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Photo B. Vormann

Publications

In Democracy in Crisis (Penn University Press, 2019), we argue that the rise of populism in North Atlantic states is not the cause of a crisis of governance but its result. This crisis has been many decades in the making and is intricately linked to the rise of a certain type of political philosophy and practice in which economic rationality has hollowed out political values and led to an impoverishment of the political sphere more broadly. The process began in the 1980s, when the United States and Great Britain decided to unleash markets in the name of economic growth and democracy. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, several countries in Europe followed suit and marketized their educational, social, and healthcare systems, which in turn increased inequality and fragmentation. The result has been a collapse of social cohesion and trust that the populists promise to address but only make worse.

In the midst of renationalization tendencies and a looming climate catastrophe, new counter-movements stress the potentials of a sustainable, green economy. As the essays in Contours of the Illiberal State (Campus/The University of Chicago Press, 2019) contend, any democratic project that seeks a 'green new deal' will need to transcend the bareknuckle technological utopias of the smart economy. Foregrounding the role of state work and labor in global production networks, this book dissects the ways in which the US state, often presumed to be the most-liberal and least-interventionist of all contexts, has in fact always been more than just a market fixer. Its role as an enabler, shaper and developer of markets raises pertinent questions of social justice and political legitimacy in rapidly changing worlds of work.

 


Books

 

Vormann, Boris, with Christian Lammert. 2019. Democracy in Crisis: The Neoliberal Roots of Popular Unrest. University of Pennsylvania Press: Philadelphia, PA.

 

–––, with Christian Lammert. (eds.). 2019. Contours of the Illiberal State: Governing Circulation in the Smart Economy. Campus/The University of Chicago Press.

 

–––, with Lammert, Christian. 2017. Die Krise der Demokratie und wie wir sie überwinden. Berlin: Aufbau.

 

–––, with Lammert, Christian and Siewert, Markus (eds.). 2016. Handbuch Politik USA. Springer VS: Wiesbaden.

 

–––. 2015. Global Port Cities in North America: Urbanization Processes and Global Production Networks. New York and London: Routledge.

 

–––. 2012. Zwischen Alter und Neuer Welt. Nationenbildung im transatlantischen Raum. Synchron Publishers: Heidelberg.

 

–––, with Kolboom, Ingo and Gagnon, Alain-G. (eds.). 2011. Québec. Staat und Gesellschaft. Synchron Publishers: Heidelberg.

 

 

Chapters and Articles (peer-reviewed*)

 

Vormann, Boris. 2020. Zwischen Stadt und Zentralstaat: Metropolregionale Akteure im US Föderalismus." In: Vormann, Boris et al. (eds.): Handbuch Politik USA. 2. Auflage. Wiesbaden: Springer VS. [in print]

 

–––, and Christian Lammert. 2020. "Protest und Reaktion: Das Potenzial zur demokratischen Selbsterneuerung." In: Vormann, Boris et al. (eds.): Handbuch Politik USA. 2. Auflage. Wiesbaden: Springer VS. [in print]

 

–––, and Christian Lammert. 2020. "Kommunen als Versuchsräume der Demokratie." In: Vormann, Boris et al. (eds.): Handbuch Politik USA. 2. Auflage. Wiesbaden: Springer VS. [in print]

 

–––, and Christian Lammert. 2020. "Of, for, and by the people: Demokratie und Ungleichheit in den USA." In: Vormann, Boris et al. (eds.): Handbuch Politik USA. 2. Auflage. Wiesbaden: Springer VS. [in print]

 

–––. 2019. "Das Ende der Geographie? Globalisierung und staatliche Infrastrukturregime." In: Helmut Aust and Hans Christian Röhl (eds.). Globalisierungsprozesse und das Recht der kommunalen Selbstverwaltung. [in print]

 

–––. 2019, and Christian Lammert. "When Inequalities Matter Most: The Crisis of Democracy as a Crisis of Trust. In: Michael Oswald (ed.) Mobilization, Representation and Responsiveness in the American Democracy", Palgrave Macmillan. [in print]

 

–––. 2019. "Governing Transactional Environments: Urban Networks, Transport Systems, and the Tenacity of the Westphalian Order." Helmut Aust and Janne Nijman (eds.) Research Handbook on International Law and Cities. Edward Elgar. [in print]

 

 –––, and Michael Weinman. 2019. "The Good City and its True Costs: Planetary Urbanization through an Aristotelian Lens." In: Gregor Fitzi, Jürgen Mackert und Brian S. Turner: Successful Cities – Crises of Citizenship. New York, NY: Routledge. [in print]

 

–––, and Christian Lammert. 2019. "Assembling the Smart Economy: A Typology of State Intervention Patterns." In: Vormann, Boris and Christian Lammert (eds.). Contours of the Illiberal State: Governing Circulation in the Smart Economy. Campus/The University of Chicago Press, 11-35.

 

–––. 2019. "City Limits: Sustainable Urban Governance in Planetary Infrastructural Regimes." In: Helmut Aust and Anél Du Plessis (eds.). The Globalization of Urban Governance. New York: Routledge, 65-84.

 

–––, and Christian Lammert. 2019. "Assembling the Smart Economy: A Typology of State Intervention Patterns." In: Vormann, Boris and Christian Lammert (eds.). Contours of the Illiberal State: Governing Circulation in the Smart Economy. Campus/The University of Chicago Press, 11-35.

 

–––, and Hillary Angelo. 2018. "Long Waves of Urban Reform: Putting the Smart City in its Place." City: Analysis of Urban Trends, Culture, Theory, Policy, Action: 1-20.*

 

–––. 2018. "When Private Vice hurts Public Virtue: Of Elephants, Blind Men, and the Politics of Market Failure." Economy and Society 47 (4): 607-626.*

 

––– and Christian Lammert. 2018. "The Heavenly Chorus Sings with a Strong Upper-class Accent: Geld und Lobbyismus in der US Politik." In Patrick Horst, Frank Decker and Philipp Adorf (eds.). Die USA - eine scheiternde Demokratie? Frankfurt/New York: Campus, 235-252.

 

–––, and Ingo Kolboom. 2018. "Frankophonie: Kulturelle Makro-Region und Global Player." In: Oberreuter, Heinrich (ed.) Staatslexikon. 8. Auflage. Görres-Gesellschaft, 827-830.

 

–––. 2018. "Am Ende des Dritten Weges: Abkehr vom Liberalismus?" In: Oswald, Michael und Winand Gellner (eds.). Die gespaltenen Staaten von Amerika. Die Wahl Donald Trumps und die Folgen für Politik und Gesellschaft. Wiesbaden: Springer, 223-236.

 

–––, and Patrick DeDauw. 2018. "Off Shore: The Sustainable City and its Logistical Costs." In: Jason Monios and Gordon Wilmsmeier (eds.). Maritime Mobilities. Routledge: New York, 75-90.

 

2018. "Greater than the Sum of its Parts. The Unrealized Potentials of Interdisciplinary Area Studies." In: Frank Kelleter and Alexander Starre (eds.). Projecting American Studies. Essays on Theory, Method, and Practice. Universitätsverlag C. Winter: Heidelberg, 183-196.

 

–––. 2018. "Am Ende des Dritten Weges: Abkehr vom Liberalismus?" In: Oswald, Michael und Winand Gellner (eds.). Die gespaltenen Staaten von Amerika. Die Wahl Donald Trumps und die Folgen für Politik und Gesellschaft. Wiesbaden: Springer, 223-236.

 

–––, and Patrick DeDauw. 2018. "Off Shore: The Sustainable City and its Logistical Costs." In: Jason Monios and Gordon Wilmsmeier (eds.). Maritime Mobilities. Routledge: New York, 75-90.

 

–––, and Christian Lammert 2017. "Region Nordamerika." In Simon Koschut (ed.). Regionen und Regionalismus in den Internationalen Beziehungen. Springer VS: Wiesbaden, 113-126.

 

–––. 2016. "Urban Diversity: Disentangling the Cultural and the Economic Case." New Diversities 17 (2): 119-129.*

 

–––. 2016. "Beneath and Beyond the Sustainable City." In: Gersdorf, Catrin and Juliane Braun (eds.) America After Nature: Democracy, Culture, Environment. Universitätsverlag C. Winter: Heidelberg, 221-242.

 

–––. 2016. "Stadt- und Regionalpolitik in den USA: Globale Ströme und lokale Verankerung." In: Vormann, Boris; Lammert, Christian; Siewert, Markus (eds.). Handbuch Politik USA. Springer VS: Wiesbaden, 403-420. ["Urban and Regional Politics in the United States"]

 

–––, and Christian Lammert. 2016. "Gesellschaft in der Krise? Neue Ungleichheiten in den USA." In: Vormann, Boris; Lammert, Christian; Siewert, Markus (eds.). Handbuch Politik USA. Springer VS: Wiesbaden, 601-616. ["A Society in Crisis? New Inequalities in the United States"]

 

–––, and Christian Lammert. 2016. "Kommunalpolitik in den USA." In: Vormann, Boris; Lammert, Christian; Siewert, Markus (eds.). Handbuch Politik USA. Springer VS: Wiesbaden, 225-240. ["Local Government in the United States"]

 

–––, Lammert, Christian and Markus Siewert. 2016. "Fremde Vertraute: Die Politik der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika." In: Vormann, Boris; Lammert, Christian; Siewert, Markus (eds.). Handbuch Politik USA. Springer VS: Wiesbaden, 1-12. ["Intimate Strangers: Politics in the United States of America"]

 

–––. 2015. "Infrastructures of the Global: Adding a Third Dimension to Urban Sustainability Discourses." European Journal of American Studies 10 (3): 2-11.*

 

–––. 2015. “Toward an Infrastructural Critique of Urban Change. Obsolescence and Changing Perceptions of New York City’s Waterfront.” CITY 19 (2-3), 332-340.*

 

–––, with Christian Lammert. 2015. “New Chances for Accommodation in Canada: Has Quebecois Separatism Run its Course?” Zeitschrift für Kanadastudien 35, 45-62.*

 

 –––. 2014. “Who Needs American Studies? Globalization, Nationalism, and the Future of Area Studies.” American Studies / Amerikastudien 59 (3).*

 

–––, with Gina Caison. 2014. “The Logics and Logistics of Urban Progress. Contradictions and Conceptual Challenges of the Global North-South-Divide.” Global South, 65-83.*

 

–––, with Christian Lammert. 2014. “A Paradoxical Relationship? Regionalization and Canadian National Identity.” American Review of Canadian Studies 44 (4), 385-399.*

 

–––. 2014. "Infrastrukturen der globalen Stadt. Widersprüche des urbanen Nachhaltigkeitsdiskurses am Beispiel Vancouvers." Zeitschrift für Kanadastudien 34, 62-86.*

 

–––. 2014. "Das Spiel mit dem Feuer. Von Staaten, Märkten und dem Siegeszug der Austerität." In: Blyth, Mark: Wie Europa sich kaputtspart. Die gescheiterte Idee der Austeritätspolitik. Dietz: Bonn, 9-15. ["Of States, Markets, and the Rise of Austerity"]

 

–––. 2014. "Diversität und Föderalismus im frühen 21. Jahrhundert. Eine deutsche Perspektive." In: Gagnon, Alain-G.: Das Zeitalter der Ungewissheiten. Essays über Föderalismus und nationale Diversität. Nomos: Baden-Baden, 9-23. ["Diversity and Federalism in the early 21st Century. A German Perspective"]

 

––– and Julia Püschel. 2012. "Grey Zones of the Market – Public Services, Education Policies, and Neoliberal Reform in the United Kingdom." In: Lall, Marie (ed.): Policy, Discourse and Rhetoric. How New Labour Challenged Social Justice and Democracy. Sense Publishers: Rotterdam/Boston/Taipei. 15-40.

 

–––. 2011. "Visibilizing Risk. Risk Perception and Maritime Infrastructure in the ‘War on Terror’." In: Fluck, Winfried; Motyl, Katharina; Pease, Donald; Raetzsch, Christoph (ed.): REAL Yearbook of Research in English and American Literature Vol 27. Gunter Narr Verlag: Tübingen, 2011. 317-335.

 

––– and Ingo Kolboom. 2011. "Québec – Ein Land zwischen nationaler Selbstbehauptung und Globalisierung. Einleitung zur deutschen Ausgabe." In: Vormann, Boris; Kolboom, Ingo; Gagnon, Alain-G. (eds.). Québec. Staat und Gesellschaft. Synchron Publishers: Heidelberg, 2011. ["Québec - A Country between National Affirmation and Globalization"]

 

–––, with Schillings, Sonja. 2013. "The Vanishing Poor. Frontier Narratives in U.S. Gentrification and Security Debates." Critical Planning: UCLA Urban Planning Journal 20, 145-165.*

 

 

 

Academic Translations (Books)

 

Blyth, Mark. 2014. Wie Europa sich kaputtspart. Die gescheiterte Idee der Austeritätspolitik. Dietz: Bonn. [Hans-Matthöfer-Preis für Wirtschaftspublizistik 2014]

 

Gagnon, Alain-G. 2014. Das Zeitalter der Ungewissheiten. Essays über Föderalismus und nationale Diversität. Nomos: Baden-Baden.

 

Vormann, Boris; Kolboom, Ingo; Gagnon, Alain-G. (eds.). 2011. Québec. Staat und Gesellschaft. Synchron Publishers: Heidelberg.

 

Conference Papers and Invited Talks*

 

 

2019

 

  • "Urbanization and Infrastructural Statecraft in the American Century." City Scripts, Universität Duisburg Essen, May 23.*
  • "Governing Transactional Environments." Asser Institute, The Hague; conference on Cities and International Law in the Urban Age, March 14.*
  •  "Failed Promises, True Grievances: Comparing Trumpism across the Atlantic." At conference on Conservatism and Reaction in Contemporary Politics [per video feed], Columbia University, Bard College, St. Petersburg State University.*
  • "Ist der Sumpf trocken gelegt? Präsident Trumps Agenda zur Halbzeit." DAZ Stuttgart, Jan 24.*
  • "The Crisis of Democracy: A Transatlantic Take." Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. Jan 22.*

 

2018

  • "What's Left? Progressive Politics After The US Midterms." Panel at the CIEE Global Institute. Nov 27.*
  • "After the US Congressional Elections." Panel at the Hans Seidel Stiftung. November 21.*
  • "Silver Lining or Silver Storm? Assessing the Midterm Elections" NYU Berlin, November 20.*
  • "Building the Global Economy: Infrastructural Statecraft and American Genesis." EES Colloquium, CUNY. November 15.*
  • "Administering Infrastructural Regimes: The Case of the US." Guest lecture, Urban School at Sciences Po Paris, November 12.*
  • "The Death of Liberalism and its Rebirth: Civil Society and Political Engagement." Panel at NYU Deutsches Haus. November 9.*
  • "Part 1: The Crisis of Democracy so Far." Hannah Arendt Center, Bard College, Annandale on Hudson, November 6.*
  • "Regimes of State-led Urbanization." Conference ‘Successful Cities – Crises of Citizenship?’ in Potsdam, September 7.*
  • "Public Good(s) and Private Data: A Dialogue on Infrastructures of Publics." With Christoph Raetzsch; Aarhus. SummerPIT, Aug 29.*
  • "Comments on Claus Offe’s talk: The liberal ‘democracy cube’ under the onslaught of populist politics." Hertie School of Gov., Apr 27.
  • "Die Krise als Chance." With Christian Lammert. Transatlantic Breakfast. Heinrich Böll Stiftung. Apr 11.
  • "Trumpismus und die Krise der Demokratie." Guest Seminar with Roger Berkowitz. Bard College Berlin. Feb 12.
  • "Varieties of Urbanization: The City in American Political Development." John-F.-Kennedy Institute for North American Studies, FU Berlin, Jan 24.*

 

2017

  • "Citizenship Arbitrage: The Logistics of Urbanization." Centre for Citizenship, Universität Potsdam, December 7.*
  •  "The Crisis of Democracy." DFJW/Tönnissteiner Kreis, Nov 3.*
  •  "Democratic Systems under Pressure – A Comparison of Different Systems and Their Challenges." Atlantische Akademie, Speyer, Oct 27.*
  •  "No alternative: How the third way became a dead end." Institute of Cultural Inquiry, Berlin, June 13.*
  •  "Checks and Balances – Analyse der außenpolitischen Kompetenzordnung in den USA." Bundesakademie für Sicherheitspolitik, Berlin, April 19.*
  •  "Supra-urbanization: Outline of a State Politics of Circulation." GKS Annual Conference, Grainau. Feb 18.
  •  "Am Ende des Dritten Weges: Abkehr vom wirtschaftspolitischen Liberalismus." Universität Passau, Feb 4.*

 

2016

  • "US-Präsidentschaftswahl Clinton vs. Trump." Dresden Gespräche, Oct 13.*
  • "Die USA vor der Wahl." Landeszentrale für politische Bildung Sachsen-Anhalt, Oct 7.*
  • "Growing Apart: Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft im Krisenmodus." Atlantische Akademie Summer School, Aug 3.*]
  • "Rights to the Streets: Transportation, Infrastructure, Politics." JFKI, GSNAS annual conference, June 3.*
  • "Municipal Finance. Making Finance Work for Cities." Metropolitan Solutions, Berlin, May 31.*
  • "Urban Landscapes of Creative Destruction." New York University, Apr 26.*
  • "Infrastructures of American Empire: State politics and the expansion of global trade networks." Max Planck Sciences Po Center (MaxPo), Paris, March 22.*
  •  "Sozialismus in den USA? Das Phänomen Bernie Sanders" Deutsch-Amerikanisches Zentrum / James-F.-Byrnes Institut, Stuttgart, February 17.*
  • "On ending history in the United States, 25 years onwards." Ringvorlesung FU Berlin, Jan 28.

 

2015

  • "’Einwanderungsland als Aufgabe der Kultur." PAP Branchentreffen, Aufbauhaus, 9.10.*
  • "How just is the sustainable city?" Fordham University, New York City, September 29.*
  • "Urban Diversity. A Cipher for the Market." Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity. Workshop: The Infrastructures of Diversity: Materiality and Culture in Urban Space, July 9-10.*
  • "Migration, Diversity, and Urban Design." TU München, May 27.*
  • "Revitalisierung und Gentrifizierung – Ein Blick über den Atlantik." Dialog Extrem, Chair for Urban Design and Urbanization, Technische Universität Berlin, April 15.*
  • "Accommodating Diversity: Models of Nationhood, Citizenship and Belonging in Canada." Annual Meeting of the Association for Canadian Studies in German-speaking Countries (GKS), Grainau, Feb 7.* [with Christian Lammert]

 

2014

 

  • "The State, the States, and the Problem of Trust." Ringvorlesung, JFKI, Dec 17.
  • "Fixing Infrastructure: Cities, States, and Globalization." International Lecture Series, Center for Metropolitan Studies, Technische Universität Berlin. Dec 2.*
  • "Market Failure: Global Cities, States, and the Financing of Networked Mobility Spaces." Looking Forward, 2014: Current Projects in American Studies, Nov 14, JFKI.*
  • "The Fall of theWall +25: What was Gained and at What Cost?" Brown University, Panel, Nov 3.*
  • "Workshop: US Politics and Policy after the Cold War." Political Science Colloquium, JFKI, Oct 21.
  • "Urbanität und Natur." Nordwind-Festival Urban Species, Berlin, Aug 16.*
  • "The Spatial Politics of the Triumphant City." 61st Annual Conference of the German Association for American Studies, "America After Nature: Democracy, Culture, Environment." Würzburg, June 12-15.
  • "Das Zeitalter der Ungewissheiten." Institut Français München, Feb 25.*
  • "Theses on Globalization and State-sponsored Mobilities." Interdisciplinary Forum, John-F.-Kennedy Institute for North American Studies, Freie Universität Berlin, Feb 12.
  • "Globalization and Urbanization: Global Cities in Global Production Networks." Guest Lecture at the University for Applied Sciences Berlin (HTW). Jan 10.*

 

2013

  • "Globalization, Nationalism, and the Future of Area Studies." Georgia State University, Department of English (per skype), Nov 6.*
  • "The US Government Shutdown - Crisis or strategy?" Roundtable with Mark Blyth, William Glass, Thomas Greven, Christian Lammert, and Margit Mayer. John-F.-Kennedy Institute for North American Studies, Freie Universität Berlin, Nov 5.
  • "Global Port Cities. The Spatial Logics of Postindustrial Urban Progress." RC21 Conference Resourceful Cities, Humboldt-University Berlin, Institute for Social Science, Dept. for Urban and Regional Sociology, Berlin, Aug 29-31.
  •  "Nations after the Fact? A Social Science Perspective." The Discourse of the National in the Humanities; Symposium at the Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages, Faculty of Humanities, University of Oslo, May 29.*
  • "Crises and the Rise of Urban Networked Mobility Spaces." Graduate Conference at the John-F.-Kennedy Institute, Berlin, May 24.
  • "New Forms of State Power and the Erosion of Public Goods in the US." Political Science Colloquium, John-F.-Kennedy Institute, Freie Universität Berlin, April 16.
  • "Re-Framing the Public Good. The Context Dependence of Market Failure." Eleventh Annual NYLON Conference, LSE, London, March 18.

 

2012

  • "Post-industrial Utopia. Leisure Islands in Logistics Cities." North American Studies Colloquium, Technische Univ. Dresden, Dec 3.
  • "Global Cities and Global Production." Jahrestagung der Politikwissenschaftler in der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Amerikastudien. Atlantische Akademie, Lambrecht, Nov 10.
  • "Urbanity in Goods-moving Economies. The Rise of the Neoliberal Port City in North America." Political Sci. Colloquium, JFKI, July 3.
  • "Seamless Flows. Securitizing Circulation after September 11, 2001." NYLON Research Network, New York University, New York City, April 23.
  •  "Frontier Narratives in New York City’s Gentrification and Security Debates." NYLON Research Network, New York University, New York City, April 2.
  •  "Under Construction. The Uses and Meanings of Infrastructure." Workshop organized with Hillary Angelo, Natalia Besodovsky, Stefan Hoehne, David Madden. Tenth Annual NYLON Conference, Berlin Graduate School of Social Science (BGSS), Berlin, March 14.