Five Scenarios of a World for Our Children
Stephen Kotkin
American historian, academic, and author of the biography of Joseph Stalin; Kleinheinz Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, USA
Moderator: Ivan Krastev, CLS
25 September 2024, 18:30
Event Space 2020 Sofia
Stephen Kotkin is the Kleinheinz Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, USA, where he founded and directs the Hoover History Lab. He taught for 33 years at Princeton University and is their Birkelund Professor of History and International Affairs Emeritus. He specializes in global history, authoritarianism, geopolitics, Communism, post-Communism, and a lack of sentimentality in analysis. Kotkinis the author of a trilogy onStalinand the world,two volumes of which have beenpublished, including in Bulgarian translation; the third one is forthcoming. Nietzsche made an immense impression on him when he was young, fortunately. In one of innumerable lucky breaks, he got to work closely with Michel Foucault. His favorite novel is probably Elias Canetti, Auto-Da-Fé, although his favorite author is Borges. He thinks Eric Hoffer, The True Believer, remains indispensable, and not just in his own field of study. He loves organizational theory, complexity and systems theory, and contingency all at the same time. He considers the best encapsulation of individual agency to be Helmuth von Moltke’s definition of strategy, and thinks the best synonym for history is “perverse and unintended consequences.” Kotkin learns from his mistakes, and therefore considers himself among the most learned people, but he suspects he has much more to learn.
Stephen Kotkin
American historian, academic, and author of the biography of Joseph Stalin; Kleinheinz Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, USA
Moderator: Ivan Krastev, CLS
25 September 2024, 18:30
Event Space 2020 Sofia
Stephen Kotkin is the Kleinheinz Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, USA, where he founded and directs the Hoover History Lab. He taught for 33 years at Princeton University and is their Birkelund Professor of History and International Affairs Emeritus. He specializes in global history, authoritarianism, geopolitics, Communism, post-Communism, and a lack of sentimentality in analysis. Kotkinis the author of a trilogy onStalinand the world,two volumes of which have beenpublished, including in Bulgarian translation; the third one is forthcoming. Nietzsche made an immense impression on him when he was young, fortunately. In one of innumerable lucky breaks, he got to work closely with Michel Foucault. His favorite novel is probably Elias Canetti, Auto-Da-Fé, although his favorite author is Borges. He thinks Eric Hoffer, The True Believer, remains indispensable, and not just in his own field of study. He loves organizational theory, complexity and systems theory, and contingency all at the same time. He considers the best encapsulation of individual agency to be Helmuth von Moltke’s definition of strategy, and thinks the best synonym for history is “perverse and unintended consequences.” Kotkin learns from his mistakes, and therefore considers himself among the most learned people, but he suspects he has much more to learn.
You can see the recording of the lecture here: