On 15 December 2026 at 7.00 pm, the Research Centre for Digital Communication and Media Innovation (fz dkmi) invites you to an academic lecture followed by a discussion with the audience. Daniel Marwecki (University of Hong Kong) will present the key theses and arguments from his book *Die Welt nach dem Westen* (Aufbau Verlag). Afterwards, there will be an opportunity for discussion. We are delighted to have Prof. Dr Charlotte Dany (Faculty of Humanities) as our chair.

“Shaping the decline of the West in such a way that it does not lead to even greater barbarism than we are already witnessing in the wars of the present day is a task for generations to come.”

Amidst the ruins of the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, the contours of a new world are emerging. Donald Trump is the West’s ‘decline manager’, transforming the US from an empire back into a nation-state – much to the chagrin of a sorrowful Europe, which is stumbling, clueless, into the new, multipolar world. In the shadow of all this, decolonisation is – belatedly – taking effect. Germany and Europe seem ill-prepared for the current changes. Rather, one observes a retreat into an ideological shell in which ‘we’ are the good guys who are supposed to uphold the supposedly rules-based and liberal order. A dignified management of decline would be a more realistic approach than a culture war.

Daniel Marwecki offers further insights in an interview to mark the publication of his book by Aufbau Verlag.

Daniel Marwecki is a political scientist and lectures in International Relations at the University of Hong Kong. His research and teaching cover topics such as the world order in the context of a resurgent Asia and the relative decline of the West. His first book, *Germany and Israel: Whitewashing and Statebuilding (Hurst 2020) was published in German as *Absolution? Israel und die deutsche Staatsräson* by Wallstein Verlag in 2023. He writes for publications including *Le Monde Diplomatique*, *UnHerd*, *Jacobin*, *ZEIT* and the *Berlin Review of Books*.

Date: 15 December 2026, 7.00 pm

Venue: Glaskasten, Tower Block C10 (ground floor), Schöfferstraße 3, 64295 Darmstadt

Contact: Dr Klara-Maeve O’Reilly, Research Co-ordinator at fz dkmi, dkmi@h-da.de