Following the first workshop in our „The New Space Age“ series at the Schader Foundation in January, we (the SichTRaum network, that is) just had our second workshop, this time on space sustainability, a topic that I myself keep coming back to. And despite a mass transit workers‘ strike, we had the best hybrid workshop I can remember. Over at Heise Online, Hans-Arthur Marsiske has again provided a very nice write-up (in German). Our third and final workshop in October will be on visions and utopias, a topic that has come up repeatedly during the first two events already.
PD Dr. Daniel Lambach
In 2020, me and four other authors (Markus Bayer, Felix Bethke, Matteo Dressler and Véronique Dudouet) published a book called Nonviolent Resistance and Democratic Consolidation. It was the culmination of a four-year research effort into how and why mass nonviolent resistance during transition helps the resulting democracies survive longer and be stronger than democracies that emerged through top-down liberalization or those rare cases where violent resistance actually led to democracy. Last year, the publisher approached us. They were testing AI translation tools (specifically DeepL) and wanted to create a German version of our book. Somewhat sceptically, we agreed. The raw…
The publication of my Flipped Classroom Workbook earlier this week has generated quite a bit of interest. I’ve received several messages expressing gratitude (much appreciated, thanks everyone!) and several suggestions for improvement. So I decided to quickly pick up on these suggestions while the topic is still fresh in my mind. Hence, without further ado, here is V2 of the Flipped Classroom Workbook! Flipped Classroom Workbook V2 (docx) Flipped Classroom Workbook V2 (pdf) The Workbook is released under Creative Commons license so feel free to download, copy, and share it to your heart’s content.
I may not be going to outer space, but I will be going to Bonn to talk about outer space, which is pretty great, too. 24 May, to be specific. CASSIS (the Center for Advanced Security, Strategic and Integration Studies) at Bonn University is organizing a lecture series called „Reach for the Stars“ and they’ve invited me to come and give a talk about an environmental perspective on outer space. Here’s the pitch: The problem of space debris has been known to experts and politicians for decades. As early as 1978, the dangers of a collision cascade of satellites and…
The „New Space Age“ series continues! On 27 March 2023, the second workshop takes place at the Schader Foundation in Darmstadt. It’s still possible to sign up (apart from the ESOC visit, where the deadline has passed) at https://www.schader-stiftung.de/veranstaltungen/aktuell/artikel/das-neue-weltraumzeitalter-zweiter-workshop. The focus of this workshop moves from issues of space safety and space security to the no less important challenge of space sustainability. Numerous satellites are placed in orbit by public organisations and private companies. Their remnants later orbit the Earth as space debris and endanger other objects or future space stations. At the same time, moons and asteroids are becoming…
In addition to my political science research, I am also interested in the scholarship and practice of teaching & learning. A decade ago, I became interested in the flipped classroom. I implemented in my own teaching and, together with colleagues like Caroline Kärger and Achim Goerres, began to write about it. Nowadays, I run flipped classroom workshops for other higher ed professionals. To help workshop participants flip their classes I’ve put together a Flipped Classroom Workbook that guides them through the process. I’m releasing it under a Creative Commons NC-BY-SA 4.0 license so you can download and share it for…
Why do we have the kinds of actors in global politics that we have? States, international organizations, transnational corporations, civil society organizations, experts – all of these are well accepted without question. Just open a textbook or ask a political scientist and these entities will be mentioned. But why do we have these „global governors“ and not others? In the past, nobility had a similar kind of international agency and nobles were frequently called upon to mediate in inter-state disputes. Not any longer. Clearly, global political agency is something contingent and evolving. Matthias Hofferberth and I had started to think about…
Digital sovereignty is the topic that keeps on giving. I’ve just uploaded a preprint of another paper I co-wrote with the wonderful Linda Monsees. After our very successful collaboration on the geopolitical imaginaries behind EU digital sovereignty practices, which was published in European Security last year, we have extended this line of inquiry further. Our new paper, „Beyond Sovereignty as Authority: The Multiplicity of European Approaches to Digital Sovereignty“, identifies four ideas behind European aspirations for digital sovereignty. Here’s the abstract: Digital Sovereignty is core to many contemporary debates on the regulation of digital technology, securing supply chains and strengthening the…
So, apparently Kai Oppermann’s and my paper „Narratives of Digital Sovereignty in German Political Discourse“ is a top-cited paper for the 2021-2022 period in the journal Governance! And I have to be honest – that gave me a little thrill. I’m never too old to enjoy a pat on the head. It is certainly one of my papers that has generated the most responses. At digital policy meetings and conferences, I’ve had repeated cases of people saying that they read and liked it. Which is, of course, enormously gratifying, given how little attention most other academic articles get. It is…
In February 2023, US forces shot down a total of four flying objects over North America in quick succession. Since much is unclear so far, here are the known facts (as of 20 Feb 2023) first: # Altitude Date Crash site Aftermath 1 18,000m 4 Feb 2023 US territorial waters off North Carolina Debris was salvaged 2 12,000m 10 Feb 2023 US territorial waters off the North coast of Alaska Arctic conditions preclude salvage 3 12,000m 11 Feb 2023 Yukon Territory, Canada Crash site in mountainous terrain, debris not found 4 6,000m 12 Feb 2023 Lake Huron, Canada Crash site…