Annual Theme 2026

Defining Democracy – Describing Democracies – Comparing Democracies

The inaugural theme of the Hannah Arendt Fellowships explores democracy simultaneously as a historical experience and an evolving social practice. Rather than treating democracy as a single normative ideal, the programme approaches it as a multifaceted phenomenon that has taken different forms across times and societies, and that continues to transform dynamically today. The objective is to analyse democracy both in its historical depth and its global diversity.

This tripartite framework provides a structuring impulse for diverse disciplinary approaches across the humanities and social sciences. It encompasses the conceptual history of what democracy was, is, or could be, the analysis of institutional orders and forms of participation, and the exploration of ancient, pre-modern, or non-Western democratic traditions. It also addresses contemporary tensions such as the relationship between democracy and authoritarianism, disinformation, representation, or the role of media, language, and symbolism in democratic life.