On Monday, May 19, 2025, the Political Science Department co-hosted a conference “Democracy, Illiberal Alternatives, and Culture Wars” in collaboration with Georgetown University. The event brought together prominent researchers from Central European University (CEU), Georgetown University, University of Notre Dame, University of Vienna, Brigham Young University, and other institutions.
The conference focused on contemporary challenges to liberal democratic institutions and norms, including political polarization, declining public trust, and the increasing presence of authoritarian tendencies in democratic systems. Participants examined recent developments in democratic quality, gender politics, nationalism, and populism, with a particular emphasis on how cultural conflicts affect political discourse and democratic processes.
Panels and Presentations
The program opened with welcoming remarks by Zsolt Enyedi.
Michael Coppedge (University of Notre Dame, V-Dem Institute) presented on “Illiberal Elites and the Erosion of Democracy and the Rule of Law,” followed by Andreas Schedler (CEU Democracy Institute) who discussed the normative implications of political polarization in his talk “Do We Have a Duty to Polarize?” Zsolt Enyedi then addressed “Types of Illiberalism: Elite and Mass Arguments Against Liberal Democracy.”
