The Canadian Centre for German and European Studies is pleased to announce the lecture series “Germany in the World: The Nation Transcended in the Age of Globalization”. Prof. Heiner Ganßmann, one of Germany’s foremost economic sociologists, will kick off the series at the Centre’s York Lanes office on Monday, January 15, 2007 with a talk entitled “The German Welfare State in the Age of Globalization”.

While the debate about the effects of globalization on welfare states has been particularly heated in Germany, Prof. Ganßmann contends that, in Germany’s case, this is misguided as many of the problems facing that country’s welfare state are the result of German reunification, not globalization. This emphasis on the globalization discourse in Germany (along with the ageing discourse), he argues, is shifting attention away from the real problems facing the German welfare state.

The “Germany in the World” lecture series will run through the 2007-08 academic year and is intended to offer a platform to North American and European experts from a variety of academic fields (including economics, political science, history, urban and cultural studies and sociology) to contribute to the ongoing discussions regarding transnationalism and globalization by presenting their current research, most of which, but not all, is related to Germany.

Time: 2:00 – 3:30 pm
Location: 230R York Lanes

Please RSVP to ccges@yorku.ca