A recent Freedom House report singled out Central Europe and the Balkans – particularly Poland, Hungary and Serbia – for their alarming rate of democratic disintegration. The COVID-19 pandemic has provided these countries with an unusual opportunity to interfere with constitutional powers and scheduled elections. How have these three countries exploited this opportunity? And what longer-term impact will this have in these precarious times for democracy?
In the first of a series of online talks, the Ratiu Forum welcomes Slobodan Markovich (University of Belgrade, LSE IDEAS), Eric B. Weaver (University of Debrecen) and Wojciech Przybylski (Visegrad Insight, Res Publica Foundation) to discuss these political developments and their impact on democracy and civil liberties.
20:20 Visions: conversations on the future of democracy is a new series of online discussions on current challenges to democracy faced by Central and Eastern Europe, hosted by LSE IDEAS and the Ratiu Forum.
Slobodan Markovich is a Full Professor and Head of the Centre for British Studies at the University of Belgrade. His current research focuses on the application of the theory of the unconscious to the analysis of contemporary political relations and on writing on the history of European pessimism. He obtained his BA in History at the University of Belgrade, MPhil in Historical Studies at the University of Cambridge, and PhD in Political Anthropology at the University of Belgrade.
Wojciech Przybylski is the editor-in-chief of Visegrad Insight the main platform of analysis on Central Europe. It is organised by Res Publica Foundation, an independent think tank based in Warsaw. His expertise includes European foreign policy and political culture. Previously, he has been the editor-in-chief of Eurozine - a Vienna based magazine with a European network of cultural journals, and a Polish quarterly Res Publica Nowa.
Eric Beckett Weaver is a historian and an associate professor educated at the University of Oxford and teaching political science at the University of Debrecen. He has published extensively on nationalism, ethnicity and identity, minorities, and the history of Southeastern Europe and Hungary.
Megan Palmer is Programme Manager for the Central and South-East Europe Programme.
Event hashtag: #2020Visions #FutureOfDemocracy
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