A contradiction has emerged between democracy and ecology, between the unavoidable pressure of time and the seemingly God-given slowness of democracy. Historian Hedwig Richter and ZEIT journalist Bernd Ulrich seek to overcome this contradiction and show how a necessary revolution to preserve our basic needs can go hand-in-hand with the necessary defense and development of democracy.
To this end, they look back in time and to the future. They probe the dark side of the history of democracy, the often destructive social and primeval conditions under which democracy has developed in Germany and elsewhere. They also outline a future that guarantees the generations to come the creative freedom to shape their own fate, which is essential for democracy.
