The Rumi Forum presented "Diversity as litmus test for the 21^st century: Why the United States and Europe are so different?"with Dr. Michael Werz

In modern societies, diversity and migration are not peripheral phenomena anymore, that can be managed with political expertise and bureaucratic five year plans, but they are codes for very basic questions that concern all of us: How are our societies supposed to look like in the future? How shall they be arranged?

What criteria decide about membership and ― most of all ― who makes the call? Often, the United States is seen as a model in other parts of the world, especially in Europe. But the U.S. is unique in many ways and because of its singular history cannot be copied. However, America can serve as an archive of social experiences that help frame current challenges in many other parts of the world, including Europe.

Dr. Michael Werz is a Senior Fellow at American Progress where his work as member of the National Security Team focuses on climate migration and security as well as transatlantic foreign policy including Turkey. Previously, he has been a senior transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall Fund and served as executive director of the New York office of the Hessen Universities Consortium.

Werz has published numerous articles and several books dealing with a wide range of issues including race and ethnicity in the 20th century; western social and intellectual history; minorities in Europe and the United States; ethnic conflicts, social and labor policies in Europe and anti-Americanism. His expertise includes U.S. and European foreign policy, migration policy, climate-migration, and the European Union.

Until 2003, Werz taught sociology at Hannover University in Germany, and has held appointments as a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., and as a John F. Kennedy Memorial Fellow at Harvard's Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies. A German native, he is a graduate of Frankfurt University's Institute for Philosophy.

Werz is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University's BMW Center for German and European Studies. A frequent policy commentator for international media, he speaks fluent Spanish in addition to his native German. His television appearances include CNN International, Foreign Exchange, ARD Tagesthemen newscast, NTV News, Deutsche Welle, Voice of America, Austrian National Television, and others.

Moderator: Octavio A. Hinojosa Mier is Executive Director of the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute (CHLI), a nonprofit and non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting the positive advancement of the diverse US Hispanic community in the public, private, and non-profit sectors, as well as in the international community. He began directing the organization at its inception in 2004.
Previously, Octavio served as the inaugural Executive Director of the Congressional Hispanic Conference (CHC), a Congressional member organization.

In addition, Octavio has served in a variety of positions at the U.S. Department of State. From 1996 to 2001, he was assigned to the Bureau of Diplomatic Security where he served as a Security Analyst for U.S. embassies and consulates in the Western Hemisphere, Europe and Africa.