Eroding Democracies and Rising Nationalism

In 2017, Viktor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary and leader of the far-right and nationalist Fidesz party, announced that the country would become a haven for those that support alt-right movements across the EU. His invitation was for those “looking for the Europe that had been lost in their home countries.” At this time nationalists from the United States and Europe were already relocating to Hungary to support its conservative, anti-immigrant policies. This year, legislation has passed in Hungary that tightens control over non-governmental organizations, threatens human rights activists, limits academic freedom, and strengthens political control of the justice system.

Similarly, in Poland, the right-wing Law and Justice Party has targeted human rights groups, feminists, and pro-immigration activists. This has been carried out through media censorship, new laws around the teaching of Holocaust history, and frequent raids on the offices of groups that criticize the government. The fallout from the Syrian Civil War intensified these trends, which are in some ways being mirrored with the migrant crisis in the United States. How has the migrant crisis and economic turmoil affected the rise of the alt-right and is this a return to pre-WWII ideas of nationalism?

With European Parliament elections approaching in May, many wonder what the rise of illiberal democracies and authoritarian regimes will mean for the rest of the EU and the world. Join Anna Grzymala-Busse, Michelle and Kevin Douglas Professor of International Studies and senior fellow at Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and Jason Wittenberg Associate Professor of Political Science at University of California, Berkeley, to discuss the recent political movements in eastern Europe and how populist movements have been able to manifest themselves.

SPEAKER:
Anna Grzymala-Busse
Professor of International Studies, Political Science, Stanford University

Jason Wittenberg
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley

MODERATOR:
Markos Kounalakis
Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution

For more information about this event please visit: http://worldaffairs.org/event-calenda...

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