In recent years, the United States and Germany have both experienced growing social divisions, more extreme ideology, and a trend toward existing in our own echo chambers—that is, seeking out voices and opinions that align with our own.  In this climate, AICGS launched a project focused on the social divisions in our two countries, focusing on a number of factors that are underlying the divisions, including social, demographic, economic, geographic, and identity dynamics. Sixteen participants are part of this project and they have been active, professionally or on a voluntary basis, in the service of communities that have experienced societal division and/or marginalization in the U.S. and Germany. Two participants, Alex Baker and Teresa Eder, join this episode of The Zeitgeist.
The goal of the project is to address common challenges of diverse communities, including questions of identity and the polarization of societies, and to find a way toward compromise and consensus in overcoming the existing divide. The group first visited Akron, Ohio, to learn more about the challenges facing many Midwestern cities. Mr. Baker and Ms. Eder discuss their experiences in Akron, some of the issues they discovered, and what they’ll be looking for during the group’s second site visit—this time, to Chemnitz, Germany.
On this episode of The Zeitgeist, Alex Baker and Teresa Eder talk with AICGS’ Jeff Rathke, Susanne Dieper, and Elizabeth Caruth in an effort to help us take a fresh look at the challenges our societies face, discover to what degree these are common challenges, and to see what we can learn from each other.

Host
Jeff Rathke, President, AICGS
Guests
Alex Baker, Atlantic Council
Teresa Eder, Journalist
with
Elizabeth Caruth, Research Associate, AICGS
Susanne Dieper, Director of Programs and Grants, AICGS

This episode of The Zeitgeist is generously funded by the Transatlantic Program of the Federal Republic of Germany with Funds through the European Recovery Program (ERP) of the Federal Ministry for Economics and Energy (BMWi).