Faculty Blog

Reaction to the Capitol riots

Professors in Political Science at the University of Luxembourg who share strong connections with the United States of America reacted in the press to the dramatic events that took place in the Capitol on January 6.

On January 6, the world watched horrified the violent scenes that were taking place in the Capitol in Washington. 

At the Faculty of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences, some of our colleagues who have strong relations with the United States of America and whose research interests lie in political science were particularly moved by the events. 

Josip Glaurdić, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Luxembourg who earned his PhD from Yale University in 2009, expressed his disappointment with the events to the journalist Cordula Schnuer from Delano. “My hope is that this pathetic display of lunacy will deflate the whole thing and will lead to many people on the right--who seem to believe the president’s lies about the elections being rigged--to wake up and realize they don’t want to be a part of this”, says Glaurdić. 

Read the full interview on Delano here

On RTL, Professor Robert Harmsen reacted to the event with a bitter but optimistic analysis. The professor of political Science, born in Canada, says:  “The problem is that the people who invaded the Capitol believe they are patriots. And part of the Republicans tend to maintain this illusion or do not criticize what is clearly a violent and completely unforgivable act”. He adds: “There are still signs of optimism. Before the events around the Capitol, the Democrats won the Senate. Biden will therefore at least have the means to govern for the first two years of his mandate”.

Watch the full video on RTL here 

Photo by Tyler Merbler from USA, CC BY 2.0 

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