Every other member of the U.S. Senate is a millionaire, and 9 out of 10 members of the German Bundestag have spent time at a university at some point; a significant number never worked in a job outside of politics. Is it any surprise that the majority of the US and German population considers their country’s democratic institutions out of touch when it comes to the life and work of the average citizen? Too old, too slow, helpless, and corruptible, designed by those in power to stay in power: the critics of democratic institutions come up with new reproaches every day. But would we really fare better without them, and what exactly would an authoritarian society look like that gives up on its institutions?
Together, we debated these questions with Center for American Progress Director of Technology Policy Megan Shahi, Missions Publiques co-director Antoine Vergne, and Centre for European Reform chief economist Sander Tordoir.
This episode is part of our trans-Atlantic talk series “Across the Pond” in collaboration with Open Embassy for Democracy (OPEM) and University of Cologne New York Office. Curated and moderated by Tobias Endler.
Biographies
Megan Shahi is the director of Technology Policy at Center for American Progress. She has extensive experience across the U.S. public and private sectors and has spent the majority of her career promoting transparency and accountability inside some of top social media companies. Prior to American Progress, Shahi worked at Meta, Instagram, and X, where she advocated for users and policymakers, wrote substantial platform policies, and shaped product strategies to safeguard social media users from both real-world and online harm. She was a crisis manager in Meta’s first-ever U.S. election “war room” in 2018, which worked to combat misinformation and inauthentic behavior. Shahi also architected Instagram’s product and content policies for the launch of Reels and guided X’s strategy to comply with the European Union’s Digital Services Act.
Before working in the tech, Shahi served at the U.S. Department of the Treasury in the Office of International Affairs and the Office of Domestic Finance, where she specialized in Western Hemisphere economic policy and domestic financial inclusion, respectively. She began her career in public service at the White House Domestic Policy Council.
Antoine Vergne is the Co-Director at Missions Publiques, an organization with the goal of bringing citizens into policy. Through his work, Vergne aims to improve Governance for the 21st Century by including the voices of citizens into the process of decision-making at all levels.
Sander Tordoir is chief economist at the Centre for European Reform. Sander works on eurozone monetary and fiscal policy, the institutional architecture of EMU, European integration as well as Germany’s role in the EU.
Prior to joining the CER, Sander worked as an advisor to the ECB Representative at the International Monetary Fund, covering the IMF’s surveillance of euro area policies and sovereign debt issues. Before his posting in Washington, he was an economist in the ECB’s EU Institutions and Fora Division, where he focused on the EU’s policy response to the Covid-19 pandemic, economic and fiscal governance, Banking Union, ESM reform and the ECB’s relations with other EU institutions. Sander was also a seconded expert to the German Federal Finance Ministry and a consultant at the World Bank. His policy research has been cited in media outlets such as the Financial Times, The Economist, and The New Statesman.
Sander studied at Amsterdam University College and Columbia University, where he was a Fulbright scholar.
This event is part of a series of online talks with young voters from both sides of the Atlantic:
Across the Pond – Politics, Power, Participation
Young Voters Talk
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