Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism, America.gov, as part of its feature “The Unfinished Work of Democracy,” is asking academics and journalists from the United States and elsewhere to comment on the challenges to democracy that still lay ahead for countries of the former Eastern Bloc. What follows are their responses – and yours are welcome as well.

Throughout modern German history, the sphere of culture has always played a central role in supplying the state and its political institutions with legitimacy. A unified German state first emerged in the 1870s; democratic ideas had to wait until 1918 for implementation. In the absence of long and unifying democratic traditions, poets and musicians thus sought to provide the nation’s shared language and moral conscience; painters hoped to transform society by innovating the means of artistic expression; and filmmakers felt an urgent need to recall what Germans after the Nazi period were eager to forget. For better or worse, modern Germany has been unthinkable without the role of culture in strengthening and contesting existing frameworks of power. In contrast to many other nations, the arts often helped essentially develop what made people accept given political constellations or demand more democratic forms of representation.

Only 72% of all eligible voters decided to go to the polls during Germany’s recent election. Though this number may not sound alarming to an American audience, the level of participation is quite disturbing in the particular German context. Twenty years after the Berlin wall, Germany continues to face considerable economic, social, and political divisions. The rise in political apathy, however, will make it difficult to find viable solutions within a democratic framework. Because younger voters in particular show ever-less interest in engaging with the political processes of the day, Germany might increasingly face a future in which democratic institutions operate without the critical backing of their constituencies — that is, without the kind of engagement necessary to endow these institutions with legitimacy.

The reasons for this political indifference in Germany are manifold, but they pose one of the greatest challenges to democracy. German art today no longer has the privileged position to infuse the nation with the symbols that once energized political practice and conflict. Contemporary culture has largely become one of instant consumption rather than measured deliberation, atomization instead of communal interactions. As a result, democratic legitimacy has to emerge primarily from the grounds of political action and its constitutional frameworks itself. There are many good reasons to applaud this transformation. But it is also difficult to ignore its inherent risks, of which political indifference is one of the most crucial. Democracies are unfinished projects. How to make Germans actively embrace their democracy as a legitimate site for negotiating conflict and consensus will be one of the most pressing issues in the years to come.

Learn more about Professor Lutz Koepnick.