Join us for an engaging lecture on Radical Self-Determination: The Case of Berkeley, California by Dr. John Bendix M.P.P. '82, Lecturer in the Department of Political Science at the University of Zürich and a member of the Berkeley Club of Switzerland.

His lecture is part of an interdisciplinary series considering what Selbstbestimmung - self-determination - and Fremdbestimmung  (a term which lacks a good English equivalent, interestingly) mean. Berkeley politics are marked by a strong sense of outrage about the state of the world, and the city has thus - for decades - passed resolutions not just condemning actions the U.S. government takes but the actions of foreign governments as well, most recently of Myanmar, Venezuela and Israel. These condemnations are not just empty, they have both direct and indirect effects on doing business in Berkeley itself. The talk examines where this fervor comes from, the intersection between the town and the University of California at Berkeley – the radicalism on its campus long ago spilled over into the city of Berkeley - and the extent to which radical self-determination can become an effort to determine the actions of others.  In other words, a curious case of Selbstbestimmung turning into Fremdbestimmung.

More about the speaker:
Dr. John Bendix was raised in Berkeley, finishing his high school education there and receiving his M.P.P from the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley in 1982. His Ph.D. in comparative politics and public administration was completed at Indiana University, Bloomington, and he subsequently taught political science at Reed, Bryn Mawr, and the University of Pennsylvania, as well as at Göttingen, Bamberg, Aachen and Innsbruck. For the last 10 years, he has taught politics at the Universität Zürich.

Important: Note that a valid Covid-19 Certificate will be required to attend this event.