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Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Le Monde Confisqué
Essai sur le Capitalisme de la Finitude (XVIE-XXIE Siècle)
Book Presentation with Arnaud Orain
Tuesday, 6 January 2026, 18:00 (CET)
Online (Zoom) & Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities Essen (KWI) Gartensaal, Goethestraße 31, 45128 Essen
After the fall of Soviet communism and the Eastern Bloc, liberal capitalism—driven by the trifecta of globalization: free trade, privatisation, and open capital flows—seemed irresistible. Such complacency was bound to end in a rude awakening.
The recent U.S. tariff surge and a panoply of export-control regimes signal the collapse of the old trade order. Economic policy is now a battlefield of power and geopolitics, not just the rational calculus of commerce. This is the conviction animating the bracing new book by French economic historian Arnaud Orain, presented for the first time to a German audience at KWI.
In Le Monde confisqué, Orain, a professor at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) in Paris, argues that the post-1989 economic stability was an exception, not the norm. Shedding neoliberal blinders, he shows that the “Pax Americana” was a brief interlude. Now, the world is returning to a more mercantilist era: trade barriers rise, states reassert economic power, and competition for critical resources intensifies. Orain’s work offers a vital historical lens on today’s economic upheavals.
The event will be held in English.
SPEAKER
Arnaud Orain, EHESS Paris
MODERATION
Danilo Scholz, KWI
PARTICIPATION ON SITE
This is a public event; participation is free of charge. Registration is not necessary.
PARTICIPATION VIA ZOOM
For online participation (Zoom), please use the link on the KWI website.
ORGANISATION
Organized by the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities (KWI).
Danilo Scholz, KWI
https://uni-due.zoom-x.de/j/65391802764?pwd=wgTGcIUDHhtebNpJDnCyVGfMvT6DN2.1 -Zoom Link
https://www.kulturwissenschaften.de/veranstaltung/le-monde-confisque-essai-sur-l... - Homepage KWI
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