- March 10, 2021
On March 10, 2021, the Aspen Institute Germany and the American Council on Germany launched the new virtual series „State-to-State: German-American State Legislator Dialogue.” The first event addressed “Digital Democracy: The Impact of Digitalization on Politics and Governance” with Assemblymember Marc Berman (D), California State Assembly, Daniel Karrais MdL (FDP), member of the State Parliament of Baden-Württemberg, and, Katharina Schulze MdL (Alliance 90/The Greens), member of the Bavarian State Parliament and Chairwoman of the Green Party Parliamentary Group in Bavaria. The coronavirus pandemic has forced politics to go virtual, accelerating the development of new digital formats in political communication, campaigning, party organization, legislative processes, and political participation. But even before COVID-19, digitalization efforts played a major role in the debate on how to strengthen democracy and the political discourse. The three state legislators addressed both opportunities and challenges that come with an increasingly digitized democracy and shared their own experiences and visions for a digital future. Topics discussed included digital ways of political participation, digital communication strategies, data protection, cybersecurity, and digital infrastructure.
This event is part of the „State-to-State: German-American State Legislator Dialogue” which the Aspen Institute Germany and the American Council on Germany have launched to further explore collaboration at the state-level. Together, it is our goal to provide a platform for subnational exchange and in-depth discussions amongst German and American state legislators and a broader audience on common transatlantic challenges in times when national governments are increasingly dominated by political polarization, crisis management, and partisan gridlock. The project builds on Aspen Germany’s Laboratories of Democracy Initiative, a transatlantic exchange program for German and American state legislators.
