Political Science and Democratic Culture: Ernst Fraenkel’s Studies of American Democracy
in German Politics and Society
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.
