WWWforEurope Lecture Series

Sustainability and the Future of US-European Relations

Thomas Ferguson & Heinz Gärtner

Two Perspectives

July 9^th, 2013, 13:15 – 15:00

WIFO, Objekt 20, Arsenal

“An analysis of political contributions in the 2012 election shows that a bloc of industries with obvious concerns about climate issues, including oil, chemicals, paper, and mining, has formed. This bloc overwhelmingly supported Republican candidates at both presidential and congressional levels. […] Its steadfast opposition to action on climate change plays a major role in the political polarization that now paralyzes American politics.”

Thomas Ferguson, Professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, is the author of the investment theory of party competition. He is Director of Research at the Institute for New Economic Thinking and Senior Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute. He wrote several books, including Golden Rule and Right Shift about the American political system.

“Since the end of the Bush administration there has been an international debate on what kind of world will emerge. Where is Europe in this debate? Among American academics Europe plays only a marginal role. Their main concerns are the decline of America and the rise of China.”

Heinz Gärtner, Professor of Political Science at the University of Vienna, is the academic director of the Austrian Institute of International Affairs. As an expert on European and US-American foreign policy, he has most recently been engaged in research on the Obama-administration, a topic on which he published several books.

Commentary by Angela Köppl

Senior Researcher at Austrian Institute of Economic Research

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