The Santa Fe World Affairs Forum aims to broaden and deepen understanding of world affairs through small, interactive, professionally led sessions on international issues for a membership of informed individuals.

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  • Dr West Webinar

Wagner, Nietzsche and the Origins of Fascism

Wednesdays February 21 – March 20, 2024, 12:30 Noon Eastern & 9:30 Pacific

Dr. James L. West

In a historical moment when democracies around the world are under unprecedented stress, it might be instructive to reconsider the classic case of democratic collapse – the Weimar Republic.

The origins of this catastrophe were buried deeply in a national culture which German elites lauded as their Sonderweg their exceptionalist past distinctly different from that of the western democracies. This alternative culture was classically enshrined in the music of Richard Wagner and the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche.

From late nineteenth century on these illiberal forces in Germany challenged and ultimately destroyed a nascent democratic movement, and emerged in the most malignant form of dictatorship, Nazi fascism. Given the historical experience we might reflect on how democracies survive or succumb when faced with aggressive challenges from retrogressive anti-democratic movements.

Below is the link to register for this series. You only have to register once to receive the information to join via Zoom in meeting format, which allows participants to see and hear each other and interact with Dr. West:

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Week 1, February 21, 2024 Modernity and the Peculiarities of German History

Week 2, February 28, 2024 The Music of Richard Wagner: The Ring of the Nibelungen

Week 3, March 6, 2024 The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche – The Birth Tragedy and Zarathustra

Week 4, March 13, 2024 The Weimar Republic and the Philosophy of Martin Heidegger

Week 5, March 20, 2024 The Rise of Fascism and the SS State

The Speaker Dr. James L. West a specialist in Russian society, holds a PhD in prerevolutionary Russian history from Princeton University. He taught at the European University in St Petersburg, Russia from 2015-17, the sole remaining private university in the Russian Federation, closed in 2017 by the Russian government in its drive to eliminate western liberal thought in the country.

He most recently addressed SFWAF audiences on history of the Ukraine-Russia conflict via the 6 part web series entitled: “Russia-Ukraine: Forward to the Past” in February – March, 2023. Dr West was a professor of history and humanities at Middlebury College (1995-2011), and professor of history at Trinity College, Hartford, Conn. (1971-95)

During his academic career, he was the recipient of several prestigious US government grants to conduct and publish research in and on the Soviet Union which resulted in Between Tsar

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ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM 2024

  America’s Place in the World – Still Indispensable?

Cosponsored by the Santa Fe Community College

Thursday April 25 and Friday April 26, 2024
Jemez Room at Santa Fe Community College (SFCC)
Santa Fe, New Mexico

Symposium 2024Is American influence waning? Is the United States stretched too thin? Or is the US still the world’s indispensable nation? Can it be both? If so, for how much longer? How stable – at home and abroad – is American democracy and US leadership? Or is it being irreparably eroded from within and without?

What can we do to address our deepest fears or are mountains being made out of mole hills? Is the threat of war expanding beyond the current conflicts that could draw in the US militarily real? Would an international provocation tip the delicate balance of the containment policy employed by the Biden administration? How would US policy, its effectiveness and the American image abroad change if a conservative Republican were elected to the White House in 2024? This year the Santa Fe World Affairs Forum will take a deep dive into the questions of American international influence as the global order rests on increasingly shaky pillars. Can the US still retain its democratic form of government and compete in this increasingly complex and troubled world? Is so how?

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2023 SYMPOSIUM

Thursday April 13 and Friday April 14, 2023

SFWAF - 2023 Symposium

When Ukraine Meets Russia Head-On

When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, no one believed that a supposedly weak Ukraine could maintain its independence. As for Vladimir Putin, he expected to topple the Zelenskyy government in a matter of days—or less. And so, flagrantly violating the norms and laws that had promoted world peace and stability for 70 some years, a heavily armored column of Russian troops headed for Kiev. They never got there.

How could Putin have got it so wrong? Hubris, of course, but mostly miscalculation. Putin never expected to confront a brave and fervently patriotic population, a revamped military and the ingenuity and bravery of Ukraine’s civilian and military leadership. Nor did he anticipate a rejuvenation of NATO (Turkey and Hungary excepted) united in support of Ukraine, thus enabling a massive flow of Ukraine-bound weaponry from its arsenals. Or that his invasion would result in neutral Finland’s and Sweden’s applications for NATO membership.

It’s too early to predict the shape of a post-invasion Ukraine. Nor can we be certain that Russia will never again seek to roll back history by invading apparently weak neighbors. But one thing is certain. Putin and his army are being humiliated. He won’t get what he aimed for in Ukraine. Moreover, this conflict’s international ramifications – testing the foundations of the world order – are massive.

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