Michael Ignatieff is a Canadian writer, historian and former liberal politician.  Between 2006 and 2011, Ignatieff served as an MP in the Parliament of Canada and then as Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition. He is a member of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada and holds thirteen honorary degrees.​ Between 2012 and 2015 he served as Centennial Chair at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs in New York.​ Between 2014 and 2016 he was Edward R. Murrow Chair of the Press, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School.

​

​Ignatieff was until recently the Rector and President of Central European University in Budapest. He stepped down at the end of July 2021, to stay as a Professor in the History Department. He currently teaches classes on Democratic Freedom and its Enemies as well as Human Rights in History.​ He is the 2024 winner of the Princess of Asturias Award for Social Sciences for his defense of human rights and analysis of political conflicts. In granting the award, the jury said:

 

Michael Ignatieff’s broad-ranging and varied career stands out for his defence of fundamental and universal human rights and values. Through his books, articles and television programmes, he has contributed ideas for overcoming ethnic and religious differences and the search for common values within the context of globalization, the clarification of the consequences of the technological revolution, the analysis of moral conflicts in the face of cultural relativism and opposition to violent nationalisms, among other topics.

​

His intense, multifaceted professional career, which ranges from the study of history and philosophy to the practice of journalism and politics, is characterized by the application of critical thought to the major political conflicts of our time. In his work, the analysis of specific political problems is always carried out with a view to the exacting standards of democratic systems. The result is an original mix of political realism, humanism, and liberal idealism, in which concern for the values of freedom, human rights, tolerance, and the safeguarding of institutions comprises his fundamental concern.

​

This author’s contribution constitutes an essential benchmark to guide us in these present times replete with armed conflicts, political polarization and threats to freedom.

​​​​

He is the author of eighteen books on liberalism, human rights and the history of ideas, fiction and non-fiction, screenplays, reviews and essays – altogether translated into 20 languages. His most recent book is On Consolation: Finding Solace in Dark Times.

 

Moderator David Ehinger is a retired Canadian diplomat now living in Munich. He holds degrees in History, Law and International Relations from his studies in Canada, the USA and the UK. In his Ottawa assignments he spent the majority of his time in the Legal Bureau of Canada’s foreign ministry, now known as Global Affairs Canada. He served abroad in Geneva, Washington and Madrid in addition to spending 9 years of his career at the Canadian Embassy in Berlin, first as Economic Counsellor (2003-2007) and later as Head of the Public Affairs programme (2012-2017).  

​

This event is a cooperation with the Deutsch- Kanadische Gesellschaft.

​

​

​

​