Many of the problems we face today cannot be solved without cooperation across nations, religions, and social classes. Yet traditional forms of solidarity such as the international labor movement have lost their force. Into the resulting void have come reawakened nationalisms whose leaders — all their protectionist and isolationist slogans notwithstanding — have sought to generate solidarity among the like-minded in other countries. How have rightwing populists managed to hijack and redefine the idea of solidarity? And why have cosmopolitan universalists been unable to provide convincing responses to global challenges? Can new forms of solidarity be found that go beyond the interests of particular groups? Doing so in this day and age will undoubtedly demand a high degree of political imagination — all the more reason to start trying now.
 
Conception: Dominic Bonfiglio and Susan Neiman, Potsdam
Participants: Aleida Assmann, Konstanz; Pietro Bartolo, Lampedusa; Omri Boehm, New York; Mischa Gabowitsch, Potsdam; Konstanty Gebert, Warsaw; Carey Harrison, New York; Stephen Holmes, New York; Alexander Koch, Berlin; Ivan Krastev, Vienna; Thomas Meaney, Caputh; Diana Pinto, Paris; Jennifer Stollman, Oxford/Miss.