Ten years ago, the Politics Department first enabled graduate students to take a seminar and participate in a workshop in Berlin.  Initiated by Kim Lane Scheppele (SOC) and Jan-Werner Müller (POL) in 2013, the cooperation with the renowned law school and the Institute of Social Sciences at Humboldt has allowed annual cohorts of students from different disciplines to tackle topics such as defending democracy against anti-democratic actors, and the meaning of the digital age for democracy.  The seminars have frequently dealt with topics where the contrast between the US and Germany can be particularly instructive, such as free speech.  Students are encouraged, but not required to present at a workshop with leading faculty from both universities and other parts of the world. Since 2021, the cooperation has been financed by PIIRS, but POL has continued to administer it. “We have robust structures in place to enable our students to experience a different academic culture and also to form lasting academic relationships with fellow students in politics and law,” said Amanda Kastern, who successfully oversaw the cooperation for the past decade.