Moving from “Rust Belt” to “Trust Belt”: Why the language we use matters
Sandra Rath
16. September 2024
Authors: John Austin and JÞrgen Hein
Why should we use the term “industrial heartlands” rather “rust belt” when we speak about former industrial regions in the US and Germany? In this paper, authors John Austin and JÞrgen Hein discuss why the language we use matters and why without careful communication, anti-democratic and populist sentiments may be fuelled.
The message must be: Yes, there are shortcomings that will have to be taken care of, but letâs at the same time get a process started that will help to prevent such shortcomings from emerging in the first place. Let us use the power of our minds to see what our region can be 30 years from now. We (the residents) are experts in change. Transformation is our specialization. We are pre-prospering, embarking on a journey to success; we are a vivid region of confidence, an asset for ourselves and the state. Instead of your âRust Beltâ we are your âTrust Beltâ.
About the Authors
John Austin is a Senior Fellow with the Eisenhower Institute at Gettysburg College (EI), leading EIâs work promoting ideas and network-building to spread economic opportunity and strengthen democracies across the globe. He also serves as a Non-Resident Senior Fellow with the Brookings Institution where for over twenty years he has led efforts to support economic transformation in the American Midwest and in the industrial heartlands of Western democracies. Mr. Austin is also an Affiliated Faculty with the University of Michigan Marsal School of Education. Previously he served 16 years as a state-wide elected official on the Michigan State Board of Education, including as the Boardâs President for six years. Austin received his Masterâs in Public Administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and a Bachelors from Swarthmore College in Economics & Political Science, with High Honors and Phi Beta
Kappa.
JÞrgen Hein currently works as Managing Director of the Research Alliance Ruhr which began setting up four Research Centers and a College in 2022. Itâs a cooperation of the three universities in the Ruhr area – Ruhr University Bochum, TU Dortmund University and the University of Duisburg-Essen. The research centers are addressing major issues of our time, such as health, sustainability, digitalization and energy, while the collegeâs main goal is to enable international networking in the field of humanities and social sciences. Up to 50 new research professorships will be established in the founding years until 2025. The Research Alliance Ruhr has been facilitated by the Ruhr Conference, an initiative of the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia to add to the Ruhr areaâs transformation. Before joining the Research Alliance, Mr. Hein headed the Ruhr Conference and the department for European and International Affairs and Media in the State Chancellery of North Rhine-Westphalia. Until 2015 Mr. Hein worked as a journalist for the German news agency dpa. One of his positions was that of Chief South Asia Correspondent in New Delhi, India. He received a masterâs degree from Cologne and Bonn universities in cultural anthropology, psychology and history of religion.
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