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Online Lunchtalk: Rethinking Freedom

in English

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Online Lunchtalk: Rethinking Freedom

What does it really mean to be free? Is it enough that no one actually prevents us from acting as we choose, or does freedom also require being secure against the unchecked power of others?

In "The Republic of Innovation: A New Political Economy of Freedom" — named among the best economics reads for summer 2026 by both the Financial Times and Handelsblatt — economist Andrea Lorenzo Capussela argues that this distinction has far-reaching consequences. When economic power becomes sufficiently concentrated and entrenched, it can translate into disproportionate political influence. This not only erodes democratic institutions, he contends, but also holds back innovation: by making it harder for new ideas, businesses and technologies to emerge and gain ground, it ultimately stifles economic dynamism and growth.

How much concentration of economic power can a free society sustain? And can a broader conception of freedom provide the foundation for political and economic reform?

Join our live discussion with Andrea Capussela on these questions, and on what his answers could mean for the political and economic challenges now facing Western democracies.

The session will be held in English.

A conversation with

Andrea Lorenzo Capussela

Visiting Fellow
London School of Economics and Political Science

Andrea Lorenzo Capussela is currently a Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics (LSE), and previously served as the head of the economics unit of the International Civilian Office in Kosovo. He is author of State-Building in Kosovo (Bloomsbury, 2015) and The Political Economy of Italy's Decline (Oxford University Press, 2018), and has contributed opinion pieces to The Guardian, Le Grand Continent, and the Financial Times.

Joschka Proksik

Joschka J. Proksik

Senior Researcher
GDI Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute
Website

Dr. Joschka J. Proksik is a Senior Researcher and Speaker at the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute. As a political scientist, he analyses geopolitical shifts and economic dependencies, with a particular focus on critical resources, global trade and strategic technologies.

Featured Book

The Republic of Innovation

Capussela challenges our current understanding of freedom and argues in favour of a new political economy of freedom that empowers genuine creative development. He illustrates how the liberal ideal of freedom structurally allows one-sided dominance. This is an important book for anyone looking for new political and economic approaches to overcoming the current crisis in Western democracies.