THE NEW INSTITUTE dedicated its final collaborative fellowship program to the theme of Re-thinking Capitalism. It is striking how few institutions are devoted to interrogating the foundations, limits, and alternatives to one global system. Consistent with our belief that the humanities are essential to addressing today's interwoven crises, we understand capitalism not merely as an economic form, but as a socio-political practice - one that shapes values, behaviors, and culture. Our starting point is the ambivalent nature of capitalism: it has simultaneously generated immense material wealth, brought millions out of poverty, spurred technological and scientific development while also deepening inequality, promoting mass-scale ecological destruction, and fragmenting societies. We asked whether capitalism as such fundamentally needs to be left behind or whether it can be consistent with social well-being, equality, and ecological stability.

We are pleased to release our 2023-2024 annual report, which captures a year of intellectual risk-taking, creative friction – and, most importantly, the urgent pursuit of a more just and sustainable future. Our third cohort of fellows convened 46 international scholars and practitioners working on topics such as depolarizing public debates, reimagining the commons, applying Black feminist perspectives to the polycrisis, governing the planetary commons, and redefining human flourishing. And we put our ideas into action – resulting in more than 50 academic publications, 86 events, and 100 public appearances. Enjoy browsing!

The Annual Report for the Academic Year 2022–2023 represents the first year of operation of our new Academic Directors, Markus Gabriel and Anna Katsman, during which a new program logic was implemented. The report covers the Academic Year from September 2022 to the end of June 2023. Learn more about our three research areas and two new programs, “Depolarizing Public Debates” and “Governing the Planetary Commons”. The foreword was written by our Academic Directors.

In this report, with a foreword by our Founding Director Wilhelm Krull, we outline the evolution of our program and research architecture in the founding and construction phase, as it entered its second full year of fellowship work in 2022. Learn more about our foundational programs “The Foundation of Value and Values”, “The Future of Democracy”, and “Socio-Economic Transformation”, meet our first cohort of fellows and read about events from the early days of THE NEW INSTITUTE.