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- Democracy Bulletin, June 2022
Democracy Bulletin, June 2022
Democracy Bulletin, June 2022
DEMOCRACY BULLETIN
News from the Democracy Institute
The fifth 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, articles, podcasts or videos, then please follow us on
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HIGHLIGHTS
DI Welcomes New OSUN Fellows
Nine new fellows have joined the CEU Democracy Institute in the framework of the CEU Budapest-OSUN Doctoral and Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. The fellowships provide an opportunity for individual research grant support to 6 post-doctoral and 3 PhD-students who will spend 5-12 months in Budapest and will work on their own individual research projects, which fit the interdisciplinary research activities of the DI and the Open Society Archives (OSA), thus contributing to the intellectual life of their host institution. They will also contribute to the activities of the Open Society University Network (OSUN), through teaching and/or research collaborations. Read more about their projects here.
DI Coordinates New Horizon Europe Grant Project
The consortium led by DI has been awarded a Horizon Europe grant entitled “Neo-authoritarianisms in Europe and the liberal democratic response”. This is the first time CEU plays the role of the coordinator in a large scale collaborative Horizon Horizon Europe project, the new funding cycle of the European Commission. The lead researcher is Zsolt Enyedi, DI Research Affiliate and Professor at the Political Science Department. The 3 million Euro grant contains several empirical and theoretical projects at mapping the varieties of illiberal challenges across Europe. Research partners are Sciences Po, Charles University, Scuola Normale Superiore, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, German Marshall Fund, University of Vienna and University of Oxford.
Invisible University for Ukraine
With the support of the Open Society University Network and active involvement from the DI, the Central European University has launched a certificate program (offering ECTS credits) for junior and senior undergraduate (BA) and graduate (MA and PhD) students from Ukraine, whose studies have been affected by the war. The goal is to prepare students for deeper integration into the international academia and broad ongoing discussion on the role of Ukraine in changing European and global contexts. Read more about it here.
Timothy Garton Ash: The War in Ukraine and the Future of Democracy in Central Europe
A few days before the Hungarian elections, and a month after the Russian invasion in Ukraine, Historian and political writer Timothy Garton Ash, Professor of European Studies at the University of Oxford, delivered a talk at the CEU Democracy Institute on the war in Ukraine, its impact to the region, and the political situation in Hungary. Read its summary here, or watch the entire lecture:
Ukraine’s Integration and Reconstruction: How To Prepare the EU?
Can the EU rise to the historic significance of Ukraine’s accession? What would it mean to the EU, and what lessons can the EU learn from its previous experiences of enlargement? What are the challenges the EU could face in terms of the reconstruction of Ukraine? Panelists of our online event, co-organized with the Review of Democracy, discussed these questions, among many others. Read the summary here, or watch the entire discussion:
Russia vs. the West and the New Politics of Hybrid War
With Europe abuzz with talk of war in Ukraine, Mitchell A. Orenstein, Professor and Chair of Russian and East European Studies at University of Pennsylvania and Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, explored the geopolitical conflict between Russia and the West over the “lands in between.” He explained the rules of the new hybrid war and how it affects countries like Ukraine and those within the European Union. Watch his presentation:
Eva Fodor in The Daily Show
“The government launched a vicious political attack against the university,” our Research Affiliate and CEU’s Pro-Rector Eva Fodor said in an interview with The Daily Show’s Jordan Klepper. “If you’re sliding gradually into something, you barely recognize that you’re moving. (…) You just end somewhere. (…) Things become natural. Things that would have been unheard of a few years ago become acceptable and actually the normal part of life,” she argued. Watch an excerpt (with her interview starting at 3:18):
OPPORTUNITIES
Internship: Movement Timeline Project
The joint Movement Timeline project of the CEU Democracy Institute and the School of Public Life is looking for a Hungarian-speaking research intern. Learn more about the opportunity here.
Internship: CEU Democracy Institute Leadership Academy
Our unique, 12-week leadership training program is looking for interns for a part-time position. Learn more about it here.
RESEARCH
DEMOCRACY IN HISTORY
Seminar Co-organized with Princeton University
In cooperation with Princeton University, Central European University, and the DI, the workgroup organized in June the Graduate Seminar on Political Thought in Budapest, followed by a
on threats to free speech and academic freedom, which tackled fundamental conceptual issues, and sought to place these freedoms in larger accounts of democracy.
Georgia: Trauma and Triumph on the Way to Independence
In May, the workgroup organized a two-day
on the late Soviet period and the first years of independence in Georgia, analyzing it in the framework of the theories of collective memory and cultural trauma. The conference also opened the discussion on the pressing issue of trauma and progress in post-transition countries.
DE-/RE-DEMOCRATIZATION
Andreas Schedler Joined the Workgroup as Lead Researcher
The Workgroup welcomed its new Lead Researcher,
mid-March. Andreas is a leading comparative scholar of democracy, democratization, and authoritarianism, and has widely published on authoritarian elections, democratic consolidation and transition, anti-political-establishment parties, political accountability, and organized violence. His current research focuses on political polarization and the destruction of basic democratic trust.
Rooftop Seminars: New Event Series Launched
May marked the launch of a new event series organized by the workgroup: the Rooftop Seminar, a biweekly research seminar to discuss work in progress on themes relevant to the workgroup. Coordinated by
and
, the series is a lively meeting place for colleagues working on related themes, such as political polarization, voters’ behavior, populist rule in Hungary or the crisis of survey research.
ENVIRONMENT AND DEMOCRACY
REAL DEAL Project Kicked Off
The EU Horizon project
held its kick-off meeting in Brussels in early May. The three-year project is aimed at developing research on citizen engagement in relation to the European Green Deal. The workgroup is leading on several aspects of the project, including development of a protocol on citizen engagement in the Green Deal and ultimately establishment of a Citizen Engagement Academy.
Stockholm+50 Conference
The recommendations included in the publication "The UNEP We Want" developed under the auspices of the workgroup in commemoration of UNEP's 50th anniversary this year were frequently invoked during the Stockholm+50 international conference hosted by Sweden and Kenya on 2-3 June. The Stockholm+50 Conference resulted in ten key recommendations. Read more about them
.
INEQUALITIES
The Value of Civil Society Policy Monitoring Knowledge
The new volume, edited by
, Lead Researcher of the workgroup, Policy Officer
and Georgeta Munteanu, provides critical reflections on contemporary practices of civil society monitoring of policy formation and implementation in the field of Roma equality across Europe. Learn more about the book
.
New Resource Bank on Hungarian Social Movements
The new
of the Movement Timeline project is aimed at providing an insight for the public beyond its Hungarian speaking corners into the history of Hungarian civil society and social movements. It amplifies the voices of people who protested against injustices, and also provides cutting-edge data for researchers.
MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY
Orban’s Balancing Act over the Ukraine War
In a commentary published in six languages,
looked at why Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaks out against the war in Ukraine while ordering his media to spread pro-Russian disinformation, and he identified two reasons. Read more about these reasons
.
Journalism and War: Bracing for Impact
Based on responses from journalists in 82 countries in a survey conducted online, the report looks at journalists’ first reactions to the Russian invasion, and it finds a wide divide in war coverage between Europe and the U.S., and the rest of the world. Learn more
.
RULE OF LAW
Judicial Independence as Precondition of EU Law Effectiveness
The “EU possesses an arsenal of tools to address dissuasively rule of law problems in the Member States. This shows the double nature of the EU's separation of powers problem,”
argues in her article in
. The article explores “to what extent preliminary rulings can make up for the failure to use adequate EU tools of rule of law enforcement.” Read more
.
EU Rule of Law in the Context of the ‘Migration Crisis’
“Rule of law is not secured sufficiently, either in the EU or by the EU, causing all concerned to lose face,”
and
write in their
in
(Cambridge University Press), which focuses “on the link between the rule of law and migration in the poisonous context of democratic decay and rule of law backsliding in the EU.”
PODCASTS
Renata Uitz on Rule of Law in the EU
Oliver Garner interviews our Co-Director Renata Uitz on the distinct but interconnected roles of the EP and CJEU in combatting the Rule of Law crisis.
Laetitia Strauch-Bonart on Populism
Laetitia Strauch-Bonart and Michal Matlak discuss Emmanuel Macron’s ideology and the differences between conservatives and populists.
Zsolt Enyedi on the Hungarian Elections
After the national elections in April in Hungary, our Research Affiliate Zsolt Enyedi was interviewed by political scientist Cas Mudde for his Radikaal Podcast series.
Matthew Specter on Realist Thought
Ferenc Laczo and Matthew Specter discuss key concepts in the language of realism and comparisons across the Atlantic that have defined the realist tradition.
REVIEW OF DEMOCRACY
The
(RevDem) is an open platform to discuss, analyze, reflect on, and develop possible solutions to the challenges to democracy across the globe today. The journal is published by the CEU Democracy Institute. Read its most important publications from recent weeks:
Imperialism in Russian Literature
In this conversation with Kasia Krzyzanowska, Ewa Thompson discusses the imperialistic features of the Russian Federation; elaborates on how Russian writers advanced the imperial message of Russia, and shows the persistence of the imperialistic motifs in Russian literature.
Read or listen to it
.
The ‘New Europe’ Campaign: The Failure of Liberal Internationalism and the Resilience of Imperialism
Historians of the Habsburg Empire and the First World War analyze the fascinating story of Robert William Seton-Watson’s propaganda for the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the creation of a ‘New Europe.’
Read or listen to it
.
Reflections of a European Man
Kasia Krzyzanowska and Stefan Auer discuss his new book
European Disunion. Democracy, Sovereignty, and the Politics of Emergency
. He talks about the crises that hit the EU recently, puts the Russian invasion of Ukraine into a broader context, and shares his skepticism on the future of Europe.
Read or listen to 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.