(c) Hong Kiu Cheng
Alexander Görlach is a linguist and theologian who works on narratives of identity, politics, and religion, and liberal democracy, as well as secularism, pluralism, and cosmopolitanism. He was a visiting scholar to both Harvard Divinity School and Harvard Center for European Studies and a J. F. Kennedy Memorial Policy Fellow at that Center, in the academic years 2014-2017. Alex is senior fellow at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, a fellow at the Center for the Governance of Change at IE University in Madrid, a senior research associate at Cambridge University’s Institute on Religion and International Studies, a senior advisor to the Berggruen Institute, and a honorary professor of ethics and theology at Leuphana University of Lüneburg in Germany.
Prior to his current engagement at Cambridge University Alex served as a fellow to the Center for Research in Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH). In the academic year 2017-2018, he was also invited as a visiting scholar to universities in Taiwan and Hong Kong. In East Asia Alex looked into the democracies of the region and how the cope with the rise of China.
One narrative of identity he is particularly researching on is the narrative of work. Given the rise of AI, algorithms and an increasing automatisation it is crucial for him to reassess how individuals and societies perceive work and its impact on self-worth and identity. Alex is an op-ed contributor to The New York Times and the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, among others. He is also the founder of the debate-magazine The European and served as its editor-in-chief from 2009 until 2015. Today he is the editor in chief of www.conditiohumana.io, a magazine on technology, Ai and ethics, and he also publishes the initiative www.saveliberaldemocracy.com.
Alex holds a PhD in linguistics and another one in comparative religion. In both works, he looks into Western and Muslim societies, their narratives, capacity of dialogue, and media sphere. Prior to his current affiliation at Cambridge University he served as fellow at the Center for Research in Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH).
In the academic year 2017-2018 Alex is a visiting scholar at National Taiwan University and at City University of Hong Kong. He is also invited to give a lecture in Seoul and Singapore. In June and July 2017 Alex was invited as visiting scholar to the University of the Basque Country in San Sebastian, Spain. Alex is also a "Future World Fellow" at the Center for the Governance of Change at the International University in Spain.
At the Berggruen Institute, a think tank based in Los Angeles, Alex looks into the encounter of Western and Eastern philosophy, religion, and ethics. Another topic of his at the Institute is the impact of digital transformation and artificial intelligence on societies. As a senior fellow at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs in New York, he works on concepts of the West and what regions of the world belong to it. He will focus on Latin America.
Dr. Görlach is an acclaimed writer and op-edist. His opinion pieces and essays are published internationally. He is, amongst others, a contributor to The New York Times, American Prospect, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, and DIE ZEIT. Alex is a columnist for WirtschaftsWoche, Germany's leading business weekly. He also operates as Editor at Large for the Berggruen Institute's magazine, The World Post.
Alexander is the founder of the debate magazine The European, which he also ran as editor-in-chief in the years 2009 to 2015. In 2016 Alex founded the media-initiative saveliberaldemocracy.com, where he discusses the achievements and the challenges of humanism and enlightenment with internationally acclaimed scientists such as Noam Chomsky, Francis Fukuyama, Charles Taylor, and Niall Ferguson. This online magazine is meant to spark intellectual resistance against the rise of populism and autocrats in the Western world.
In his last book "We want to see you fail!" Alex examines the reasons for German malice and how it poisons efforts of innovation in the German society in the current age. Alex is a frequent guest in international TV and radio programs.