18

10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Session I: Managing the Global Economy

Lead Presenter: Ronald McKinnon, Stanford University, "The Evolving World Dollar Standard"

Panel: David Brady, Stanford University; Gerhard Hafner, University of Vienna; Stefan Schleicher, University of Graz

1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Session II: International Environmental Policy

Lead Presenter: John Weyant, Stanford University

Panel: Stefan Schleicher, University of Graz; Fritz Steinhausler, University of Salzburg

4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Session III: European Security Policy

Lead Presenter: Hanspeter Neuhold, University of Vienna

Panel: Heinz Gaertner, Stanford University; David Holloway, Stanford University; Fritz Steinhausler, University of Salzburg

7:00 p.m

Dinner

Westin Hotel, El Camino Real, Palo Alto

Speaker: Gerhard Casper

Friday, October 19

8:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

Session IV: Trade and Society

Lead Presenter: Tim Josling, Stanford University, "Biotech Regulations in the US and Europe: Consumer Protection or Consumer Protectionism"

Panel: John Barton, Stanford University

10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Session V: Development of Democracy in Europe

Lead Presenter: Christophe Crombez, Stanford University, "Democracy in the European Union"

Panel: Coit Blacker, Stanford University; Roberto D'Alimonte, Stanford University

2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Session VI: Roundtable on the Future of Transatlantic Relationship

Chair and Moderator: Bill Perry, Stanford University

Panel: Mike McFaul, Stanford University; Hanspeter Neuhold, University of Vienna; Gerhard Hafner, University of Vienna

4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Follow-up session on future Stanford/Austria research collaboration

Daniel and Nancy Okimoto Conference Room

Conferences

Siegfried Fina

Stanford Law School
Transatlantic Technology Law Forum
559 Nathan Abbott Way
Stanford, CA 94305-8610

(650) 723-8532
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Distinguished Austrian Chair Professor (2010)
Visiting Professor, Stanford Law School
fina_kl_245x331.jpg JD, J.S.D

Siegfried Fina is co-director of the Stanford-Vienna Transatlantic Technology Law Forum (a joint venture of Stanford Law School and the University of Vienna School of Law) and an associate professor of European Union Law and Technology Law at the University of Vienna School of Law in Austria. His work focuses on the business-related and the technology-related law and policy of the European Union as well as on the legal aspects of the EU-U.S. trade and the economic governance issues of the transatlantic marketplace.

Until 2002, Fina was an associate professor of law at the Vienna University of Technology. He also is an adjunct associate professor of law at Danube University Krems in Austria. He is a member of the board of directors of the International Federation for European Law (FIDE) and a member of the European Union Studies Association of the U.S. and Austria. Fina received a JD and JSD from the University of Vienna School of Law. In addition, he received a Diploma in Business Administration from the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, a Diploma in Political Science from the University of Vienna Department of Government and Political Science, and a post-graduate Diploma in International Studies from the University of Vienna.

Co-Director, Stanford-Vienna Transatlantic Technology Law Forum
Europe Center Research Affiliate
Associate Professor of Law, University of Vienna, Austria

The Long Way West: A Farewell to the German Question

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Professor Winkler portrays the 'German Question" through the lens of history in the past 150 years. He examines a variety of key issues that have arisen throughout German history and acknowledges that this 'German Question' period has come to an end. Professor Winkler also looks to Germany's future in Europe.

Synopsis

To Prof. Winkler, the reunification of Germany in 1990 resolved the ‘German Question.’ However, he argues that it has been a question not just since World War I but since the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. Prof. Winkler believes that this event was not simply a struggle for territory but also involved striving for unity and freedom. These two key values, which Prof. Winkler emphasizes throughout his lecture, can be characterized by a constitutional nation-state. Prof. Winkler explains that although the 1848 Revolution was a failure, it was a step forward in that Germany realized that Austria was not going to be part of this nation-state when it would be created. Prof. Winkler cites that in creating the Prussian nation-state in 1871, Bismarck took care of the unity aspect. However, “parliamentization,” as he Prof. Winkler puts it, only occurred in 1918. He argues that this democratization of post-World War I Germany helped Hitler’s rise to power and then collapsed once Hitler started taking control of the government.

However, Prof. Winkler explains that Hitler’s fall initiated a learning process for the German people that was even more severe than after 1918, but this time not all had the chance to turn to democracy. Although many Germans longed to be reunited with their compatriots, a new mission for European integration of West Germany arose in as early as the late 1940s. Prof. Winkler explains it was an intellectual movement, primarily advanced by Catholic conservatives, which gradually shifted more to the middle and left. By 1986, this movement had shifted thoroughly left, at a time where many Germans had come to feel that the separation of East and West Germany was necessary, pointing to Auschwitz to support their point.

Prof. Winkler argues that once the Berlin Wall fell, the post-national identity that West Germany had created still remained. This created issues with many desiring European integration before German reunification. However, Prof. Winkler explains this notionwas argued down by notables such as Willy Brandt, who felt the guilt of World War II could not fade through indefinite division. Prof. Winkler argues that once Germany was reunified, although post-war guilt still remained, it had finally achieved unity and freedom, thus resolving the ‘German Question.’ Prof. Winkler finishes by revealing his belief in the uniqueness of German history in that while it belonged to the West, it had continually rejected the democratic enlightenment. Prof. Winkler emphasizes his belief that it is time for Germany to understand its history in order to know where ti stands now and how it can contribute to Europe. He argues that the way Germany confronts its history will be “crucial” to Europe as well.

About the speaker

Heinrich August Winkler studied history, philosophy, and public law in Tubingen, Heidelberg, and Munster. He was associate professor at the Freie Universitat in Berlin in 1970-72 and then professor of modern history in Freiburg until 1991. He has been at the Humboldt-Universitat in Berlin since 1992, and has been a visiting scholar in Princeton, at the Wilson Center in Washington, at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Berlin, and at the Historisches Kolleg in Munich. He is the author of numerous works including "Germany: The Long Road West," for which he won the Friedrich Schiedel Prize for Literature in 2002.

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Heinrich August Winkler Speaker
Seminars

Jewish Life in Berlin and Germany Today

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Hermann Simon is a historian and director of the New Synagogue Berlin-Centrum Judaicum Foundation. From 1988 to 1995 he supervised the restoration of the historical building which houses the New Synagogue. He read history and oriental studies at the Humboldt University in Berlin, and undertook graduate work on oriental numismatics in Prague, receiving his doctorate in 1976. From 1977 to 1988 he was active in this field, working as curator of oriental coins at the Bode Museum and as Director of Public Relations at the Staatliche Museen, Berlin. He has directed numerous exhibitions at the New Synagogue Berlin-Centrum Judaicum Foundation and elsewhere.

Dr. Simon has authored numerous articles on the history of Jews in Germany and numismatics as well as the book Das Berliner Jüdische Museum in der Oranienburger Straße, the third edition of which appeared in 2000. He is editor of the book series, Jewish Memoirs and Jewish Miniatures, and coeditor of the book series Jews in Berlin (with Andreas Nachama and Julius Schoeps).

Dr. Simon's wife, Deborah Simon, will also be at this seminar. Ms. Simon studied translation and interpreting (English and Spanish) at Humboldt University in Berlin. She has spent her working life teaching German-English translation at her alma mater. Besides translating numerous articles, Ms. Simon has created teaching materials for a variety of university courses in translation studies.

Sponsored by the Forum on Contemporary Europe, the Taube Center for Jewish Studies, and the German Consulate of San Francisco.

CISAC Conference Room

Hermann Simon Director of the New Synagogue Berlin - Centrum Judaicum Foundation Speaker
Seminars

The Proliferation of Investment Dispute Settlement Mechanisms - The Threat of Fragmentation or a Promise of a More Effective System?

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The current boom of investment arbitration under NAFTA as well as ICSID and other arbitral regimes has demonstrated that the enforcement of treaty obligations has become a standard feature of international law in this particular field of international economic law. The increased probability of actual enforcement of international standards of investment protection is generally welcomed in a system, such as the international legal order, which normally suffers from rather weak enforcement structures. At the same time, the proliferation of investment dispute settlement mechanisms bears its own risks. The concurrent availability of different investment dispute settlement mechanisms may lead to parallel proceedings or to the re-litigation of already decided cases. The CME/Lauder v. Czech Republic arbitrations where the same dispute was arbitrated under two different bilateral investment agreements and the CMS v. Argentina and the LG&E v. Argentina cases where similar issues were addressed demonstrate the inherent danger of a multiplication of procedures if the answers found by different tribunals are contradictory. The proliferation of investment disputes has broader structural implications which need to be addressed in order to secure the viability of this system of international arbitration.

August Reinisch is professor of public international law and European law at the University of Vienna. From 2004 to 2006 he served as Dean for International Relations of the Law School of the University of Vienna. He is also a professional lecturer at the Bologna Center/SAIS of Johns Hopkins University. He currently serves as arbitrator on the In Rem Restitution Panel according to the Austrian General Settlement Fund Law 2001 and as president of an UNCITRAL investment arbitration.

He holds Master's degrees in philosophy (1990) and in law (1988) as well as a doctorate in law (1991) from the University of Vienna and an LL.M. (1989) from NYU Law School. He is admitted to the Bar of New York and Connecticut (since 1990).

Encina Ground Floor Conference Room

August Reinisch Speaker University of Vienna School of Law, Section Program on International Investment Law in International Arbitral Practice
Seminars

Germany in Crisis? Reflections on Recent Developments in the Party System

Born in 1930, Kurt H. Biedenkopf studied political science at Davidson College, North Carolina, concentrated in law at universities in Munich and Frankfurt, earned his Doctor of Laws in 1958 and received his Master of Law from Georgetown University in 1962. His teaching career began at Ruhr University Bochum in 1963 as Professor of Law and served as Rector from 1967 to 1969. From 1968 to 1970, Professor Biedenkopf chaired the Federal Government Commission on Co-determination and from 1970 to 1973, he was Executive Board member of the Henkel Corporation in Dusseldorf.

Kurt Biedenkopf has held numerous positions in the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, including General Secretary (1973-1977), Vice President (1977-1983), and President of North Rhine-Westphalia Regional Association (1977-1987). From 1976 to 1980, and again from 1987-1990, Professor Biedenkopf was a member of the Federal Parliament (Bundestag) and in 1977, he served as Chairman of the Institute for Economic and Social Policy in Bonn. From 1980 to 1988, he was a member of the Regional Parliament (Landtag) of North Rhine-Westphalia. Besides he published several books and was awarded honorary doctorates by Davidson College, Georgetown University and Catholic University by Brussels.

In 1990 during the transitional period to democracy and market economy he was Guest Professor of Law at Leipzig University. In this time he was leading the Christian Democratic Union of Saxony to success in the in the first free election after German unification 1990. Since he has been a member of the Regional Parliament and sworn in as first Minister President of Saxony. His re-election was on October 6, 1994, and once again on September 9, 1999. Since November 1, 1999 (until October 31, 2000), he is President of the Deutscher Bundesrat.

Walter P. Falcon Lounge

Seminars
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