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- Democracy Bulletin, December 2022
Democracy Bulletin, December 2022
Democracy Bulletin, December 2022
DEMOCRACY BULLETIN
News from the CEU Democracy Institute
The seventh issue of the Democracy Bulletin, the quarterly newsletter of the CEU Democracy Institute (DI), focuses on our most important achievements and publications in the previous months. If you don’t want to miss any of our news items, events, publications, podcasts or videos, then please follow us on
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The CEU community is deeply saddened by the death of Julia Szalai who taught and mentored generations of master and doctoral students, and young faculty, and generously co-constructed knowledge with scholars of different fields and departments throughout more than two decades. She was a champion in paving the road to CEU’s current international standing in research, teaching, and advocacy for Roma equality. We will always remember her for her academic brilliance, moral unassailability, and warm collegiality.
HIGHLIGHTS
DI Published Its First Annual Report
We are happy to announce our first ever Annual Report, which provides a comprehensive overview of the work undertaken by the CEU Democracy Institute. It summarizes the first two years of the DI, highlighting the most important achievements, publications, events, and giving an insight into our research that addresses some of the biggest challenges to democracy in our world today.
EP CULT Committee Visited CEU
A delegation of the Culture and Education Committee (CULT) of the European Parliament, led by committee chair Sabine Verheyen (EPP, DE), visited Budapest early November for insights into recent developments in Hungary’s cultural, education and media policies. They also visited CEU to meet the university’s Pro-Rector for Foresight and Analysis Eva Fodor, our Co-Directors Laszlo Bruszt (Professor at the CEU Department of Political Science) and Renata Uitz (Professor at the CEU Department of Legal Studies), and our Research Affiliate Gabor Klaniczay (Professor at the CEU Department of Medieval Studies). Learn more about the visit here.
Budapest Forum 2022: From Russia’s War in Ukraine and the Energy Crisis to Fake News and Polarization
The Budapest Forum 2022: Building Sustainable Democracies, co-organized by Budapest Municipality, Political Capital and the DI, hosted domestic and international thinkers and gave space to innovative, unusual, bold ideas and proposals to put the city back on the progressive intellectual map of the region. Learn more about it here.
Brazil and Democracy after Bolsonaro
Our panelists, Diego Abente Brun (Professor of Practice of International Affairs and Director of the M.A. in Latin American and Hemispheric Studies Program), Juliana Cesario Alvim Gomes (Visiting Professor at the CEU Legal Studies Department, and Human Rights Professor at Federal University of Minas Gerais) and Nauro Ferreira Campos (Professor of Economics at University College London and Research Professor at ETH-Zürich) analyzed the results of the presidential elections in Brazil and what awaits for the country in the midst of distrust in democratic institutions and a highly polarized media environment. The discussion was moderated by our Co-director Renata Uitz. Read its summary here.
Italy after the Elections
Our panelists, Sergio Fabbrini (Dean of the Political Science Department, Director of the Master in International Public Affairs and Professor of Political Science and International Relations at LUISS Guido Carli), Nausica Palazzo (Assistant Professor in Constitutional Law at NOVA School of Law in Lisbon) and Nadia Urbinati (Kyriakos Tsakopoulos Professor of Political Theory at Columbia University) analyzed the results of the Italian elections and its consequences to Europe. The discussion was moderated by the Managing Editor of our Review of Democracy, Michal Matlak. Read the summary here.
Watch the panel discussion
New Book by Zsuzsanna Szelenyi
The new book of Zsuzsanna Szelenyi, Program Director of the CEU Democracy Institute Leadership Academy, entitled Tainted Democracy, offers accessible, nuanced insights into the global rise of populist autocracy, and how it can be challenged. It answers a key question: why has Viktor Orban been so successful, winning widespread support within Hungary and wielding considerable influence in European politics? Learn more about the book here.
New Book by Andras Bozoki
Utilizing a new and original framework for examining the role of intellectuals in countries transitioning to democracy, the volume of our Research Affiliate Andras Bozoki, entitled Rolling Transition and the Role of Intellectuals analyzes the rise and fall of dissident intellectuals in Hungary in the late 20th century. Learn more about it here.
Andrea Peto Receives Human Rights Award
Our Research Affiliate Andrea Peto received the University of Oslo’s Human Rights Award for her defense of academic freedom and institutional autonomy. The award is given annually for personal efforts and active involvement in one or more areas related to human rights issues in a broad sense.
Watch a video with her about the importance of the award
How Peer Researchers Became Crucial in Researching Vulnerable Migrant Youth
The MIMY project, in which the DI is a consortium member, combines analysis with empirical insights, and relies heavily on peer researchers whose role was crucial in building trust, and without whom it would have been impossible to do the research. Our Research Fellows Vera Messing and Zsuzsanna Arendas, and peer researcher Isaac shared their experience. Read it here.
DI Launches New Projects
DI has recently launched two new project. The first, entitled Organized Religion, Constitutions and Democratic Backsliding in Central and Eastern Europe, is an interdisciplinary collaborative research project, funded from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program, under the CIVICA Research project, led by a team of four experts from the Hertie School, CEU, and EUI, including our Co-director, Renata Uitz. The second, entitled Re-engaging Civic Organizations for Democracy in the Age of Disruptive Social Media and led by our Senior Research Fellow Balazs Vedres, explores how civic organizations can be re-engaged for strengthening democracy in the age of disruptive social media.
THE DI IN VIENNA
DI and European Forum Alpbach Host Thomas Carothers and Ivan Krastev
In a first-time collaboration, the DI and European Forum Alpbach presented in Vienna the discussion “Comparing Right-Wing Illiberalism in the United States and Europe—and Beyond” with Thomas Carothers, Senior Fellow and Co-Director of Carnegie’s Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program, and Ivan Krastev, Chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies and Permanent Fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences, IWM Vienna, and moderated by our Co-director Renata Uitz. Read its summary here.
Watch the panel discussion
OPPORTUNITIES
Post-doctoral Fellowship
Applications are open for a full-time Post-doctoral Fellow position working within the framework of the Horizon Europe research project
. Learn more
.
RESEARCH
DEMOCRACY IN HISTORY
New Book Co-edited by Our Researchers
Co-edited by our researchers,
,
, and Gabor Gyani (ELTE), the
offers readers a rich selection of the depth and breadth of the legacy of Hungarian Historian Jeno Szucs, and offers a unique insight into the complex and sensitive debate on national identity in post-1945 East Central Europe.
Book Launch: Storms over the Balkans
In a new interpretation of the history of the Balkans during the Second World War, Alfred J. Rieber explores the tangled political rivalries, cultural clashes, and armed conflicts among the great powers and indigenous people competing for influence and domination, based on extensive research in new sources in seven languages.
DE-/RE-DEMOCRATIZATION
Illiberal Challenges, Neo-Authoritarian Challengers
Our
project was officially launched with its kick-off
in October. Re-watch the keynote by
and the panel discussion on threats to liberal democracy in Europe
.
New Researcher Joins the Workgroup
On November 1,
joined the Workgroup as a Post-doctoral Fellow. His research focuses on how the human mind navigates social and political challenges like political polarization, online political hostility, the Covid-19 pandemic, or selecting and evaluating political leaders.
ENVIRONMENT AND DEMOCRACY
Cooperative Research Framework under Development
The Workgroup is spearheading the establishment of a cooperative
with the Center for International and Comparative Law of the University of Baltimore. It will be developing a Memorandum of Understanding, and a research program.
Stephen Stec on Plastics Pollution
Lead researcher
participated in the first session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastics Pollution. The work of the committee is aimed at developing a legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, and is the most significant global environmental treaty in the last 30 years.
INEQUALITIES
Civil Society Monitoring Reports on New National Roma Strategies Published
Within the EU-wide
Roma Civil Monitor initiative
coordinated by the Workgroup, a new set of Roma civil society’s monitoring reports are
which assess the new national strategies for Roma equality, inclusion, and participation in the EU member states. The reports are accessible through an
.
Special Issue on School-to-work Transitions in Europe and Latin America
Our Research Affiliate
co-edited a
of
Professorado
, a bi-lingual (English-Spanish) academic journal. The special issue examines school-to-work transitions amid social vulnerability in Europe and Latin America
.
With this publication, Beremenyi concludes a
hosted by the DI.
MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY
Workshop on Organizing in the Media Field
The Workgroup organized a one-and-a-half-day event to debate and discuss the use of organizing into unions, networks, associations and communities to push forward the rights of journalists and to protect the freedom of the media. Watch its summary
.
Institutional Transformation
As per October 2022, our Center for Media, Data and Society commenced its operations under the name Media and Journalism Research Center (MJRC) independently of CEU. Its website and social media accounts are archives of projects conducted by CMDS as a CEU unit and will not be updated.
RULE OF LAW
Special Issue on the Theory and Practice of Rule of Law
Four members of the Workgroup (
,
,
and
) co-edited a special issue of
The Hague Journal of the Rule of Law,
dedicated to the contemporary theory and practice of the Rule of Law in the European Union. The special issue includes ten articles by leading scholars in the field as well as graduate students. Learn more
.
Conference Organized in London
co-organized a conference in London on international citizenship and migration in memory of Sir Richard Plender, one of the most eminent scholars of global law with a particular interest in personhood and the application of the Rule of Law to the field of migration. The conference was sponsored by the Dutch Foundation for the Promotion of European Law. Learn more
.
PODCASTS
The Trouble with Fortune
Zsuzsanna Szelenyi analyzes the main characteristics of the Orban regime and the techniques Hungary’s current rulers have employed to establish their dominance over the country’s economy.
The Rolling Transition of Hungary
Michal Matlak discusses with Andras Bozoki the compelling story of the role of intellectuals in political and social change that took place in Hungary between 1977-1994.
Germany’s Current Memory Culture
In conversation with Ferenc Laczo, Susan Neiman dissects what has made the articulation of universalistic Jewish commitments increasingly difficult in the German public sphere.
How Orban Destroyed a Democracy
Zsolt Enyedi joined Doomsday Watch host Arthur Snell in the podcast series The Bunker to unpack what lessons democracies should take from the Orban era.
REVIEW OF DEMOCRACY
Our journal, the
(RevDem) is an open platform to discuss, analyze, reflect on, and develop possible solutions to the challenges to democracy across the globe today. Read its most important publications from recent weeks:
The Stories We Tell Ourselves
In this conversation with
, Peter Brooks discusses the “storyfication” of reality, explains why we need stories, ponders the impact fiction has on our lives, and depicts the dangers oversimplified narratives pose to our democratic societies.
Read or listen to it
.
Why Film Matters
In conversation with RevDem assistant editor Lucie Hunter, Oksana Sarkisova – Blinken OSA Research Fellow and the Director of Verzio International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival – discusses the role of filmmaking in today’s society, how festivals are reacting to contemporary global conflicts and challenges, the importance of safekeeping visual archives, and how micro-histories help us understand the wider context.
Read or listen to it
.
Rainbow Families in the EU
Alina Tryfonidou (Neapolis University Paphos) presented the main points of her work on the obstacles that rainbow families face on the road to equality in the European Union. The presentation was followed by comments from Ivana Isailovic (University of Amsterdam) and Dimitry Kochenov (CEU DI), who also chaired the debate.
Watch it
.
MEET THE DILearn more about our colleagues! Click on the image below to watch their videos, in which they introduce themselves, and talk about their work. Stay tuned, a new video is coming every week.