The Transatlantic Law Forum (TLF), a joint initiative of the American Enterprise Institute and the Council on Public Policy (Bayreuth, Germany), and the Federalist Society will host its Fifth Annual Conference: America, EU Confront Constitutionalism in Crisis at Bucerius Law School in Hamburg, Germany Oct. 28-29, 2011.
Constitutions imply a long-term perspective: they seek to establish effective political institutions and to limit the vagaries of politics over the long haul. The American Founders made their ambition explicit in the Constitution’s Preamble, which promises to “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.” A similar impulse, though, also propelled the endeavor to establish a European Constitution a decade ago. After decades of groping towards an “ever-closer union” and the piecemeal construction of an unwieldy intergovernmental apparatus, the time had come to let the peoples of Europe know where the enterprise was headed and to establish a firmer, more democratic and functional framework of government.
For all their great and manifold differences, the American and the European projects both now confront fundamental challenges that appear to raise serious doubts about the continued relevance and viability of constitutionalism and constitutional order, as those terms have traditionally been understood. Some of those challenges are particular to the EU and the United States; others have manifested themselves on both sides of the Atlantic.
The Transatlantic Law Forum (TLF), a joint initiative of the American Enterprise Institute (Washington, D.C.) and the Council on Public Policy (Bayreuth, Germany), will discuss these issues ranging from bank bailouts to the constitutional implications of the crisis of the welfare state, from the role of constitutional courts and the question of whether constitutional democracies can still be governed. The event is co-sponsored by the Federalist Society.
Wolfgang Ischinger, former German Ambassador to the United States, will deliver a keynote dinner speech. Confirmed conference speakers include:
Francois-Henri Briard, Delaporte, Briard et Trichet
Robin Conrad, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Kenneth Dam, University of Chicago Law School
Nicholas Eberstadt, American Enterprise Institute
Robert R. Gasaway, Kirkland & Ellis
Katja Gelinsky, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Charles Goodhart, London School of Economics
C. Boyden Gray, Boyden Gray & Associates
Michael S. Greve, American Enterprise Institute
Donald Horowitz, Duke University
Christian Kirchner, Humboldt University
Martin Klingst, Die Zeit
Hans-Ulrich Klose, German Bundestag
Alberto Mingardi, Istituto Bruno Leoni
Kenneth Minogue, London School of Economics
Henry Olsen, American Enterprise Institute/ National Research Initiative
Alex Pollock, American Enterprise Institute
Jeremy Rabkin, George Mason Law School
Krassen Stanchev, Institute for Market Economics
Alastair Sutton, Sutton European Legal Services
Vito Tanzi, International Monetary Fund
Claus Tigges, Deutsche Bundesbank
Michael Wohlgemuth, Walter Eucken Institut
Michael Zöller, Council on Public Policy
The official conference program, which will detail the conference panels and provide biographies for all speakers, will be sent at the beginning of September.
We hope that you will be able to join us for this important event.
For more information, please contact:
Elizabeth DeMeo
The American Enterprise Institute
1150 Seventeenth Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20036
Telephone: 202-862-4876
E-mail: elizabeth.demeo@aei.org
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