Political Science and Democratic Culture: Ernst Fraenkel’s Studies of American Democracy
in German Politics and SocietyAll currencies in US Dollar
Reflecting on his academic exile in the United States, the German
political scientist Franz L. Neumann emphasized the cross-fertilization
of ideas as a result of the confrontation of different scientific and
political cultures.1 According to Neumann, the migration of hundreds
of European academics to the United States led to a growing
internationalization of the social sciences and a two-way learning
process. The Europeans became accustomed to the practice of the
American liberal democracy and learned to value its political culture;
émigré scholars, on the other hand, brought with them a different
academic Denkstil and contributed to a more critical self-understanding
of American democratic theory.