How do we protect democracy from those who seek to dismantle it? What happens when liberal tolerance is exploited by its enemies? Can illiberal forces be countered without compromising liberal values?
AUTHLIB’s two-day workshop “Defending Liberalism – Normative Boundaries of Safeguarding Democracy”, organized on March 31 – April 1 at the CEU Democracy Institute in Budapest explored these and many other questions. The event brought together scholars of political theory to examine the shifting normative landscape of European democracy and the growing divergence from the liberal democratic model. The program featured lectures on a range of pressing topics, including an analysis of contemporary Catholic anti-liberalism, an exploration of counterstereotypical speech as a democratic tool, a discussion of media influence on democratic erosion, and an in-depth view on the phenomenon of “democratic frontsliding” within the EU, outlining political, normative, and legal responses. The workshop concluded with a public lecture by Jan-Werner Müller, who traced the ideological trajectory from Christian democracy to forms of Christian autocracy.
The presentations are now available on AUTHLIB’s YouTube channel and below.
Varieties of illiberalism
Zsolt Enyedi, Central European University
What’s New About the New Catholic Anti-liberalism
Fabio Wolkenstein, University of Vienna
Liberalism, the Media, and Democratic Erosion
Gabriele Badano, University of York
Counterstereotypical Models and Counterspeech
Maxime Lepoutre, University of Reading
Democratic Frontsliding in the European Union: Political, Normative and Legal Paths Forward
Antoinette Scherz, Stockholm University
From Christian Democracy to Christian Autocracy
Jan-Werner Muller, Princeton University
