The Rule of Law and Checks and Balances under Attack

In Hungary, key pillars of the rule of law and the system of checks and balances have already been systematically dismantled. In the United States, government agencies are being destructed or forced into political conformity at an alarming pace. In many respects, the separation of powers is at risk.

Where is the U.S. heading? What are the repercussions of these developments in Hungary and the U.S. for Germany and the European Union? And how can the rule of law, checks and balances, and fundamental rights be better guarded and sustained?

Panel discussion with: 

• Reinhard Bütikofer, former Member of the European Parliament (Greens/EFA)
• Prof. Dr. Jan-Werner Müller, Professor of Social Sciences and Politics, Princeton University
• Prof. Dr. Kim Lane Scheppele, Professor of Sociology and International Affairs, Princeton University
• Dr. Petra Thorbrietz, Journalist and Author

Moderator: Dr. Dietrich Herrmann, Heinrich-Böll-Foundation
 

Reinhard Bütikofer, former long-serving member of the European Parliament for the Greens/EFA Group, is an expert on both the United States and China. He brings deep insight into the systemic challenges facing liberal democracies and the urgent need to make them more resilient.

Jan-Werner Müller, political scientist at Princeton University and author of What is Populism (2016) and Democracy Rules? (2021) is a first-hand observer of current attempts by Donald Trump and his allies to bring an authoritarian regime into political conformity.

Kim Lane Scheppele, expert in sociology of law, is familiar with constitutional developments in both Hungary and the United States from personal experience. She is a regular contributor to Verfassungsblog.

Petra Thorbrietz, journalist and author, has chronicled the gradual, systematic dismantling of constitutional principles in Hungary in her recent book Wir werden Europa erobern! Ungarn, Viktor Orbán und die unterwanderte Demokratie (2025).

This event is organized in cooperation with the European Union and North America Division at the Heinrich Böll Foundation.

Language: The event will be simultaneously interpreted into English and German

Contact:
Dr. Dietrich Herrmann
Referat Staat, Verwaltung und Parteien
E Dietrich.Herrmann@BOELL.DE 
T 030-28534-253 

» Participation on site
at the the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Conference Center, Schumannstr. 8, 10117 Berlin

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