PROGRAMM

The classical Arendtian thesis is that genuine political action is thinkable only in a shared world, where plural perspectives can recognize one another. But what becomes of political agency when this common world is being dismantled? In conversation with IWM Permanent Fellow LUDGER HAGEDORN, Spanish philosopher MÁRIAM MARTÍNEZ BASCUÑÁN will discuss the current erosion of the common space: from below, caused by the structural loneliness of contemporary democracies; from above, through the privatization of public discourse by a new technological oligarchy; and from within, by the collapse of “invisible institutions” that once sustained shared truth.  

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MÁRIAM MARTÍNEZ-BASCUÑÁN is a professor of political theory at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and a columnist and editorial board member at El País. Her work focuses on democratic theory, feminist political thought, and the political philosophy of Hannah Arendt. She is the co-author of Populismos (Alianza Editorial, 2017) and the author of El fin del mundo común. Hannah Arendt y la posverdad (Taurus, 2025). She has held visiting positions at LSE, Columbia University, and the University of Chicago.