The Holberg Prize has the pleasure of inviting everyone to attend the 2024 Holberg Debate at the University Aula, on Sunday 15th December, 14:00 – 16:45.

The debate is entitled ‘Is the West in Decline?”. The panel will discuss how the political, economic and social problems facing the West will impact the future of democracy, as well as global stability.

In the panel:

• Cynthia Miller-Idriss is a Professor in the School of Public Affairs and in the School of Education at the American University in Washington, DC, where she is also the founding director of the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL). Dr. Miller-Idriss regularly testifies before the U.S. Congress and briefs policy, security, education and intelligence agencies in the U.S., the United Nations, and other countries on trends in domestic violent extremism and strategies for prevention and disengagement. She is the author, co-author, or co-editor of seven books, including Hate in the Homeland: The New Global Far Right (Princeton University Press, 2022). Her next book is focused on how misogyny fuels mass violence and will be published by Princeton University Press in 2025.
• Yanis Varoufakis is professor of economics at the University of Athens. He leads MeRA25 in Greece and is co-founder of the pan-European movement DiEM25 as well as the Progressive International. An academic economist who served as Greece’s Finance Minister in 2015, Varoufakis is the author of several best-selling books including Technofeudalism: What killed capitalism (Penguin 2023), Another Now (Penguin 2020), Adults in the Room (Penguin 2017), Talking to my Daughter (Penguin 2017), And the Week Suffer What They Must? (Penguin 2016), and The Globlal Minotaur (Zed Books 2011).
• Konstantin Kisin is an author, comedian, satirist, social commentator and host of TRIGGERnometry, which is branded as a free speech YouTube show and podcast, based on open, fact-based discussion of important and controversial issues. In his book An Immigrant’s Love Letter to the West (2022), as well as in his speeches and podcasts, Kisin discusses topics such as tolerance, freedom of speech, cancel culture, immigration and multiculturalism, as well as what opportunities and values the West represents. He has also spoken and written extensively about the war in Ukraine.

The event will be moderated by Sarah Montague, who is a British journalist and presenter. Since 1997, she has presented many of the BBC’s most popular radio and TV programmes, including HARDtalk, Today and The World at One.

Please see the Holberg Prize website for more information on the event.

You may register for the event here (in-person attendance), but please note that seating will be assigned on a first come, first serve bases and is thus not guaranteed.

We encourage everyone to be early. You can also follow our Facebook event page. We invite everyone to submit questions for the panel here.

Previous instalments of the Holberg Debate can be found here.

The 2025 Announcement and Holberg Week.

The Announcement of the 2025 Holberg Laureate and Nils Klim Laureate will take place at the University Aula on 13th March, 2025 between 09:00 and 10:00

The 2025 Holberg Week will take place on 3^rd – 6^th June, with award ceremonies in Bergen and other events in Bergen and Oslo.

We ask everyone to note these dates and check our website for updates about the different events.

Nominations
Nominations for the 2026 Holberg Prize and Nils Klim Prize may now be submitted. The deadline is 15^th June, 2025. Please see our website for more information.

Queries may be directed to: info@holbergprisen.no.

Kind regards,

Bjørn Enge Bertelsen