#rp25 speaker Max Steinbeis and Anna-Mira Brandau: Defend democracy – now!

The influence of authoritarian and populist forces is growing across the globe with  democracies finding themselves under increasing pressure. Long before the 2025 German general election, Anna-Mira Brandau and Max Steinbeis from Verfassungsblog (Constitution Blog) knew that the AfD (Alternative for Germany) would emerge even stronger. What can we do in the light of this? At re:publica 25, the two experts will show us how we can see through and inform others about authoritarian tactics – because only those who recognize an attack against democracy can prepare to defend it.

How vulnerable is our democracy? Both experts have been following developments in different projects on the Verfassungsblog. The  'Thüringen Project' investigated what could happen if authoritarian populist parties were to gain control over means of power in Germany. The aim was to create and disseminate knowledge - for a resilient civilian population. Since the beginning of January, Anna-Mira Brandau and Max Steinbeis have been working on a follow-up project on the vulnerability of the judiciary in Germany:  'An attack on our rule of law can only be prevented if it is clear which gateways exist to attack the independence of the courts. In our talk, we combine findings from these two projects to talk about the dangers of authoritarian populists - and how we can counter them.'

After successfully completing her first state examination, Anna-Mira Brandau worked as a research assistant at the Federal Ministry of Justice before taking up her Master's degree in law at Queen's College at the University of Oxford in 2020. She subsequently completed her legal clerkship at the Berlin Court of Appeal, with stations at the Federal Chancellery and the European Court of Human Rights. Since 2024, she has been working on her doctorate at the University of Erfurt. Her research focuses on the resilience of the federal state structure. As a research assistant for Verfassungsblog, she also focuses on the topics of defensibility and resilience of democracy and the rule of law.

Maximilian Steinbeis is a journalist, lawyer and author. In 2009, he founded the Verfassungsblog, which he still runs today as editor-in-chief, and which serves as a resource for legal analyses and reports on current constitutional and political issues and developments. In 2019, he published his book  'Die Zauberlehrlinge. Die Flüchtlingskrise und der Mythos vom Rechtsbruch' (The Sorcerer's Apprentices. The refugee crisis and the myth of breaking the law) with Stephan Detjen and last year's  'Die verwundbare Demokratie. Strategien gegen die populistische Übernahme' (The vulnerable democracy. Strategies against the populist takeover).